Category Archives: News

Work is piling up and due to a little illness I am 3 days behind in my schedule.  Today is my 60th birthday, but that did not stop me from taking more work on.  A dismantle of table in the cotswolds, the owner having just sold his house for £4.75 million.  And what a place it was with indoor swimming pool, Cinema room, Gym room and snooker room, and that was just in the basement which had a lift for access, so we were very thankful having the lift to get the slates back upstairs.  I have worked in some very nice places but this one is going to stand out as the best designed one that I have worked in, smack in the middle of the Cotswolds, with plenty of land around it.

You can see from this video tour in German  of how the house was built in the cotswolds and the vast size of the plot and house  , it will amaze you , and what you see above ground there is even more space under the building where the games area was also located . the House was made in Germany and erected in the cotswolds . the owner is Igor , who you can see in the video in the Brown jacket , an nice guy to meet , he is now downsizing , he informs me that the house is now sold to a very young person in his mid twenties , who is in the sports supplement business for weight lifting .
Sadly he is more into weight lifting than snooker and wants the entire snooker and ground floor area to house his vast Keep fit machine collection .  even though there already is a Gym area most of us would be proud of !

The Riley Viceroy loaded , this is a very heavy table with good thick welsh slates and solid oak frame and solid oak  inner frame , they do not make them like this anymore.
Note that we put the slates beyond the back axle , We do this because it would be illegal to have them sitting on the back axle as the weight limit on that axle is just 1 ton = 1000 kg  , although the carrying capacity is over 1650 kg , the load has to be spread around , if we where caught with the above axle weight load limit exceeded it could be a very expensive fine and points on the Drivers license.
we like to get as much forward of the rear Axle as possible .
for years we used to load with slates at the rear for ease of loading and unloading , but where advised it was the wrong way to load because of weight distribution not even  , so having taken this advice on board we now load to be legal . it is much better to drive with weight forward of the axle , and less wear on suspension  and steering , so good for the Vehicle.

I am fully booked out for April , and I am hoping for a little slack as the weekends are getting involved with my work too .

But hey that’s life one minute your slack then the next your too busy , still got to get my investment back for the van , so removal of snooker table’s is one area I am looking to increase work in .

We have moved a few tables for clients either buying or selling snooker tables using Ebay as the selling format .
some of these people also include GCL billiards in the advertisement as a Billiard firm that specialise in the art of dismantle , Transport and re-erection of the table.
As well as our own web site which we let sellers use to advertise their tables as another way of getting their table to the Market , we also recommend they use ebay to give a double prong attack of selling.
You cannot put a direct web site link or email link to GCL Billiards in the advert on Ebay , but you can put GCL Billiards and the telephone number 07753466064 , for any buyer to get a quote for relocating the snooker table .
And for example here are a few photo’s of tables on ebay from 99p to just under £500 that are currently for sale as we speak .

This one located in sheffield from 99p start price.

This one in Lichfield from £100 start price

this one in nottingham from £200 start price

A titan table with what looks like steel block cushions on it from just £400

here is one I dismantled for a Client in chilwell nottingham from £450

and one in York for £500 or swop for pool table .
Any of the above tables and any other you wish to choose from the selling pages of Ebay , we would be happy to quote for any Table relocation
Geoff Large is a  Billiard fitter with 40 years personal experience , not a made up of say 10 years from one fitter and 20 from another and two at 5 years to get to 40 years as some firms like to tot up to mislead their experience , but 40 years time served for one fitter .
We have experienced labour too to help us move tables , and the right Vehicle to also load neat and well wrapped up , we also offer a bubble wrapping service if the table is not being set up for a while so as to store all parts dust free and also to protect against damage .
we can also store in heated Dry warehouse in nottingham through our own storage agent Jonills removals which also includes Insurance .

A table being stored on site for a client , from main house to lock up container in his own Garden .

in the container , stacked nice and neat

A table loaded onto Van , all polished surfaces are protected by blanket wraps

This Van is the correct size to carry 1658 kg load , Legally , there are many vans out there that are actually overloaded and illegal  when carrying Full size snooker tables and all tools plus up to three people.
the long wheelbase version of this medium wheelbase actually carries less weight, it is things like this that Geoff has taken on board to make sure GCL billiards are within the law when out on the road carrying full size snooker tables . A set of italian slates weigh 1000kg , welsh around 11oo to 1200 kg depending on thickness , a Burroughs and watts steel block cushion with steels and three men and tools is about up to the legal limit with around 50 kg to spare .
It is important things like this that GCL billiard take on board to make sure your treasured snooker table arrives safe and sound .
So recommend GCL billiards for any Ebay Snooker table sale, and your table just may get more enquiries knowing that they do not have to look and search for a table fitter when one is at hand and mentioned in your advert , and we have many happy ebay buyers who have used us to relocate their table.

