In the second half of the nineteenth century/snooker tables manufactured in Liverpool had cast-iron underframes. These tables stood on six legs and one of them was in use in a staff canteen in Liverpool until a few years ago.
The actual ‘bed’ of the billiard table is now made of slate, although it was once made of iron. Such tables were to be found in Ireland at the beginning of this century, but obviously these ‘iron beds’ suffered from the damp atmosphere and would develop rust, which was discovered when snooker table recovering, thus staining the cloth. It was also very difficult to unscrew the nuts and bolts in order to move and reassemble snooker tables.
Experiments have recently been carried out with ‘glass’ beds, but there is still nothing better in sight than a slate bed. The advantages are that slate is easy to cut to drill and to plane the surface;’even in the course of wear, when small pieces may be chipped off the edges, it is reasonably easy to repair the damage using modern filler material.
The first slate bed snooker table was introduced by John Thurston about 1834. The slates then were about an inch thick. as time went on the slates became thicker and now a slate is two inches thick and each slab weighs between three and four hundred weight. Times that by five and you have one and three quater tons of slate resting on every full size snooker table.
So if you are thinking of having a full size snooker table in, lets say, your converted loft conversion, make sure the floor can take it.