In Victorian times, if you had one of these
you had to have at least one of these
– a billiard table iron.
The Billiard Table iron is quite a heavy piece of equipment weighing in at approx 8 kilos ( 17.62 lbs). The iron was used after the cloth had been brushed to help lay the nap. It was a tricky business not getting it too hot, which would scorch the cloth. Like the brushing you had to iron in a particular direction, always from the baulk end to the top of the table. The start position for using the iron had to be varied across the baulk end so that the when the iron was at its hottest (after being taken off the heat) it was not always placed on the table in the same position as this could also mean that the cloth could be ‘heat damaged’.
Oh the problems they had – luckily, we can just leave them on the floor as a door stop.
Subscribe to our blog