Link to ebay Full size snooker listings

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR3.TRC1.A0.H0.XFull+size+snooker+table&_nkw=Full+size+snooker+table&_sacat=0&_from=R40

I have been very busy recently offering a re-rubber service of pool cushions .
Many pool tables have the red rubber which quickly turns soft then rock hard and starts to crack .
the problem is the red dye in the rubber makes the rubber turn by Ozone attack , black rubber tends to resist Ozone deterioration much better
you can read more about Ozone rubber deterioration here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_cracking

Although the red rubber on this clients set of cushions had not gone Hard , they had started to lose their rebound value .
the old set of Red/pink s been taken off , the new set of rubber glued shaped and end pads refitted , ready for a new re-cover in Royal blue Strachan super pro pool cloth .

an example from a past re-rubber , the red rubber is that hard and stiff it is like a piece of wood , the black rubber is floppy ,
click on the photo to enlarge to see that the red rubber is also cracking

another set of cushions stripped of rubber ready for the new Black rubber to be applied.
If you have a table that has lost it’s bounce or the cushions feel hard , it may be that just one or even half of one cushion has gone hard .
You have to replace all 6 cushions as the other 5 will not be far behind .
Contact Geoff at GCL billiards for a complete refurb of your pool cushions and cloth .

A new client that was let down from their usual Billiards and snooker contractor not showing up .
We where very pleased to get this local club into our portfolio of local club’s for regular work .
We know the importance of securing local work before moving onto work further afield .

The table is a Karnheim & Hillman tulip leg manufactured around the late 1980’s .

There was a problem on this table , in that the slate joints would not align up good , we had to feather the slate joints to make good for no joints to show through the cloth .
We achieved this by skimming the joints with soft sand car body filler , then sand with a block of wood to feather the filler to a fine edge .
just like what a car body restorer would do if you had a dent that was pulled out , he would fine fill then feather sand the edge into the bodywork for a seamless finish .
Above you can see the filler has been applied and is now curing before it was sanded out .

The finished table , Brushed and ironed and not a slate joint in sight!
The committee where delighted as they have had a problem with the slate joints for years with no solution to a fix .

They where that delighted that they bought two Peradon fitted Dust covers from me .
I also pointed them them in the direction of New lighting which they bought direct from the wholesaler and then got me in at a later date to help put them up .
the new lighting uses 4 x 58 watts high frequency tube lights = 232 watts per table . and just £2 per tube if one went
The old lighting , which where recessed spot lights 8 per table and 150 watts a screw in bulb  =  1200 watts per table and the bulbs where £7.50p and not available locally .
As you can see the saving on electricity was Huge  at nearly 1000 watts used per table more , it was like having an Electric fire on !
the cost of the new lighting and labour to fit will be clawed back in saved Electricity within a year easy .

This week started off with a Pool table recover for a special needs childrens day centre .
The staff where highly delighted that I was able to recover their very old Second hand pub Pool table .
The table although past it’s best did scrub up well .

Today I made the second visit to finish the work I had started a few weeks back .
Our client had a water pipe burst and the entire house on all three floors where affected.

a few weeks ago we visited the clients House to dismantle and store on site a 8ft snooker table , we also recovered the cushions on take down to make our return visit go much quicker.
I got the approval from the Insurance Company after sending the quote to proceed with the work .
The carpet fitters had fitted a new carpet and today we where to assemble and fit the new cloth .

The empty room

One major improvement that we recommended was to fit adjustable brackets for the under supports to make sure they supported the slate
we left out the central dowel supports and cut the dowels off them to re-use as floating supports .
We then fitted 4 adjustable muntin brackets over the top of the dowel holes in the inner frame wood work  , so we could adjust the slate support upwards in the centre of the table .
This added work will improve the table and make any slate sagging very easy to adjust back out . All tables should be retro fitted with these type of brackets , for a low outlay it guards against slate saging and makes for easy rectification if it should occur , by simple 1/4 turn of each bolt the slate is eased back upwards until accurate Level again.

the client paid for the brackets work as an extra which will make sure the slate bed will not sag down in the centre .

as can be seen the two centre bearers are now fitted before the 3 section slate is put back on the frame .

The finished table with New Strachan 6811 Tournament cloth fitted and the improvement of adjustable slate bearers.

