Strachan’s ancestral heritage led to a breakthrough manufacturing technique known as “The Nap” which is a permanent directional finish on the surface of the cloth.
This Permanent Directional Nap is the signature of all Strachan cloths which were first used in Snooker, which was only developing at that time, and then were used for English and Chinese pool.
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the creation of snooker, we interviewed Jason Ferguson, Director of the World Snooker Tour and Chairman at the WPBSA, the world governing body for snooker and billiards.
This fifth of 6 episodes tackles how the nap is fundamental to the game of snooker.
A directional finish
“The cloth is laid in one direction. I want to say it’s laid, it’s all brushed down in one direction. So if you rub it, if you put your hand on the table towards the baulk end of the table, it will go against the spikes of the fabric. Quite the opposite coming down from the baulk end to the back end of the table, it’s very smooth. What that does, it creates a variation in performance depending on the shots that are played.”
Strachan superior nap
“The nap is so fine and so perfectly brushed across the surface that it is a perfect playing surface. There is no substitute for it. If the nap is heavy or if it’s inconsistent, you will find inconsistencies across the play. They’ve actually perfected this product for us and are constantly coming up with new ideas and the consistency that we’re getting now is quite incredible considering the volume of cloth that we go through.”
For more information about Strachan snooker cloths, please visit our Products section.
For more information about Aramith balls, please visit https://aramith.com/
For more information about the World Snooker Tour, please visit https://www.wst.tv/
For more information about the WPBSA, please visit https://wpbsa.com/
