Cleaning Your Felt

Mike in MN

Mike in MN

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm sorry in advance if this thread has been beaten to death, but I couldn't find much of anything using the search. I was wondering what kinds of experiences and/or opinions people have about using a product like Chalk Off to clean their table. I'm so close to ordering it, but something about it screams "TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!" so I haven't pulled the trigger just yet. I'm open to whatever there is to be said about this product and similar ones. What works? What doesn't? I'm a roast, baste me.
 
search the forums for Quick Clean. Its inventor posted here and explained why Chalk-Off is not as good as his product (which hit the market well before). I have no reasons to doubt his opinion, so when it comes to cleaning cloth I would wither use Quick Clean or just a damp rag :) Microfiber towel, microfiber is one of little magic tricks helping Quick Clean work.
 
A lot of guys use one of those but I personally haven't tried them. Aside from a damp towel prefer not to use anything. It just seems to me that it stands to reason anything sprayed on the cloth like that would just build up over time or leave some kind of residue which will only attract more dirt in the future. I guess it's the same reason I won't use anything on my shafts either.

I try to just stay on top of it by vacuuming, brushing, and wiping down with a slightly damp cloth on a regular basis.
 
Vahmurka said:
search the forums for Quick Clean. Its inventor posted here and explained why Chalk-Off is not as good as his product (which hit the market well before). I have no reasons to doubt his opinion, so when it comes to cleaning cloth I would wither use Quick Clean or just a damp rag :) Microfiber towel, microfiber is one of little magic tricks helping Quick Clean work.
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Thanks. I tried searching for "Chalk Off" but the search doesn't recognize words of less than four letters, so the search brought up all threads with the word "chalk" in it. I was looking for a needle in a haystack.
 
After working at a pool hall for some time and trying most products, I am a fan of just using a damp cloth. If its very dirty then I will let it dry and then do it again with a wet cloth. It only takes about 10 mins to dry. The trick is only use a damp cloth. Wetter is not better in this application(IMHO). We also use the same method for doing the rails.

Hope this helps.
Junior
 
Your procedure is what most people should use, (vacuuming, brushing and wiping down with a slightly damp cloth). If you want to spend approximately $.75 per application, the sprayed foam onto the table DOES WORK....it wicks the chalk up off the surface, then you simply wipe it off with a micro-fiber cloth.


DogsPlayingPool said:
A lot of guys use one of those but I personally haven't tried them. Aside from a damp towel prefer not to use anything. It just seems to me that it stands to reason anything sprayed on the cloth like that would just build up over time or leave some kind of residue which will only attract more dirt in the future. I guess it's the same reason I won't use anything on my shafts either.

I try to just stay on top of it by vacuuming, brushing, and wiping down with a slightly damp cloth on a regular basis.
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Once a week, vacuum, then wipe down with a damp terry cloth towel. Takes up chalk an makes felt look almost new. Hope this helps. :)
 
skip said:
Once a week, vacuum, then wipe down with a damp terry cloth towel. Takes up chalk an makes felt look almost new. Hope this helps. :)
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Takes up chalk, or pushes it into the the cloth? I've read a lot of things that say brushes and damp cloths can potentially harm your cloth as they tend to force chalk into the fibers of it, all the way down to the slate. The reason I'm asking is because I'm purchasing new cloth for my dad as a gift, and I want to make sure it stays in top condition for as long as possible.
 
skip said:
Once a week, vacuum, then wipe down with a damp terry cloth towel. Takes up chalk an makes felt look almost new. Hope this helps. :)
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This is exactly what I do. I change cloth about once a year and there is never any chalk dust under it when it is pulled up to replace.
 
9BallMarksman said:
Takes up chalk, or pushes it into the the cloth? I've read a lot of things that say brushes and damp cloths can potentially harm your cloth as they tend to force chalk into the fibers of it, all the way down to the slate. The reason I'm asking is because I'm purchasing new cloth for my dad as a gift, and I want to make sure it stays in top condition for as long as possible.
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Always give the table a good vacuuming before wiping with a damp cloth. The vacuum gets most of the chalk dust; the cloth gets what the vacuum leaves behind. You don't scrub with the damp cloth, just wipe the table cloth, and there should be no problem of forcing chalk into the fibers.
 
