Old billiard table vs modern snooker table

[cazmac1]

Its cheaper to buy old style Billiard tables and use as snooker tables than to by say a 5-10 year old Riley or BCE table that would still probably cost the earth. I play in a few different clubs so have to adapt to different tables and conditions and I was once one that used to moan all the time. However now I play on different tables more regularly its amazing how you can adapt knowing you have to.

Lets be honest, only the pros need consistancy for their game, us amatuers are just happy to play a few times a week and we'll never have the opportunity to play in top conditions all the time, well certainly not unless you can afford to play at one of the academies or own your own Star/Riley table.

For your question though, and I'm no table fitter I'd say yes a table could be converted but it would probably be best advised not to.
The cushions would be the main problem, older tables would need to have steel block cushions fitted which are generally a lot wider than billiard table cushions. This would mean a few alterations would probably be need to actually fit these cushions to the frame, possibly would need to be specially made which could cost a fortune. Would probably be cheaper picking up a 2nd hand BCE or Aristocrat IMO.

Thanks cue man a very well thought and constructive response. I don't want or need to be playing on star tables or steel block tables. There are many types and makes of new or nearly new snooker tables that are affordable as opposed to playing on very old billiard tables that weren't designed for snooker. As for moaning about tables I don't do it I let my feet do the talking if I don't like a table I will only play on it once. I haven't moaned about a table for many a year now unfortunately when visiting a new club or the first time you can get caught out.

[jim evans]

Jim what the hell on you on get some help mate and start you own thread if you want to talk rubbish. I am going to ask the same question in a new thread as this one has been twisted and contaminated. Waffling on about silver legs and horses and I do get the hump when ppl start swearing on my threads there is no need for it.

weres your teddy gone weres your teddy gone all sing along with cas

[Terry Davidson]

cazmac1:

I think a good table fitter who knows what he's doing could fix that table right up. I've played on a lot of old billiards tables (my friend has a 1910 Eureka(?) B&W table in perfect condition that he got from a Senator's estate I think).

Mind you, he did have to get new rubbers (only due to the table not being used for 30 years) and this one was a steel-blocked table but once he shaped the rubber to template (IBSF ones) and to do that he did have to file off some of the steel on both sides of the middle pockets, but it wasn't a big job and now this table plays like magic.

Terry

[cally]

Oh dear..........



:snooker:.....................

[Geoff Large]

any table can have new cushions manufactured to include modern pocket plates , the one's that could prove not worth bothering with are thin slated tables and table slightly under size and not the standard 12foot by 6 foot 1.5 inches wide slate .

once a set has been manufactured its just a simple refit maybe drill holes out to suit older slates thats all .
You can use second hand cushions if you want to fill in all the cushion bolt holes then redrill to the older slate measurements as older tables are 5 bolt holes on the cushions and modern cushions are 6 bolt holes so they will not be a simple task of just swopping over as the bolt holes will not align .

the other modification is the slate falls to conform to modern measurements , this can be done by filling in with two pack filler such as car body filler and reshaping by rasp and sanding .

it's all down to cost and many owners will not bother unless the table is well liked for say slate thickness and trueness or frame and leg design or even a family thing handed down , normaly they can buy a second hand table off ebay at a much lower cost than the conversion of new cushions and slate adjustment on the pocket falls .

Geoff

[roykay]

Dead right Geoff, my table is about 100 years old. It has a very heavy frame with a lot more wood in it than any modern table and has 2 inch Welsh slate and steel blocks.
I had it re rubbered and covered and the pockets made standard match. It is as good a table as I have ever played on and I have played on them all, Star included. I wonder what modern tables will be like in 100 years time.
Total cost of the finished job was less than half of a new one and it's a lovely piece of antique furniture which is a nice bonus.
All you need is a good fitter to check it out and do the work.

Roy Bacon

[jim evans]

cheers roy backs up exactly what i said

[vmax4steve]

I went to a different club today and play on an old table that had just been re-clothed. It's been a long time since I played on a table like this and didn't like the table at all, the white ball jumped when hitting the cushion, the centre pockets were a mare and the white came off at different speeds of every cushion. In recent years I've been used to playing on the more modern Riley's tables which are made for snooker where by the old tables were made for billiards and might have been adapted for snooker. I'm sure there are a better players than me who can play just fine on these tables but I struggled and at £9 hour won't be rushing back to play there.
The club has been around for years and is steeped in tradition and these tables are part of that. I just find it amazing that in this day and age how some clubs seem to be in a time warp. Don't get me wrong the club is well run and the tables well looked after but in this day and age when the pro game has moved on so much why are clubs lagging so far behind. IMO these table belong in museums I think it's OK to keep one or two old tables but the rest are relics of a game play 60+ years ago.
I do have one question to any table fitters out there and this is "can these tables really be converted to play like a modern table".
Surely all clubs should have proper tables these days??????????

Good job you don't play in our league caz as all the tables bar 3 are old billiard tables. Two of those are 1980's Riley's and the other is a new Star table which I haven't played on yet. The old tables have very tight pockets, especially the middles, but as far as the cloth and cushions are concerned they play O.K. even though the cushion rubbers are original.
One of these tables (in our club) had new cushion rubbers about ten years ago and the table fitter couldn't get the new pocket templates into the old pocket openings after being told by the club steward that the new cushions had to have the same size pocket opening as the old ones. Fall of the slate was further back as well so the new cushions didn't make any real difference to the size of the pockets except that now you can pot a ball along the cushion at more than pocket pace and as long as it hugs the cushion all the way it will drop whereas before it wouldn't, even when hugging the cushion.
This is why all the players in our league gripe about how easy the pros have it when snooker is on tv.
Thing is that everyone who has played on that Star table rate it as having very tight pockets saying that the balls that drop in off the knuckle on tv don't do so on that one. Makes me think that the pocket templates that are used for pro tournaments are more generous than those for us mere moratls, or maybe pocket templates weren't used when fitting that table and that the standard cushions need to be cut to fit the templates, I don't know.

[cazmac1]

First Off let me apologise if I offended anyone with some of my comments.
Some great reply's and I would like to thank everyone who replied especially Geoff. Some great info there Geoff on the fall of the slate i have to say the I thought that this would have been a much harder job than just a bit of two PAC, although I sure it's a lot harder than that and takes a great amount of skill to get the shape of each pocket fall spot on. I guess it is just a matter of money like you said and I sure in this current climate there's not much prospect of the cushion rails and pockets sorted out any time soon. I think my question has been answered and that is if it is a quality table with 2 inch welsh slates it can be updated and play just as good as a star table if not better.

Like I said a better player than me would most probably have no problem with the table and make a few tons on it sadly I not one of those players and need all the help I can get.
Once again thanks every one.