How do you clean your table?

9BallPaul

9BallPaul

Banned
Since acquiring my first home table a few months ago, I've become a fanatic about maintaining the cloth as perfectly as possible. Poor Johnny Archer would go crazy on my table -- he'd have no lint to pick at. Probably drive him nuts.

Anyway, I asked this question on the room owners board, but got a tepid response. So I'll try it here. Who's using microfiber cloths to maintain their felt? I find them far superior to the brush that was recommended by the dealer.

My table dealer is very old school and he scoffed at the idea of microfiber, saying the brush is crucial for "training the felt." He recommends brushing in one direction only, from the foot spot to the head spot. I do the same thing with microfiber cloth and am very satisfied with the result.

The cloths are cheap and they can go into the washing machine and come out good as new. They cost about a quarter apiece. Anybody else doing this?
 
Felt training?

The cloth will play according to the way it was installed. If it was done right, then it will play right. I don't recommend using a table brush. Clean your cloth with a home vacuum using an attachment with bristles. Be gentle, as you just need to roll it over the cloth. No brushing action is needed. If there are some subborn spots you can use a damp 100% cotton cloth to spot clean. Then you can use the same cotton cloth to wipe the rails, balls and rack.
 
I got my table in 99, then traded it for the Diamond Pro I have now. I started using a vac with a rotating brush. I used it every day and had no problems but it made a lot of noise when the wife was in bed. I started brushing most days using the vac on weekends and that too worked fine.

Lately I vac about once a week, wipe with the microfiber daily and use Quick Clean about twice a week, and about once every two weeks, after I vac, I use the microfiber wet/damp with water. That really cleans it up.

I like the mf towel much better than the brush. I've always used a towel wet/damp with water about once a month and no damage. It helps get the chalk out of the fibers but may not be necessary if one uses the Quick Clean. I like using both. My table is perfect!
 
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9BallPaul said:
Since acquiring my first home table a few months ago, I've become a fanatic about maintaining the cloth as perfectly as possible. Poor Johnny Archer would go crazy on my table -- he'd have no lint to pick at. Probably drive him nuts.

Anyway, I asked this question on the room owners board, but got a tepid response. So I'll try it here. Who's using microfiber cloths to maintain their felt? I find them far superior to the brush that was recommended by the dealer.

My table dealer is very old school and he scoffed at the idea of microfiber, saying the brush is crucial for "training the felt." He recommends brushing in one direction only, from the foot spot to the head spot. I do the same thing with microfiber cloth and am very satisfied with the result.

The cloths are cheap and they can go into the washing machine and come out good as new. They cost about a quarter apiece. Anybody else doing this?
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Hey Paul, I own a pool room and I have a lot of experience cleaning tables.
Paul, I recommend buying a good quality Horse Hair brush first of all. Now I use Simonis 860 on all my tables and the first thing to keep in mind is to always brush in the same direction. I start at the name plate and brush the table to the other end. Then I vacuum the table, in the same direction that it was brushed, with Simonis cloth or any cloth it is best to keep the cloths nap going in the same direction. Now maybe once a month, I wipe the surface of the cloth with a lightly damp cloth, also in the same direction. I do this after I brush and before I vacuum. The normal brushing and vacuuming is done daily, by doing so you will extend the life of the cloth by keeping it clean. Chalk is abrasive, and it will break down the fiber of the cloth, if the cloth is not kept clean.

What ever type of Vacuum you use must not have a rotating brush head, a rotating head will wear the cloth quickly.

Last, by the best Aramith balls and only use a Aramith cue ball on your table. Aramith Balls and Cues Balls have a special coating that prevents friction marks. These are the white lines and spots that form due to friction. Another thing that will help prevent the white lines from forming from breaking would be to change your spots monthly from one end of your table to the other. This way you are breaking in different directions and the cloth will wear more evenly.

Hope this helps!!

Craig
 
I've also heard too much cleaning can be unhealthy for cloth. Is there truth in this or is this just the calling of the lazy?
 
