Category Archives: News

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 .

Today we have been up onto the Chatsworth estate’s in Derbyshire to recover a 7ft Billiard dining table in an holiday Farm let near Shottle .

The table Cloth had been ripped around Christmas in two places , the actual order was for a Pool table re-cover , it was not until they sent me a photo that I pointed out it was a Billiard table .
and when I arrived I found out it was a an old Burroughs and watts Billiard diner , but the top boards where missing , the lifters where still in position , but a couple of them had springs broken on them so it was played in it’s low position .

The table before the re-cover

It was a very well made table having large bolts in the cushions rather than the wood screws of it’s main rival manufacturer Riley

The old lifting mechanism , this uses a spring to flip the odd shaped metal object into a V slot on the side of the main body , a very odd design , one that Burroughs and watts came up with to try and steal some of the Billiard dining sales away from Rileys , there are not many of these type of B&Watts tables a round  , I spoke to another fitter today and he had only worked on one , this was the first of this type B&Watts  I had worked on . Both of us have been in the trade a long time so they must be rare !

a centre anti bow bar is fitted , this is to make sure the slate will not dip in the centre , I have come across this on many one piece slated tables , the centre wood is forced upwards when the nut on the threaded bar at each end is tightened .  I prefer my adjustable muntins !

The finished table , the Red  cover looks nice too !
a new set of pool balls triangle and brush , re-tipped the 5 cues and left them some chalk

There are many designs for Snooker or Billiard Dining tables , some having the wind up cranking handle to raise and lower to dining height .
One of the most copied is the Riley lift up sliding locking  bracket system , and on this table it was poorly copied .
the design incorporates 4 lifting mechanisms at each side end , these have a zig zag channel that a pin follows and rests in a top cup for the playing height  , when lifted again the pin is deflected to one side and allows the table to lower ready for dining height and is then ready for the next lift where it follows the zig zag channel again to the raised height .

Not a brilliant system and often jam’s even on the original one’s , but the copies jam all the time  , this table I was working on fitting the fixed height sub frame, was bought from a well known on line retail outlet in Preston  , the table we think was made in china , my client genuinely thought he was buying a good UK made table .

He only uses the table as a dining table at Christmas , otherwise it is in the up position for snooker play , the main problem being the Chinese had just glued wood planking to the underside of the slate and screwed the top end of these adjustable sliding brackets to that , when lifted a couple of times the planking just came off the bottom of the slate , making the whole design useless .
On the original Riley diner , there is two long anti bow bar beams and the sub frame all mortice and tenon jointed and SCREWED to the outside edge of the slate as well as glued to it so no chance of it coming off the slate when lifted up ,  the manufacturer thought that this diner was going to function well with just glueing planks to the under side , well I know two of these tables and both have fallen apart when lifted upwards .
So My advice was to make it a fixed normal height table and use adjustable height kitchen chairs for the one day at Christmas they use it as a dining table .

here are the photo’s of what we did .

We made a subframe the same dimensions as his frame and sprayed it gloss black to blend in with his piano black frame , you do not see much of this due to the overhang of the cushions , so it did not have to be polished to an exact match . You can see the subframe sitting on the lower frame .

Now here is the clever part , we positioned 4 cross supporting muntins that could be adjusted upwards to level the slate , this made for easy levelling of the table with not unsightly toe pieces sticking out from under the legs , we attached the subframe permanently to the lower frame using flat plates and screws , all I needed was a 13 mm socket and ratchet with small extension to go around and level the table , it was so simple to do , and the slate is supported very well with no dipping or bowing .

This is the rubbish we took off the slate , well I say took of it actually fell off . the bag of brass adjusters , I have advised my client to sell these on ebay as a set of 4 for around £50 , they will be OK for a 6ft that has them missing or damaged , but they do not work on a heavy 8ft slate , in fact they are copies of 6 or 7ft lifters , the 8ft ones should be a bit wider than these .

a photo taken from under one end of the new adjustable muntin supports , the lower x members ones are the lower frame tie bars , click on the photo for a larger photo .

The finished table , with brand new re-cover in Strachan 6811 tournament 30 oz , it plays very true , better than some thicker slated tables , the owner is delighted with the result of turning his not so good Billiard /diner into a fixed height table that plays true and accurate .
the old cloth was a thick club cloth , playing on the 6811T is a different game to playing in the rough.

The end shot of the finished table , the sub frame just cannot be seen unless you are down on your knees , so no one is going to know it is there .
Under the table is the table top which is in sections and just covers the table ready for dining off , we recommend you have a plastic sheet to cover just in case someone spills wine and it goes down the gaps onto the cloth .
I have seen all sorts of spills on these type of tables from Gravy to water , so a good cover is a must , and maybe one of those heat pads that is put under the table cloth too .

all you would have seen before is a gap and 4 brass lifting brackets , I think the best way of designing a billiard diner is to have a fixed height diner then use adjustable chairs  , or high chairs , they only need to be around 3 inch higher .

We where contacted a few months ago to dismantle an american 8ft pool table in a downstairs room that had water problems and required re-tanking .
We dismantled the table and got the call to reassemble after the room was made water tight .
We noticed problems with the table on strip down , the bolts in the cushions do no align up and a couple where missing the feet had not been screwed in and secured making levelling almost impossible,  and one cushion having just one bolt in .
the slate also had problems the corner pocket falls had been re-cut by someone , The supplier from new  apparently !

Here are a few photo’s of the table as we dismantled it a few weeks ago .

the above photo’s on take down , notice legs Formica is cracking !

Hammer marks in Formica finish by first re-covering from supplier. there where several cushions with these marks in , caused by the hammering in of cushion retaining slip and not placing the wood tapping block on the slip only , unacceptable workmanship.

Large Chip to end of capping , this flipped off when we took the cushion retaining slip out and we re glued it back on

We upgraded the clients table with a no added charge upgrade for better quality cloth , we prefer to use Strachan Super Pro worsted cloth on american pool tables
The main reason is the burn marks on nylon from impact of balls , is not so pronounced with this worsted mix fibre cloth , and it forms much easier around those deep dish centre pockets , and is made by the No 1 Cue sports cloth manufacturer Strachan at Stroud in the west of England .

The finished table in Strachan super Pro Royal blue , our thoughts on this table is that the customer’s had a raw deal when they bought this table for £2500 Brand new , the table was set up wrong had bolts missing , the outer pockets and frame work where loose with gaps in , and the slate falls are shocking , the slate also had residue of Green cloth before the original red , making the slates second hand and not brand new , the bolt holes for the cushions where slotted , in my opinion the slates where not originally for this table and had been sourced from a second hand other make table and used on this supposed to be Brand New table .

I really feel for the Clients , they have now owned the table for over 10 years so any complaints to the original supplying firm is not going to get much of a response .

We like to think we improved the table , making sure all cushions where secure and no gaps between each pocket plate or lower shroud. and we repaired those loose feet to make levelling easy to do .

We do get these badly manufactured  tables to put right or improve from time to time , and tomorrow we are fitting a sub frame to a 8 ft dining snooker table that has faulty lifting system , visit the GCL Blog  site later this week to see how we are converting this table to a fixed height table by making a sub frame with 8 levelling points with adjustable cross members .