The quality of your pool table cloth has a huge impact on the behaviour of the cue ball and object balls during a game. A rough, fuzzy or thick pool table cloth will absorb a lot of kinetic energy from the object balls which means that it restricts the movement and makes the game “slow”. The following tips will point out ways to increase the speed of the pool table felt to make your game more enjoyable
Ensure that you clean it regularly
Good quality pool table felts are smooth and they allow the balls to roll with minimum resistance. Spins and small adjustments to angle and force is reflected in the behaviour of the cue ball, so such felts are excellent for improving the quality of your game. Your pool table cloth needs to be regularly brushed so that the quality of the surface remains unchanged for the maximum amount of time.
Clean the felt with a damp cloth
Cleaning the surface of the pool table with a soft damp cloth in a straight line is called blocking, and it helps in removing excess dust, stab marks and other tougher stains that cannot be removed by brushing. Blocking also helps to prepare the surface for ironing, and it must always be done before you iron the cloth.
Iron the cloth at low heat
Once you have completed brushing and blocking the pool table felt, it must be ironed carefully to maintain the nap effect of the table. Ironing needs to be done using a proper pool table iron or with a domestic iron at very low heat and without steam. Also you need to ensure that it is never used over the cushions.
With careful maintenance, you will be able to prolong the life of a pool table felt. However, the only way to get the optimum performance from a table that has been very badly damaged or suffered many months of neglect is to install a new felt with the help of a professional.