9BallMarksman said:
Takes up chalk, or pushes it into the the cloth? I've read a lot of things that say brushes and damp cloths can potentially harm your cloth as they tend to force chalk into the fibers of it, all the way down to the slate. The reason I'm asking is because I'm purchasing new cloth for my dad as a gift, and I want to make sure it stays in top condition for as long as possible.
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Don't worry about that. The trick is to vacuum first. That gets almost all the chalk off the table anyway and the rest is brought to the surface. Then a light wiping (not scrubbing) with a slightly damp cloth will pick up the rest. Last is a light brushing.

There is no problem with this method. In fact, this is the exact procedure recommended by Simonis on their website:

...The cloth can be brushed, but to remove the chalk and talc powders, it can be cleaned with the new Simonis X-1 or it can be carefully vacuumed with a non-rotating brush-head attachment that does not allow for too much suction to be formed. Some small vacuums can pick up bowling balls, but this will only stretch the cloth on the table and possibly harm the grouting of the slates as well. You should test your vacuum and brush attachment off of the table first to make certain that it is not going to damage the play surface. Less is more in this department. After all, you are trying to remove a fine powder from a smooth cloth, so don't overdo it. The Simonis X-1, is a new device that will allow you to keep your cloth in great playing condition and extent the cloth's life.

The cloth can also be wiped with a damp (not wet) clean towel. This should only be done after the table has been vacuumed otherwise the dampness may cause the chalk dust to clump together (think of it as adding water to dry clay). Once the dampness has evaporated, a quick brushing is all you will need before playing as moisture will cause the fibers in the cloth to stand up and a quick brushing will smooth things out...
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Here's the link: Cloth Care
 
Keep it dry

Moisture is an enemy of good billiards.The cloth dries hard and
the rubber in the rails is affected.
Vacuuming with a soft brush and a crevice tool is all that is
needed.
Brushing just moves the dirt around.

Might try a micro fiber cloth,seems interesting.

But forget anything wet....VACUUM
 
When Vacuuming, what do you use?

A little bit of a shift in the topic, but what kind of attachment does everyone use on their vacuum cleaner. My old vacuum had an attachment for stairs. Not motored, but it has a little impeller that using the vacuum suction to spin a set of brushes. I imagine a lot of people would be too freaked out to use something like this on their cloth, but Ive never had any problems. A moderate amount of pressure on the brushes stops them from spinning (as opposed to putting the entire vacuum on the table, with stronger motored powered bristles that could easily damage the cloth (and do btw. I tried this on old cloth a month before replacing it)).

Anyway curious how the rest of you do it.
 
mr_griff said:
A little bit of a shift in the topic, but what kind of attachment does everyone use on their vacuum cleaner. My old vacuum had an attachment for stairs. Not motored, but it has a little impeller that using the vacuum suction to spin a set of brushes. I imagine a lot of people would be too freaked out to use something like this on their cloth, but Ive never had any problems. A moderate amount of pressure on the brushes stops them from spinning (as opposed to putting the entire vacuum on the table, with stronger motored powered bristles that could easily damage the cloth (and do btw. I tried this on old cloth a month before replacing it)).

Anyway curious how the rest of you do it.
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I just found an attachment at Lowes that I'm now using for my shop-vac. It is a wide nozzle but unlike the other one I have, this one has short static/passive (not rotating) bristles around it's edge. They're soft so they aren't damaging the cloth fibers but in addition to loosening dust as I vacuum, it raises the nozzle just enough off the surface so that it isn't sucked on to it. I think this has less chance to pull up the cloth, but it still has plenty of power to get all the chalk and dust out of the cloth.

See this thread, it has some good info:

Cleaning Table
 
I use a vacuum with rotating brush and then occasionally roll a lint roller over the cloth.

Been doing this for over 30 years on the original cloth that came with my Brunswick.
 
I was just trying to be helpful. I like you have address the question at least once every 5 weeks. Brush first or vacuum first. Wet hand towel or damp. What kind of vacuum, suck or brush? Where do you get the vac? This is what I really do use a garden hose with a spray atachament. Wet cloth real good with water going into all pockets. This will insure the your leather pockets will get clean. An even better if you have plastic pockets. NOW to dry use a squie an press real hard in one direction very important. If you have any trouble spots this is a big secret use a wire brush use a hard stroke. I hope I have in a small way have giving you some fresh ideals. :rotflmao1:
 
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