CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE
(i) 12½ in. (ii) First 9½ in. then 10 in. (iii) 28 in.
It is essential to the true running qualities, as well as to the lasting qualities of the table, that the frames (which few people ever see) should be exceedingly strong, thoroughly well seasoned, and accurately levelled. The slightest warping of these frames is fatal to the preservation of the table, and they are made, for this country at any rate, of the most carefully selected red deal. If the table is intended for the tropics, mahogany or teak should be used. As soon as the frames are bolted to the legs (which, by the way, are erected on an absolutely level base), they are carefully trimmed over with a long plane, and, until the straight-edge fairly meets the frames all over, in whatever direction it may be tried, the bed is not ready for the slate.
Fig. 17
Slates come from the Penrhyn or Aberdovey quarries, as the case may be. Some makers prefer one quarry, others another. After they have been rough-hewn to size and thickness, they are passed through a planing machine, which reduces the surface to a rough level. They are then put into another machine and cut to size, each slate being now 2⅖ feet wide and 6 feet 1½ in. long. Then the five slates[[7]] necessary to make a table bed are laid together upon a solid level bed, and ‘floated’ with coarse sand; then fine sand is used, and yet finer, till the face is brought to a polish. Meanwhile, every inequality is carefully tried down, so that before the slates leave the ‘banker,’ as it is called, the straight-edge must touch them fairly all over.
References to Diagram
B, B, B, B. Bed of table.
Cushion 1. Top cushion.
Cushion 2. Right top side cushion.
Cushion 3. Right bottom side cushion.
Cushion 4. Bottom cushion.
Cushion 5. Left bottom side cushion.
Cushion 6. Left top side cushion.
D. The Ｄ.
L, L. Baulk-line.
P1. Left top pocket.
P2. Right top pocket.
P3. Right middle pocket.
P4. Right bottom pocket.
P5. Left bottom pocket.
P6. Left middle pocket.
p, p, p, ..., Pocket plates.
S1. The spot, or the billiard spot.
S2. Pyramid spot.
S3. Centre spot.
S4. Left spot of the Ｄ.
S5. Centre spot of the Ｄ.
S6. Right spot of the Ｄ.
Holes are bored in the sides of the slates and metal dowels leaded into one side, as shown in the sketch (fig. 17), so that each slate may fit into the next, and then large holes are drilled out on the underside of the slates and steel nuts leaded in to take the long screws which fasten the cushions firmly to the slates (fig. 18).
Fig. 18
On the underside of each slate a bevel about two inches wide is made, in order that a chisel may be slipped between the slates to separate them when dismantling a table; and if one is far away from professional assistance, and is obliged to take down a table according to one’s own lights, it is well to look carefully for this bevel, and it may save many a cracked slate.
Various thicknesses are used, from, say, 1⅛ inch up to and over two inches, the general principle being that, the thicker the bed is, the quieter the balls run. But, as in most other things, there is a reasonable limit, because the weight of the slates increases so enormously with the increased thickness, that beyond two inches in thickness they become very difficult to handle, and the risk of damage in transport is more than proportionately increased.
Therefore, one may call two inches a reasonable maximum, and 1⅝ in. a fair minimum for the thickness of slates.