Our client was a bit concerned that we would not travel to leeds to do the work , But I did explain that GCL Billiards are located at junction 25 of the M1 and only 75 minutes away .
apart from a little added cost for fuel it was no different to doing one 30 minutes away.
but we also travel much further , GCL billiards have done work from Cornwall to Scotland and in mainland Europe.

we are Insurance company approved having carried out work on Cue sports tables for a few insurance companies to full satisfaction of client and insurance company  , and carry the NBSA approval also.

so if your table has had  a mishap and you have to claim on your house Insurance for work on your Cue Sports Table  please ask for GCL billiards to quote direct to your insurance company .

we supply full letterhead quotes and invoice’s .

Today I was called back to a club that had a re-cover from GCL billiards a year ago , I reminded them that the bed cloth would now be requiring a re-tightening of the bed cloth by taking it off and re stretching back on .

so today was the day I visited them to do the work .

The tables are old Burroughs and watts and an even older George Wright .

The table I was re-stretching was the Steel cushioned Burroughs and watts , the George Wright got a free service of Brush iron mark out and re-spot nets and leathers straps and nuts all checked while I was doing this work.

you may notice small pads around the pockets resting on the legs , these are pre ball rail pads , where you had this between a bag net and the wood work to stop balls hitting the wood and to protect the ball , they are still in situ on the table and I have never taken them off in 40 years of working on this table.
they are stuffed with horse hair.

here are a few more photo’s of the Burroughs and watts and George Wright  table during the re-stretching of the cloth , also some photo’s of the old life pool board and period framed rules that have hung on the walls of this club for many years .

this George Wright has the leaf carved pattern on each knee panel , the lower design has leafs carved to look like a face , This is a typical George Wright design as is the reeded legs .

the boards are in a bit of a state with buttons missing off one , and they have the oak board with the mahogany table and the mahogany board with the oak table , this was done by the builders when the table’s where relocated upstairs around 20 years ago .
they where still painting the walls when we put the table upstairs so we let them fix the boards up , when we went back to do a service some months later we found they had mixed the boards up .

When I re-stretch a bed cloth , I always use Acetone to erase the old baulk line and D , if the correct pencil is used there is no problem erasing this line , but if permanent marker or white tippex  pen is used the results may be a mess  , so always use a proper soft lead pencil for marking out and you will not have a problem when the time  to stretch a bed cloth has been reached .

Both table have suffered X rest nibble at the end’s of the frame work , the George Wright one is very bad , this is one reason I do not like to see Rest’s on a table after an expensive renovation of the polish to woodwork.
The rest hook’s on this table look a bit of a home made version , Those nice carved knee panels are lucky to have survived the knocking of the x rest against the woodwork when replacing back on the rest hooks .
Stretching a bed cloth prolong’s the life of the cloth , and you have less chance to cue rip a cloth on tight cloth , but on slack cloth it rips very easy , also the area of track marks around the pocket fall is moved as is the position of the spots , the ball travels faster over a tight cloth .
and the slate is cleaned of chalk dust and the table checked for level .
you can see how far it has stretched around the outside edge by looking at the bolt holes , to see how far they have moved away from the cushion bolt hole .

Another Supreme winner 7ft pool table for GCL billiards to re-cover .
This one having been on site for 3 years without a re-cover and had been used by both day and night shift on a regular basis , so it was no surprise that the cloth was well worn and had holes in it.

The old black cloth is grey in places it had been used for 3 years from brand new table being installed.
Again we found that the slate had over spray around all the pockets , this had to be removed with Acetone before we started the recover , also the inside of the table under every ball run , there was a mountain of black cloth and chalk dust .

We cleaned out the tale and washed the ball run’s , this will stop any ball’s sticking , something the speed fitter would never do , so make sure if you have a pool table that the firm who is doing the work , will clean out the table too , as it is probably the only time the slate will be moved to one side for maintenance . It only takes around 15 minutes to do the internal clean out and the customer can see the work has been done to a high standard.

Again we come across the over spray of glue problem , look at the corner pockets to see Glue and old stuck on residue of black cloth , if this is not removed as some speed fitters leave it on , then you would have a problem with balls roiling off or stopping as they slow down towards the pocket fall .

We also as part of this service Re-tipped 4 cue’s supplied 6 chalk and a set of ball’s , we recommend that the table is recovered every 12 months at least.
If you have a Pool or Snooker table that require’s work and you want the same care and attention to detail that a fully skilled Billiards fitter is trained to do .
Then get in touch with Geoff Large at GCL Billiards on mobile 07753466064 or email c.large@btinternet.com