I finished recovering the 2 Diamond 9ft ProAms at Pool Sharks here in Vegas with the Velocity cloth John supplied me with. At this stage of the game, I don't know what to think about the cloth as of yet. What I do know so far, is that I don't like all the loose string ends that are all over the cloth from the cut rail cloth which is supplied with the bed cloth. The pre-cutting of the rail cloth was one of the first things I noticed about the cloth that I didn't like. On the fall down side of the first slate I recovered, I took and cut it with scissors, then ripped it lengthwise just to see how it would turn out. It unraveled seriously along the edges of the cloth, which translates to me, that I won't be ripping off any rail cloth from the bed cloth and using it. To be quit honest with y'all, I've never seen cloth rip like this before.
On the first table I installed the cloth, one of the first things I had to do was tighten up the feather-strips, there's for sure a difference between the thickness of Simonis vs. Velocity. When installing Simonis, I stretch the cloth 2 1/4" side to side, but with the Velocity on the first table I installed it on, I stretched it 4" from side to side, so there's a noticeable difference in the stretch as well, but as much as I stretched it side to side, the end to end stretch was like stretching Championship 3030, because it has a lot of room for stretch end to end.
Once the cloth was installed, and the table was finished, I noticed that the table definitely plays faster than Simonis 860. If I had to compare it to another cloth for speed, I'd say it compares to Granito worsted, maybe even Simonis 760, but it's been a while since I installed any 760, so that may not be a fair comparison.
After I was done, and John and I rolled some balls on the table from end to end, and they sure rolled off like the table was out of level, enough so that I had to check the level of the table just to make sure it wasn't the table out of level, nope...wasn't the table!
John called the cloth company to ask about tracking of the balls, and I guess they've heard of that before when the cloth is stretched real tight, so he brushed the hell out of the cloth and wiped it down with a damp rag, this seemed to help a little. I didn't like it, but on the next table I backed off the side to side stretch to 3 1/4" to see if that would make a difference...maybe I was just being to much of a brute installing the cloth on the first table...LMAO
Anyway, I'm not knocking the cloth on my first dealings with it, as time will tell how it's going to do in the environment it's in. What I will say at this point, is that the jury's still out as to how I feel about the cloth so far.
It's not a Simonis type of cloth other than in looks, but that don't mean it doesn't have a place in the market as far as I'm concerened...so far. As far as to it's usability on bar tables goes, I'd rather not be the first one to find out, as I have my doubts about this being a cloth for the bar table industry, it has to hard of a surface, and is a little on the thin side so to speak for me to feel comfortable installing it on bar tables. The only cloth I like on bar tables to date, is the Championship 3030 or the Titan, they hold up better than anything made today so far in my opinion, but they're not my first choice on 9ft tables in pool rooms.
Maintenance makes a huge difference in the life and playability of ANY cloth made for pool tables, and this cloth is not going to be any different when it comes to surviving the environment it's installed in, and that goes right along with keeping tips on the house cues in an effort to cut down the miscue nicks in the cloth.
Pool Sharks is no different when it comes to dust wearing out the cloth from the bottom side as the play on the cloth wears out the top side of the cloth. I showed John the back side of the Simonis cloth I took off, the amount of dust build up that was wearing out the bottom side of the cloth and told him to get a shop vacuum with a 7" brush to clean the tables with. All the brushing, wiping, and everything else you do to keep your tables clean, don't mean nothing...if you don't REMOVE the dust that filters down through the fibers of the cloth, then acts like sandpaper between the slate and the bottom of the cloth.
So, to sum everything up, as of right now, I'm not opposed to using the Velocity cloth right now, I think it's priced right for todays market place, but...it's not a Simonis type of cloth, and shouldn't be mistaken as such.
I feel that it's in poor taste that it seems like everyone that comes out with a worsted wool cloth, has to compare to Simonis Cloth. I feel that each cloth manufacture that makes a worsted wool line of cloth should just promote it as that, a worsted wool cloth. Don't anyone realize that when they compare another type of cloth to Simonis, they're in-fact making a statement that it's not as good as Simonis...BUT IT LOOKS LIKE SIMONIS! That statement alone is in my opinion, trying to get a ride off Simonis's back to sell their own cloth.
I for one, never bought cloth in the 25 years of recovering pool tables because it was "Comparable" to Simonis. I always kept an open mind about a new worsted wool cloth, and was willing to make my own judgments based on the qualities of the cloth I bought and used. If I bought the cloth, I used it. If I liked the cloth, I continued using it. If someone asked me if it was Simonis cloth I was installing on their table in the bar, I'd tell them no, this is such'n such cloth, and it's a worsted wool cloth, which means it's not going to shed, it's going to play faster, and though some of your players are not going to like it, the majority will. If I didn't like how it held up 6 months down the road, I didn't complain to the manufacture, I just quit buying it. No need to argue with a cloth manufacture, they all think they know how to make cloth, and it's the best! The problem is, they're not the ones taking the cloth off the tables, and saying to the bar owner...I'm sorry the cloth didn't hold up, I'll install better cloth next time!...if I even got the chance to do that, a lot of times the bar owners will call someone else the next time to recover their pool tables....BECAUSE...I got judged by the cloth I installed on the last recovery!
