are you sure it wasn’t maybe a chalk like powder of some sort for your hands
I’m not sure when that became a thing
Restoring a table and room from 1770
- Thread starter Bob Jewett
- Start date
I’m not sure when that became a thing
That just melted my mind this morning. To think that Simonis had been operating for almost a century when this table was made.
These ghosts of history, long lost ancestors in the billiard brotherhood, were standing around that table, most likely, using Simonis cloth.
Imagine Ben Franklin in for a visit while drumming up support for the American Revolution. Ingratiating himself with the local fancy-pants. Perhaps he took a rack he looked as if he would lose and used it as a metaphor comparing it to the American victory at Saratoga.
What about good natured ribbing? What would Baptiste say to Francois when he dogged a factory shot?
Well, the table is done and the room is mostly done. They found some cues and ivory balls. The room still needs the classic picture of dogs playing pool.
Here's the update video:
LOL, who smack an 18th century ivory ball that hard. I also don't think that ball was made in two parts, It it was, and it broke at the seam, the "screws" that are in it wouldn't be holding it together. My guess is the center was drill out for some reason and these are plugs. It appears they are two different sizes so it's possible it was a way to balance them?
I think they got the idea of screws wrong. The ivory balls I've seen and played with have a very small nerve canal, maybe the size of a pencil dot. I suppose if the canal were larger -- tusk from nearer the head of the donor? -- you would have to drill and fill the hole. The holes look different diameters, maybe from the taper of the tusk. The lengths of the plugs, which have to be ivory for expansion, could be adjusted to get the balance right.
Yes, hitting an old ivory ball that hard is a good way to get two pieces. Deep cracks may have already been visible and the plugs wouldn't have helped. On the other hand, for new ivory balls you can hit them very hard without a problem. I got a new set about 1980 and practiced artistic billiards shots with them.
A billiard table has no pockets, this was a pool table since it had pockets and a ball return. I never heard mentioned of the size of the table - it looked like it could have been a 10 foot table.
When the table was made, many of the games that included caroms in scoring were played on tables that had pockets. English Billiards is played on a 12-foot table with pockets that is exactly like a snooker table. It is played with two cue balls and a red ball, and you get points for making your cue ball hit both the other balls, as well as pocketing balls.
The size of the table is probably not an even number of feet, but it looks similar to a 10-foot table. I've asked in the comments and maybe the owners will answer.
It now has Simonis, and they mention that it could very easily had Simonis when it was built.
It mentions the table size around 18:30 in the video. 1.78M (5.84 feet) x 3.65 (11.97 feet), so just under a 6 x 12. And just for fun, it also mentions in the video that there were no standard table sizes yet and the tables were essentially made to fit the room they were going in but the general rule, which still stand today - is it's twice as long as it is wide.
The measurement is around the frame, so nose-to-nose, it will be about 10 inches less in each dimension. See about 5:50 in the second video for a close up of the rail/cushion. That would make the playing area 133.6 by 60 inches, so about a 2.2 to 1 ratio.
112 x 56 -- 10-foot carom or pool
133.6 x 60 --Pernon table
140.5 70 -- 12-foot snooker
So, kind of an 11-foot table, but not 2:1.
Just curious how they plan to finish off the rest of the table? With rail cushions similar to what they had originally, with cloth similar to original and balls as well?
The second video shows pretty much the final result. The cushions look like they're done. Semi-circular profile and filled with fiber. The cloth is Simonis with an attempt to match the original color. The last set of balls they showed on the table look like a 15-ball set of modern phenolic pool balls. Ivory balls would be very problematic.
The table looks like the wood could use some stain/finish.
I saw a monster table maybe eight by sixteen or even ten by twenty in an old home here in the US. Might have been odd sized too but it seemed to hold to the two to one ratio. Odder, it had eight pockets! There were a few old balls and a stick or two but I wasn't brave enough to ask if I could hit a ball or two on it. No idea what the cushions were made of or the last time anything had been hit on the table.
Annoying thing, I used to spend a lot of time looking at old homes and I can't find this one again. I think it was at least a few states north of Louisiana and somewhere east but that takes in a good bit of territory!
Saw a few more small interesting tables to hit balls on but they weren't called pool tables. Some had pockets, some didn't. Memories forty years old get confused. I was mainly focused on the woodwork anyway at the time.
Hu
They could’ve at least scrounged up a set of old clay balls.
Yes, but in France that's harder. Also, it's a place where the owners currently live and not a museum, so phenolic is a lot more practical.
I wonder how bank shots work.
If you take an average of the length and width nose-to-nose measurements, and create the "standard" width designation, the table is more or less equivalent to a 5 2/3 by 11 1/3 pool table in playing area.
In the standard way to describe pool table sizes, take the total green width of the table, including the rail cloth, and that is the nominal width. Double to get the length. 50-inch playing surface, 54-inch green width, that's 4 1/2 feet, multiply by two to get a 4.5 x 9 foot table. There is no measurement on a 9 foot table that is nine feet. The end cushions are 100 inches apart which is 8 feet, 4inches. The green length is 8 feet, 8 inches. The maximum end-to-end travel of the cue ball is about two inches shorter than the playing surface, or 8 feet, 2 inches.
Thanks for posting the follow up. I am glad this is functional and not just a curiosity.
I do dig the dark blue. I wonder if folks got worked up about cloth color back then like they do now.
How stinkin’ cool was that rack with the wood tipped cues hanging upside down? Every cue made of a different type of wood and would be selected based upon the shot at hand.
Back in the days before leather tips!
Bob didn’t you recently give an interview where you cited Mingaud as the historical figure you’d most like to play with? That could have been the table you fellas would have got down on. Too cool!
I do dig the dark blue. I wonder if folks got worked up about cloth color back then like they do now.
How stinkin’ cool was that rack with the wood tipped cues hanging upside down? Every cue made of a different type of wood and would be selected based upon the shot at hand.
Back in the days before leather tips!
Bob didn’t you recently give an interview where you cited Mingaud as the historical figure you’d most like to play with? That could have been the table you fellas would have got down on. Too cool!
i often played billiards with ivory balls as the place had them behind the counter if you wanted them.
it was a pleasure to use them. plus my opponents couldnt play well with them not being used to the differences.
but hitting hard didnt make them explode they took it fine.
it was a pleasure to use them. plus my opponents couldnt play well with them not being used to the differences.
but hitting hard didnt make them explode they took it fine.