felt, biaze (game table cloth) or leather?
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Baize is what Jaques used back in its heyday. It’s a great material felt is a nice replacement . Baize can be found in Billiard supply shop wool felt on Etsy . Leather know nothing about except harder to cut.🤣
I have seen leather for the Kings for the Camarrata Signature series sets from HoS. I've also only replaced felts so I just try and match it up with the rest of the set.
But I have helped resurface a poker table and we choose speed cloth. Now if I were to do an entire set I think I would go for some pop with the color and pick a color like red or burgundy. If you have a local billiard store go and check out the swatches they have. These cloths are sold in large sheets of several feet to cover the large surfaces like poker or billiard tables. A billiard store might also have cloth that is stained or damage in such a way that it is useless to them and so they cut you a nice deal.
Schachmonkey - Actual baize cloth is different than wool felt and so far impossible to find in a size smaller than for a billiard table
KineticPawn - alas, no billiard store local or otherwise where I live. I'm limited to finding something online. And yes, I am considering changing from the common green color to a red/burgandy 'wine' color
Hi I know it’s different but no matter. Wool felt will work and more colors😀
I ve seen baize sold by the foot by some US sellers. Good luck
Felt is low cost and has vibration dampening and fire retardant properties—attractive for blitz. Baize is costlier but faster; if it has a nap it could be groomed to favor king-side or queen-side attacks. 
I went to local billiard manufacturer and bought leftover from a job they did. I bought only 1 meter of it. It turned out to be 100% wool cloth from Simonis. I have changed all my sets to that and it is seriously so much better.
When I slided my pieces on the board, I have to stop them as they just keep sliding, it's that smooth.
TheOneCalledMichael wrote:
I went to local billiard manufacturer and bought leftover from a job they did. I bought only 1 meter of it. It turned out to be 100% wool cloth from Simonis. I have changed all my sets to that and it is seriously so much better.
What glue do you use? Just typical white wood/paper glue? In the US, we have "Elmer's glue". Kids use it in school for paper projects and things like that. I guess for plastic pieces, it needs to be more of a rubber cement type glue for non-porous surfaces?
A question that always arises for me is how thick is the baize/felt that you use. I think it should be 1mm or less thick but that is hard to find. Most craft felts are fairly chunky. I got some thin stuff a few years ago, can't remember where. Any suggestions for thinner felt? Does the billiard cloth above fit the bill?
I use what they recommend me to use. They use it to glue the cloth to the table. It is suited for glueing different materials.
Another suggestion is seeing
If any friend have a circut cutter. You put the material in one end using cutter templates to cut exact shapes rolling the material through.
If any friend have a circut cutter. You put the material in one end using cutter templates to cut exact shapes rolling the material through.
Pawnerai wrote:
TheOneCalledMichael wrote:
I went to local billiard manufacturer and bought leftover from a job they did. I bought only 1 meter of it. It turned out to be 100% wool cloth from Simonis. I have changed all my sets to that and it is seriously so much better.
What glue do you use? Just typical white wood/paper glue? In the US, we have "Elmer's glue". Kids use it in school for paper projects and things like that. I guess for plastic pieces, it needs to be more of a rubber cement type glue for non-porous surfaces?
Alan Dewey uses regular wood glue for modern chess sets and hide glue if he is restoring a Jaques set.
Just out of curiosity, how much was 1 yard of billiard cloth ?
https://www.bestbilliards.com/pool-table-cloth/by-the-yard/simonis-860-cloth
KineticPawn wrote:
Alan Dewey uses regular wood glue for modern chess sets and hide glue if he is restoring a Jaques set.
Ahhh, thanks. Looks like he's using Elmer's Wood Glue in the video (0:56).
Schachmonkey wrote:
$103.50 per YARD!?!
Audioq wrote:
A question that always arises for me is how thick is the baize/felt that you use. I think it should be 1mm or less thick but that is hard to find. Most craft felts are fairly chunky. I got some thin stuff a few years ago, can't remember where. Any suggestions for thinner felt? Does the billiard cloth above fit the bill?
I'll make a picture by daylight tomorrow, side by side pieces with wool cloth and regular felt.
One thing I've not seen discussed is the attributes of the chess piece base material. Of course there are variations in the quality of each material but overall is biaze preferable to felt? Is leather, usually found on high end pieces superior to both?
Reason I ask is I have a set where I feel the quality of the felt base is not that great. It's worn and not consistent in thickness (leading to a few pieces leaning slightly) and I'm pondering replacing it with better quality material.
If I'm going to go to the trouble what material is your favorite and/or would you recommend?