Billiard table selection criteria
Billiard tables can be classified by the type of game they are designed for (Russian billiards, American pool, snooker, carom), as well as by such criteria as player level (for professionals and amateurs) and price/quality ratio. Nowadays, buying almost any of them is not particularly difficult — simply go online and type "billiard tables for sale" in any search engine. However, to choose a truly high-quality billiard table, you need to pay attention to a number of essential factors.
Billiard tables in their construction have the following elements: frame, base, playing surface, cushions, legs and pockets. All of them must meet certain requirements. The frame and legs play a primary role in ensuring a strictly horizontal position of the table. They must be made using special technologies from hardwood or MDF. The best material for the base of a billiard table is considered to be natural slate, which has not only sufficient strength but also elasticity. Sometimes materials such as natural stone, laminated chipboard and concrete plastic are used as the base, but it should be borne in mind that all of them are significantly inferior to slate in their characteristics. A good billiard table must have a playing surface covered with special cloth. Billiard cloth is a material with certain characteristics of density, thickness and nap. Only on quality cloth will the ball roll exactly in the direction and at the speed that the player imparted to it. The cushions of the billiard table also play a very important role. They must be made only from hardwood, and on the playing side be edged with rubber of a special profile (different for each type of game) with certain elasticity characteristics. The pockets of a quality billiard table have a geometric shape that does not allow the ball to change its trajectory upon contact with them. As a rule, pockets have edging made of various materials that prevents the player from being injured by careless contact.
How to choose a cue?
The success in the game and the enjoyment derived from it largely depend on which billiard cue you choose for yourself. Therefore, you need to approach the choice of this tool with all seriousness, taking into account such parameters as length, weight, material, geometry, the tip used and some others.
Billiard cues used for Russian pyramid and pool differ somewhat in weight and size. A cue for Russian billiards should have a length of 150 to 160 centimetres and a weight of about 600–850 grams. A good pool cue is slightly shorter (144–146 centimetres) and, accordingly, lighter (450–690 grams). The bumper diameter of the cue should be approximately 28–30 millimetres, its top end 10–14 millimetres, and the balance point should be 42–45 centimetres from the bumper for Russian pyramid, and 39–50 centimetres for pool.
The material from which the cue is made and its geometry play a major role. Billiard cues made from ebony or wenge wood are considered the best. However, good results are also achieved with woods such as maple, rosewood and hornbeam. For beginner billiard players, a cue made of ramin, mahogany or amaranth is perfect. Of course, you can buy a billiard cue in a store, but if funds allow, it is better to order a handcrafted cue from a well-known master. As for geometry, a billiard cue must be perfectly straight. To check this, you can simply roll it along the cushions of the billiard table and observe the tip oscillations.
The tip diameter of a billiard cue must exactly match the front end of the shaft. Its playing surface must be carefully polished and have the appearance of a sphere 10–14 millimetres in diameter. It should be borne in mind that even professional expensive cues are often supplied with a so-called technological tip, so it should be replaced with one that has good playing properties.
Playing field slab
One of the most important components of a billiard table is the playing field slab. As is known, the billiard slab used in the construction of the table is its most important part. Over the centuries, manufacturers have tried to find a material with the best characteristics: the slab must be very strong so as not to deform from strong ball impacts, have resistance to temperature and humidity changes, and be easy to process to achieve a perfectly smooth surface.
Today there is a wide choice of slabs; billiard slabs — Ardezia, Marble, Granite — are popular, but…
That marble and granite are the ideal base for the playing field is a common misconception. For a number of reasons, marble-based slabs are practically no longer manufactured. It is quite difficult to obtain a homogeneous marble slab of sufficient size and thickness. The marble surface is more sensitive to damage and harder to polish than the ardezia surface. The cost of a marble slab is incomparably higher than that of slate. Granite and marble have a crystalline structure that is more brittle and unreliable. When struck by a billiard ball, marble and granite slabs produce vibration and retain it for some time; cracks appear. The structure of a slate slab, absorbing the impact of the ball, does not produce vibration. Unlike marble and granite, which release various toxic elements that affect the well-being of players, slate is an environmentally friendly and completely harmless material for slabs. Slate slab prices are now affordable for almost everyone, and therefore the Ardezia billiard slab is ideally suited for the table, as it has water resistance, high wear resistance and protection against various chemical emissions that may be present in the atmosphere. All this makes it possible to achieve a perfectly level billiard table surface, and this criterion is one of the most important when playing billiards. An obvious advantage of Ardezia is the simplicity of its processing. These slabs can have completely different shapes. In addition, they are environmentally friendly and pose no danger to human health, which is important to consider in the production of billiard tables.
