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Parts of a Billiard Table

Before you spend your hard earned money on a billiard table, it helps to know exactly what you plan on spending your money on.

Billiard Cloth – Sometimes this cloth is called “billiard felt,” though technically it isn’t a felted material. This is the cloth that covers the top of the pool table and the bumpers. Pool felt can come in a variety of colors to match the décor of your billiard room. The two important factors that determine the quality of billiard cloth are “speed,” which is how fast and smoothly a ball travels across the cloth, and durability.

Bumpers - Surrounding the surface of the table are the rubber bumpers (also sometimes called “rail cushions”), which are designed to help the billiard balls bounce off the sides of the table easily so you can do bank shots. Bumpers come in three different profiles: K-66, K-55, and U-23. The large majority of billiard tables use cushions with a K-66 profile, and that is probably what you will find on a home billiards table. K-55 profile cushions are typically found on commercial coin operated tables. And the least common U-23 profile bumpers are found on some home and commercial pool tables.

Billiard Slate – To ensure that you will have a nice even surface to play on for the life of your billiard table, right underneath the cloth is smooth piece of hard rock called the slate. Slate is what forms when clay sediment is compressed and hardens. It is favored by billiard table makers because of how easy it is to smooth down to a perfectly even surface. While slate can come from locations all over the world, most agree that the finest slate comes from quarries in Italy.

Billiard table slate can come in either three pieces that have to be put together upon assembly, or one solid piece. While three piece slates can make shipping a bit easier, single piece slates are preferred because they give you superior performance.

On some cheaper pool tables, you will often find slate replacement materials such as slatron (a hard plastic material) or medium density fiberboard.

Legs - Your billiard table has to be supported by something, and that’s where the legs come it. On heavy duty models designed for either constant use or just supreme durability you often find very thick hard plastic legs. On elegant home billiard tables, you often find carved . Still other billiard tables don’t have legs at all, and instead have a large pedestal that the billiard table rests on.

Pockets - Most modern billiard tables have six pockets: one in each of the four corners and on each of the two long sides. Most of these pockets have leather bags to catch the pool balls, however a lot of cheaper models actually have plastic pockets. The pockets are usually decorated on the outside with a cover or leather fringe.

Ball Returns - While these are typically found on commercial pool tables, many models have a ball return system in lieu of billiard pockets. So when a billiard ball is pocketed, it is simply collected into a section on one side of the table rather than falling into individual pockets.