Rift said:
I've also heard too much cleaning can be unhealthy for cloth. Is there truth in this or is this just the calling of the lazy?
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Steve, I think you may certainly be correct, to much of anything may be harmful. My recommendation above was for commercial tables that get a great deal of play. For home tables it would be wise to scale the cleaning to a point that is based upon the tables use. I would say a decent guide to cleaning is your hand, if you play for a short time and your palm turns blue, the table is dirty and needs to be vacumed. However light brushing before play should not hurt anything.

Good point, and ahve a great day!!

Craig
 
I learned a little about cleaning tables last week, I have have a table in my home most of time over the past 20 years and helped clean the boxes at a few pool rooms-but its never to learn to a little something new.

Realking cobra-Glen was here and I knew my table was real dirty, I had vaccuumed it a bit to much and brushed too much as well when I got it and it was super dry here thus the balls were sliding all over the place-it was terrible. So I let it get dirty real dirty, too dirty it had about 40-50 hours play time on it with nothig but wiping down the rails.

Glen took a damp cloth and cleaned it in a circular motion to get the chalk out of the cloth, I dont think he brushed it I wasnt in the room. But that circular motion with a cloth with hardly any water on it, not a wet cloth you would squeee out but rather a cloth that you jut get barely damp. If you get it wet it WILL get the cloth wet and that will cause the 860 to streach-I knew that, saw a guy ruin a cloth once I didnt know how, Glen explained it to me.


I had done this before but not in a circular moting but rather from one end to the other after brushing. Since then I brushed it down once,


Here is my idea of cleaning a table(assuming you dont get powder all over it), every 3-6 hours brush it down, I use a vaccuum to suck the dust out of the brush while brushing, a clean brush is a happy brush. I would suggest to vaccumm the table after every 12-18 hours of play, but keep the vaccuum out to clean the brush everytime you brush it. I have a dedicated vaccume for my table. I would guess to wipe it wit h a damp cloth after every 24 hours of play. If you dont see much blue after a few circular wipes with a damp cloth it isnt dirty enough to do and is better left alone. I noticed that useing Masters chalk leaves the cloth cleaner than that expensive stuff-another reason I perfer Master, but again thats me, if the other chalk worked better for me I would clean the table more,

If you think about it, at tournments they brush them down every couple hours of play at most on the TV table, but on side tables in a poolroom they go most of the day with out any brushing. Where I used to help my friend clean the tables we vacummed them daily but they got ALOT of play.

I judge the dirtyness of a table by how fast chalk I get on my bridge hand, if it starts to turn blue in 10 minutes then I bust out the damp towel-what I learned was the circular motion, or if my hands get sticky fast. If my hands dont look dirty after 20-30 minutes and dont feel sticky I dont do anything unless the balls are getting dirty/dull looking. I'm kinda lazy about this sometimes but I believe thats its better to under clean a table than wipe it, brush it, vaccuumm it all the time.

sorry for the long post. But its important to keep your home table similar to commercial/tournment conditions. I'm still learning about this too, glen showed me a couple other things, he should have a section on care and maintance on his up comming video's.

Play pool dont clean your box:D there are better boxes to play with ;) had to say it forgive me ladies.
 
I have mixed emotions about using a brush. On the one hand, it clearly dislodges some grit...because it gets up into the brush.

On the other hand, I imagine that it would force some grit down deeper into the weave pattern

I guess dragging a vac attachment with a fixed brush border would do the same thing but I use very little downward pressure on the vac handle...much less than is typically used with a hand brush.

It would be interesting if someone would do an actual experiment to determine exactly how much grit is left after each of the methods most often suggested including..

Horse hair brush

Vac (with and without rotating brush*)

Chalk Off

Damp Cloth **

* The height of the brush would make a HUGE difference in wear characteristics.

** How damp is "damp" ??? Tables slow down due to HUMIDITY...let alone tangible moisture being applied.

Regards,
Jim
 
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