We had a job come in this past month , a client of mine was a bit worried about a 10ft table that he had bought from a Midlands firm which appeared to be badly fitted and important slate bearing parts missing …. yes there where no inner slate supports or muntin’s as we call them in the trade .
the table was suffering from out of level and bad slate joints , the slates where badly leveled using thick card between slate and frame .
My advice to him was to at least make sure that who ever sold him the table the chance to put the table right , they did send someone out to try and rectify the joint problem , but was fobbed off that this table did not require slate bearers , the firm in question made an offer to my client for his money back in full , which my client gratefully accepted .
He then asked me a recommendation of what make and type of table would be best for him , my advice was a Karnehm and Hillman 10ft .
my client found one reasonably priced on Ebay second hand but in very good order apart from cloth fade and dirty leathers and nets .
I was instructed to pick this table up for him from a village not far from Dover , and transport it over to my clients home near the Malvern hills .
the frame is up ,we had to do one important improvement to the table frame .
The improvement was to cut out the fixed muntin slate supports that did not touch the slate,
and fit adjustable brackets so that they could be adjusted upwards to touch and support the slate bed , a very simple procedure that took just 20 to 30 minutes 
the leveling done and the slate is slid on , 5 sections in this 10ft the same as a full size
the fine leveling is now done next and slate linings fitted to tack the cloth to .
then we fill the slate joints and blend in , no slate joints to show through cloth .
cloth laid on ready to fit
cloth fitted , now ready to mark out and iron , before the cushions are bolted back on .
New nets and leathers fitted to bring back to as new condition .
finished table showing new nets and leathers fitted
Cleaning up , you may have noticed we protected our clients cream carpet with Blanket wraps as we worked around the table .
balls set up ready for a game , my client was very happy with his table and the installation , I went through the set up with him step by step showing what we had done ,
also those adjustable slate bearer muntins and how to adjust if he gets a problem going forward with slate sagging .
I do not think he will ,but at least he can sleep in the knowledge that this table can be adjusted if this happens .
and I am only a phone call away to instruct him to do this himself or have me do it at a later date when the cloth is do a re-stretch .
I had some previous experience with the Midlands firm that supplied the first table to our client and they did make a habit of fitting tables without the adjustable bearers even though the table supplied came with them .
like this example of a table they also supplied yet I went over and retro fitted these to make the full size table better as the balls where rolling in from each side of the table .
adjustment upwards of this centre slate support could rectify a problem of sagging slates and should be fitted either as a fixed support or adjustable like these .
