Ball Whacking

[lfigueroa]

I would like to know if whacking a ball with another ball to mark it in place does any harm to the table.

I'm not talking about tapping the ball with the butt of your cue like some guys do when spotting a ball, or even tapping a ball with another ball when racking. I'm talking about a full-fledged, hear it across the pool room, rifle shot whack. I know it crushes the cloth, putting a dimple in it, but that seems to eventually disappear. So I'm wondering if there's anything serious being done to the the slate.

Lou Figueroa

 

[bradsh98]

I would like to know if whacking a ball with another ball to mark it in place does any harm to the table.

I'm not talking about tapping the ball with the butt of your cue like some guys do when spotting a ball, or even tapping a ball with another ball when racking. I'm talking about a full-fledged, hear it across the pool room, rifle shot whack. I know it crushes the cloth, putting a dimple in it, but that seems to eventually disappear. So I'm wondering if there's anything serious being done to the the slate.

Lou Figueroa

It depends on the slate... I worked on a 7' Valley that had a mysterious circular dimple in the slate. It was cracked around the outside of the dimple.. I pulled the slate from the table, to check it from the bottom side. There was a huge section (probably 6" diameter) of the slate blown out. I would guess that this was the result of someone slamming a ball down on the slate.

Thought that I had a photo, but I am unable to find it.

 

[bignick31985]

When I re-covered our league barbox, I noticed a divot in the slate under the spot. The ball could settle into the spot. I assume it is from hammering the 1 into place and/or breaking. No damage anywhere else on the table that I could see.

 

[realkingcobra]

Its amazing that if jumping the cue ball does no damage to the slate, tapping a ball to stay in place on the cloth has zero chance of hurting the slate. I've never seen slate damage from the balls in over 38 years of working on tables. I have how ever seen damage caused by other means.