Carrom Striker Tune-up: Making the Striker Faster

There are two surfaces that really get a work out in Carrom: the board's playing surface and the side of the Striker that is gliding across the board's playing surface.

After awhile the bottom of the Striker starts to get roughed up from the constant friction. The rougher the sliding surface the more surface area made and therefore the slower the striker will go.

There is a quick tune-up technique that will get your prized pusher back up to fighting speed. The way I am about to show is designed to be a "fast fix" to a slowing striker. This is also what i do to brand new strikers I get. I have found that although they are ready to go right out of the storage case a quick tune-up will take of any minute milling marks and really makes a nice small difference.

Below is a new cue ball striker that is going out as a gift to a friend. I will use this as my example.

Carrom Striker tune-up: make your striker go faster

There are two areas of interest when tuning-up the striker: first you will want to make sure that the bottom remains perfectly flat while smoothing and second is to slightly take away the sharp edge that transitions the bottom to the sides of the striker.

Equipment:

your striker

wet/dry sandpaper in 400#, 800#, 1000# and 1200+ grit (if you desire)

a perfectly flat surface (like a piece of plate glass)

silicon spray

Let's start this tune up!

Below I have the 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper sitting on a small sheet of 1/4" plate glass. This will     keep my abrasive perfectly flat so as I sand the bottom of the striker will remain as flat as possible.

 Water or no water? when sanding use a bit of water or spit to create a nice cutting slurry. 

Wet is always better than dry here.

Linear or circular movement?  When sanding use a figure 8 movement or a circular movement. 

This will vary the contact points and greatly reduce the chance of tracks developing in your sanding surface.

After removing any grooves at this grit, lightly rotate the striker along its edges to softly round that sharp edge between the sides and the bottom. This will help the striker from digging into any heavier powder spots on the board or sticky spots (or for older boards that are starting to warp so the have slight inclines).

Carrom Striker tune-up: make your striker go faster.
wet/dry sandpaper and figure 8 circular motions.

After the 400# move your way up into more finer grits. 

Another trick is to start with more pressure and slowly decrease the pressure applied to the striker as you sand.

Continue using water/spit and continue in a figure 8 or circular motion.

Continue to lightly soften that hard corner edge.

Carrom Striker tune-up: make your striker go faster
wet/dry sandpaper and figure 8 circular motions.

After sanding, wipe off any left over slurry and then apply some silicon spray.

Below is an image of the bottom of the striker after the silicon spray application.

Carrom Striker tune-up: make your striker go faster

Once again this is a fast and furious way to get your striker back into the game.

However,

if you wanted a more involved project you could add a high gloss ultra hard epoxy finish to the bottom. Then apply some silicon spray to it. The epoxy would last longer however it will still wear and you will need to refinish. Epoxy finished are two parts and take more time to prepare, clean up and cure. 

2014 deer season

Had a GREAT time out in western nebraska with this year's hunt.

because of my work schedule i am only able to take off friday through monday

but 

that was enough to completely recharge myself.

friday starts with food, drink and a ton of carrom!

that combination right there will drop the blood pressure of the most stressed out person.

2014 deer season starting off with carrom

saturday had two very different weather patterns. we knew there was a front that would be coming in mid morning and was hoping for some good snow to put some contrast in the terrain. with some more white in the background it would be much easier to pick out the deer. we were seeing quite a bit of movement and were VERY hopeful for the afternoon. 

then the front came in. unfortunately, this had the opposite effect we were looking for. with the snow came bitter cold and wind gusts up to 30 mph. this pretty much forced the deer to bed down.

that afternoon there was basically no activity in the fields. 

snow to help pick out the deer in the field

sunday was the same as saturday afternoon, but even colder. started the morning in the negative degrees and the wind was gusting in the upper 20s. it took 3 hours to see our first deer (and even he was bedded down). with the weather as it was and because i only had one more day of hunting, i felt like i needed to take the shot. this little 3x3 mule was now going to be heading home with me. definitely no trophy but younger meat will taste better. there was also a good amount of fat on the deer.   

i was able to spend the afternoon and monday hunt relaxing and helping the guys i was with go after their deer. 

what this picture doesn't show is the less than comical scene that happened moments before. after field dressing we were flipping over the deer to drain when my boots (that didn't really have any tread) lost their traction and slipped right under the deer cavity as it dumped blood. boots still have that old blood smell to them.  needless to say the others thought that was pretty damn funny.

Carrom powder

Labor Day started with labour 

and 

ended with delabouring.

a game of carrom to lower the blood pressure:

carrom powder waiting to be streaked

enjoying how the freshly laid powder sits on the board.

Betting catch - Ante pot

The other day i said that i do not gamble and i still hold to that 

but

the exception is when we play carrom. 

i started making these about 4 years ago and wanted to start them back up again.

usually the playing board takes up the entire carrom table so we keep a side tray table for drinks and to hold the betting catch/ ante pot.

just pitch your coins in when you have to contribute.

nickel = you give when the other makes in a soldier

quarter = when you scratch

half dollar = you give when the other makes in the queen.

North platte carrom

There is a morning hunt and then food and horseshoes.

next, there is an afternoon/evening hunt and then there is food, drink & carrom.

Lee's board from this weekend.

we are pretty evenly matched.

(or so he thinks!)

Carrom board maintenance

Attention!!  Attention!!
Carrom season is at hand!!!

Actually there is no such season but here at the fort we tend to play this game the most from fall through early spring (more of the indoor months).

Each year it is important to give the board, coins and striker(s) some maintenance. Consistent use will roughen up smooth playing surfaces and the ambient moisture in the air will gum up powders.

One can probably get away with just a quick wipe of the board and start playing but a more finely tuned playing surface will make for a better playing experience.using 

This is a 4 year old board that the entire family uses, sees lots of use.
the more use the greater the friction.

before maintenance

 This detail shows the carrom powder embedded into the wood grain and that is good. it also exemplifies the reasoning for applying a base layer of silicon before the carrom powder. the grain increases the boards surface area therefore the increased potential for friction.

before maintenance, the white is the carrom powder embedded in the wood grain

 After a wipe down with a lightly moist cloth to remove all of the old powder, the silicon is sprayed and then wiped in small circular motions to make sure it gets into the grain and is evenly distributed.
it doesn't take much silicon to do this.

Something to note is that any over spray will turn whatever it lands on very slick. 

caution to over spray on the floor! 

cleaned and siliconed

 After the board is treated the wood coins will do well to be treated too.

i spray while the coins are sitting on a cloth to contain the mess.
then i can also use that same rag to rub into the grain.

the coins need to be cleaned and siliconed too

 the board is ready to go.
i never apply carrom powder immediately after silicon treatment. give it awhile to settle.

board and coins ready for action

for anyone interested in the game, instead of purchasing online try your local indian grocery store.
aim for $50.