In other words, I'm very judge mental of the cloth manufactures, it's MY lost account...not there's!
Glen
PS. I'm not opposed to using Velocity Pro cloth again, at this time, but time will answer all my questions about this new cloth sooner or later.
On the first table I installed the cloth, one of the first things I had to do was tighten up the feather-strips, there's for sure a difference between the thickness of Simonis vs. Velocity. When installing Simonis, I stretch the cloth 2 1/4" side to side, but with the Velocity on the first table I installed it on, I stretched it 4" from side to side, so there's a noticeable difference in the stretch as well, but as much as I stretched it side to side, the end to end stretch was like stretching Championship 3030, because it has a lot of room for stretch end to end.
Once the cloth was installed, and the table was finished, I noticed that the table definitely plays faster than Simonis 860. If I had to compare it to another cloth for speed, I'd say it compares to Granito worsted, maybe even Simonis 760, but it's been a while since I installed any 760, so that may not be a fair comparison.
After I was done, and John and I rolled some balls on the table from end to end, and they sure rolled off like the table was out of level, enough so that I had to check the level of the table just to make sure it wasn't the table out of level, nope...wasn't the table!
John called the cloth company to ask about tracking of the balls, and I guess they've heard of that before when the cloth is stretched real tight, so he brushed the hell out of the cloth and wiped it down with a damp rag, this seemed to help a little. I didn't like it, but on the next table I backed off the side to side stretch to 3 1/4" to see if that would make a difference...maybe I was just being to much of a brute installing the cloth on the first table...LMAO
Anyway, I'm not knocking the cloth on my first dealings with it, as time will tell how it's going to do in the environment it's in. What I will say at this point, is that the jury's still out as to how I feel about the cloth so far.
It's not a Simonis type of cloth other than in looks, but that don't mean it doesn't have a place in the market as far as I'm concerened...so far. As far as to it's usability on bar tables goes, I'd rather not be the first one to find out, as I have my doubts about this being a cloth for the bar table industry, it has to hard of a surface, and is a little on the thin side so to speak for me to feel comfortable installing it on bar tables. The only cloth I like on bar tables to date, is the Championship 3030 or the Titan, they hold up better than anything made today so far in my opinion, but they're not my first choice on 9ft tables in pool rooms.
Maintenance makes a huge difference in the life and playability of ANY cloth made for pool tables, and this cloth is not going to be any different when it comes to surviving the environment it's installed in, and that goes right along with keeping tips on the house cues in an effort to cut down the miscue nicks in the cloth.
Pool Sharks is no different when it comes to dust wearing out the cloth from the bottom side as the play on the cloth wears out the top side of the cloth. I showed John the back side of the Simonis cloth I took off, the amount of dust build up that was wearing out the bottom side of the cloth and told him to get a shop vacuum with a 7" brush to clean the tables with. All the brushing, wiping, and everything else you do to keep your tables clean, don't mean nothing...if you don't REMOVE the dust that filters down through the fibers of the cloth, then acts like sandpaper between the slate and the bottom of the cloth.
So, to sum everything up, as of right now, I'm not opposed to using the Velocity cloth right now, I think it's priced right for todays market place, but...it's not a Simonis type of cloth, and shouldn't be mistaken as such.
I feel that it's in poor taste that it seems like everyone that comes out with a worsted wool cloth, has to compare to Simonis Cloth. I feel that each cloth manufacture that makes a worsted wool line of cloth should just promote it as that, a worsted wool cloth. Don't anyone realize that when they compare another type of cloth to Simonis, they're in-fact making a statement that it's not as good as Simonis...BUT IT LOOKS LIKE SIMONIS! That statement alone is in my opinion, trying to get a ride off Simonis's back to sell their own cloth.
I for one, never bought cloth in the 25 years of recovering pool tables because it was "Comparable" to Simonis. I always kept an open mind about a new worsted wool cloth, and was willing to make my own judgments based on the qualities of the cloth I bought and used. If I bought the cloth, I used it. If I liked the cloth, I continued using it. If someone asked me if it was Simonis cloth I was installing on their table in the bar, I'd tell them no, this is such'n such cloth, and it's a worsted wool cloth, which means it's not going to shed, it's going to play faster, and though some of your players are not going to like it, the majority will. If I didn't like how it held up 6 months down the road, I didn't complain to the manufacture, I just quit buying it. No need to argue with a cloth manufacture, they all think they know how to make cloth, and it's the best! The problem is, they're not the ones taking the cloth off the tables, and saying to the bar owner...I'm sorry the cloth didn't hold up, I'll install better cloth next time!...if I even got the chance to do that, a lot of times the bar owners will call someone else the next time to recover their pool tables....BECAUSE...I got judged by the cloth I installed on the last recovery!
In other words, I'm very judge mental of the cloth manufactures, it's MY lost account...not there's!
Glen
PS. I'm not opposed to using Velocity Pro cloth again, at this time, but time will answer all my questions about this new cloth sooner or later.
