This week I have been local in derby working on a few tables in the Cueball club .
Danny had stripped one set of cushions down and stained and re-varnished them prior to my visit , he had also fully dismantled the table to re-level the bad out of tilt floor .
so first job was to put slates back on the frame and re-level .
I then re-rubbered two sets of cushions and cut to B&SCC templates the openings
I then undercut and smoothed the underside angle of the rubber to accept the balls better
a nice undercut and smoothed out , leaving sharp edged cut and not sanded rubber will cause the cloth to split
So I always smooth the rubber out by rasping and rounding off the sharp cut with sand paper
the rubber used is Hainsworths Northern Rubber made in Retford Nottinghamshire .
The best you can buy .
the table that Danny had re-polished the wood capping of the cushions
now sporting Hainsworth Match on the bed and Hainsworth smart on the cushions
I do this mixture of cloth on bed and cushions because the smart is more hard wearing and the cushions would wear out very quick if all match was used .
The bed cloths require clamping and stretching at certain points to ensure a very tight fitting and speedy playing surface .
two tables on the back of the room had all Hainsworth smart cloths on bed and cushions .
It is best to have a mixture of tables around the room and the match fitted beds are a bit more expensive to play on .
these two tables are for more wear and tare use .
they will play a little slower at first but will soon quicken up once they get more use and brushed and ironed regularly .
Cue club Customer thinks this table is playing great
this table used to have odd sized pocket openings on , now with the new rubber fitted and all pockets are the same size .
pocket opening on varnished cushions match table .
Pocket openings on 2nd table in
same table another pocket opening looking into it
note the flat faced rubber in the jaw , this is now the norm on modern undercut just the same as you see on TV .
older tables used to have the rubber undercut to a pointed triangle at the radius of the opening .
you have to be accurate to make the shot now , the angles are the modern game so you may have to adjust your game to play on modern table openings .
most old tables in working men’s clubs still sport the older sharp undercut this enables the ball to get under the overhang , and makes the pocket much easier to pocket a ball , but it also deflects the ball downwards and wears out the cloth in the form of track lines , you may see this on badly worn cloths , but you also see it on tables that have sharp undercuts , and the cloth is worn out before it is due to be re-clothed because of this .
Danny will slowly transform all the tables at the Cue ball club to have modern pocket flat faced openings .
It is not a new thing we have been doing the flat faced openings since the 1990’s . but it takes time for tables to be re-rubbered , most get done every 25 years .
But there are a lot of those boom years of the 1980s , the pot black years where thousands of tables had the sharp undercut and they are still out there .
Cue ball Derby the main snooker room
Cue ball Derby pool room on a league night .
Danny was informing me he has a few alteration plans for the room this year especially the bar lounge area , and some exciting news for next year if every thing falls into place as planned .
the cue ball club is located in Derby at ~Mansfield Road under Roller world DE21 4AW
Turn left at Nissan Garage if coming from Pentagon island and look for roller world and through the main gates to right .
contact details 01332 360924
