Category Archives: News

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

I have been asked to improve the bounce on a 6ft Pool dining table.

The owner was very specific that i used top quality Full size profile Northern rubber as used on TV tournament steel block Snooker tables.
I asked if the old rubber was the full size profile of approx 7/8th L shape , and this was confirmed , but when I got there the cushions had 5/8th L shape rubber on.

So I informed my client I would take the blocks back to the workshop and rebate the cushion block wood to take the full size rubber on my table saw or moulding machine  , as luck would have it my Client lives just off the Luton south junction of the M1 and I would be passing again later in the week to refit his cushions .
So I re-covered the bed in 6811 Strachan cloth and stripped all staples out of the cushions ready to take the old rubber off and alter the woodwork.

I was going to rebate the block in two directions , downwards and backwards for the depth of the rubber , but I found that the cushions where the slotted sliding fixing type , and any backward rebate would take  all the strength out of the cushions rigidity
So the only solution was to have the cushion overhang an extra 1/8th of an inch , this would make a ball down the cushion a little harder to pot , but it was one or the other , bad rubber or good rubber with the extra 1/8th.

When I measured standard Supreme Winner cushions they where 1/16th more on the over hang so in reality they are only 1/16th more than A winners overhang of cushion so nothing to worry about really , Accuracy into the pockets  will improve my clients game , and he can now benefit from more lively cushions . I did slightly open the pockets up to make up for the overhang .
I am not sure what make of table this is , it has cushions that look like Super league slotted type with 5/8th rubber rather than the fixed bolt Supreme type which has no slot in the back and has the full size rebate on .


the cushions with Northern rubber attached ready to be cut and shaped before re-covering , I am returning these cushions on Saturday when I will be passing Luton on my way to pick up a full size snooker table to be relocated at a later date .
We are pretty busy having snooker table work coming in , and a good percentage of pool tables fitted in between to fill the gaps in .

We have just finished a pool table re-cover and re-rubber near Pinxton just on the border of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire .
The table was situated in a large conservatory , and when we dismantled it , we found that the rubber was rock hard in the cushions .

The rubber removed showing it was falling apart and cracking , the ball would not rebound off this so a re-rubber was the recommended route to take .
the table was around 12 years old so it was due new rubber . This red rubber has a tendency to start going hard after only a couple of years use from new , we always use Black rubber to renew the old red rubber .

New 6811 Strachan cloth having had glue hand spread on under side of outside edge of cloth and the edge of the slate .

The finished table .

A nice new Peradon Branded cover to stop the sun bleaching the Olive Green cloth in this conservatory

Our client chose a brand new set of Premier Engraved spots and striped balls by Aramith , these are not like the printed type you see on ebay at very low cost , they are the best you can buy  for spots and stripes . look at the above photo to see the difference between a low cost and the Aramith balls , click on photo to enlarge .
Our client asked for a D to be put on this table , most do not ask for this .

We have been very busy in the Derbyshire area where we are well known for our Excellent work on re-covering Pool tables .

Table above before cloth removal , the colour is Camel ! or Fawn or beige as some may call it .

We may be time served Billiards fitters and better known for recovering full size snooker tables , but we do not look down on Pool tables as an inferior cue sports .
in fact we know there are many Pool tables within our area that require a top class re-cover and even some that have dead rubber on .

one thing you can be sure of is a first class job to customer satisfaction on any type of cue sports table .

The table today was a winner supreme home play 6ft , this was situated in a Retirement complex and used by the local community .
the table was the latest model that supreme released with solid metal chrome corners and was in excellent condition .
The cloth that was on the table was a lower quality Camel coloured cloth almost Beige in colour , unlike the Quality Strachan 6811 in green that we replaced it with .
Again we came across the problem of manufacturers over spray of Glue on the slate , this is getting a real problem , and i will have to have a friendly chat to the table manufacturer as to the over spray being a problem on recovering .

Over spray of glue on slate at corner pocket

We wash the over spray glue off with acetone , photo above of this being done .

The finished table in olive Green 6811 Strachan cloth .
our clients where delighted with the thorough clean up of the slate and insides of the table , we checked the level , and supplied Balls -triangle – Brush & chalk .