Category Archives: News

We must have  made an impression with our first full size snooker table recover on the match table at this very nice snooker club in Northampton , in fact within two days of the first recover they booked us  to go back and do the table next to the match table .
This one was not as bad as the first table , the bed cloth that came off was good as it was  fixed with tacks as it should be  , unlike the match table which was stapled on with big V shape tear in the centre pocket fall .
But there was a fault with the old cloth coming off this table as can be seen from the first photo, there is a dark shaded 2.5 inch  line across the table in front of the D , some may think this is the slate joint , but it is too wide , the cloth I think has  a stop start line from production , that is where the machine was stopped and then restarted , this would put a wide line in the cloth as in this old bed  cloth , so the cloth was a second or as the manufacturer would say a Sub standard cloth .
also we found the cushion cloth retaining slips where nailed and stapled in , We will work together with the owners and players to improve this table , we hope to locate a set of steel blocks for it ,the slates are really good , and in fact this table would make a much better Match table for the club .

The finished table recovered in Strachan west of England 6811 tournament  cloth first quality no seconds , we are very happy with the outcome of this work , it shows the owner and the players trust GCL billiards to do an Excellent job and try to improve the table , not only in better workmanship ,but looking ahead and advising what is the best route to take,  such as looking for a good set of second hand Steel cushions to turn this table into the No 1 match table for the club.
if you’re club is looking to have work done on their tables please recommend GCL Billiards to them .

Yesterday we completed a job that has been ongoing for a few weeks , a client of ours contacted us to look for a suitable table for his Barn conversion , and with past experience of fitting tables into barns we recommended he look for a Riley Imperial square leg or the larger arched Riley Viceroy , Viceroys are pretty thin on the ground so we sourced a good conditioned Riley Imperial just outside Skegness , We put our client in touch with the seller and they came to a reasonable price between themselves  , GCL Billiards prefer to do this rather than carry a stock themselves , we are therefore 100% maintenance only , we transport and do any repairs or improvements that our client requires .
As you can see from this first photo the oak in the building and the table are very complimenting to each other and blend in very well , the client is a very useful woodworker and he took the frame and slates and we took the cushions away for re-rubbering , we corresponded with each other as we where both refinishing the woodwork several miles apart and things like stain and type of polish had to be spot on .
as you can see we got the a perfect match , the cushions however had more finish coats to protect against things like belt buckle and zips damage scratching .
We arrived to find all the slates where already in the room   so a quick assemble of the frame then the first rough level and we soon had the frame ready for the slates

Our client being a the perfectionist that  he is as can be seen from the fittings of the barn like the floor windows and doors which he made all on site in his fully equipped woodwork workshop  , He also made brand new slate cloth tack linings to be fitted which where perfect

After filling in the slate joints and making sure the table is level , the bed cloth is then ready to go on

and the Bed cloth fitted
GCL billiards and our client worked together to make sure this table was the correct table for the property and the renovation was done to blend in with the large amount of oak already fitted within the building , I think this is one of the most satisfying jobs we have worked on , our client was delighted with the table , we fitted the table with top quality Northern Rubber , top quality Strachan 6811 tournament cloth , top quality Nets and leathers , and the finish of the polishing by our client on the frame and ourselves on the cushions is also top quality , the table was a dream to level with no problems at all , which is what you expect from this quality made table of solid oak and 2 inch thick welsh slate .
To round it all up , our client also had the new High Frequency lighting with white light florescent tubing , high frequency lighting is the none flicker type , do not fit standard starter florescent lighting above any cue sports table as it will effect you’re eye’s.
Below a scan photo of Walter Lindrum’s Riley Viceroy taken from an old Brochure of Riley’s dated 1937-38 the only difference between this viceroy and the imperial is the large deep archways , and below that a colour template from the Riley Sales catalogue dated 1937-38 , I think the only difference in this colour photo is the deep archways and the slide in panel hiding the cushion bolts was much thicker on the viceroy and slanted .
The third scanned photo is the various Riley patent scoreboards of that period when these tables where produced , I am sure my client will find these interesting especially the one bottom left which is the normal one supplied to Gentlemen’s clubs with two bevelled mirrors and some had a clothes brush in the centre with a hook to hang it on , although on this one it has a paper clip in the centre , CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE for a better close up view . I have added a fourth photo of cue’s that Riley sold around that time , just look at the prices in 1937 for Hand spliced cue’s .

And our Very Happy client has added a few words to add to our Blog.

Today we have been asked to pick up a Snooker / Pool dining table and bench seats in solid oak from Leicester area to the other side of the M6 near Stafford
A total of 144 mile round trip from our base.

We arrived and quickly dismantled the table and loaded it onto our van , fully taking care in wrapping every polished part so no damage could occur to the table , the rise and fall lifters where also numbered
it is important to keep each rise and fall lifter in order so that they go back on the table in the same place , as they are made from brass and wear into the other part of the lifter .
You will then have a more smooth action rise and fall system rather than one that sticks .

the cushions we noticed where a little loose on this table , and we have found that the manufacturer /installer has missed some screws out , a rather large amount of screws , also the way the under screwing of the cushions was done is a little to be desired , so we have suggested on the next re-cover that we re-drill new location holes for the cushions , thus we will then make a much better job of the cushion fixing and a better bounce from the cushion’s.
a firm cushion is a must on any cue sports table . but in order to do this work we have to re-drill through the edge of the slate and the old bed cloth will have to come off for this .
If the manufacturer /supplier of this table reads this,Hang your head in shame , this table was not fitted correctly on it’s first installation.

The finished table install above in it’s playing level and below with the three section table top and Bench seats

and below as always GCL Billiards take their time to level the table

A pool table recover local to me , the slate again was covered with the spray on glue residue , this makes a ball down the side of the table roll into the table or snake , also around the pocket openings a slow ball could just put the brakes on as it rolls up to the lip of the old glue under the cloth.

We erased as much glue as we could using acetone thinners, then sanded down the remaining to remove the glue from the playing area of the slate
At GCL billiards we use combed on contact adhesive , this is the best way to glue the cloth to the slate , is has high grab values and if put on the edge cannot interfere with the play field of the pool table. Spray on glue is not the way to put the bed cloth onto slate . it is a quick way of doing it and many speed fitters use this method of glueing as many slates as they can in one day .
after the re-cover we turn our attention to the level of the table , where many table fitters are out the door by now we take our time and get the table to it’s best level possible even if it means phoning up our next appointment later in the day to say we are running late .
on this table it was showing high on the glue before the re-cover , after the removal of the glue and new cloth we got the table level to 0.0 on the digital level .

The finished table ready and ready for League play that evening
we got the work through recommendation from another client , this is our testimony to a job well done , Recommendation is the best form of praise that we could hope for , it brings new clients to our door , and through this client we also hope for more re-covering of cue sports tables in and around the league .
we like to feel that we are the best in what we do and the No 1 choice, when I am looking for say an Ariel fitter or double glazing specialist , it is always a minefield of who to go to or who to trust , I think it is the same with re-covering of cue sports tables , and recommendation is the best form of advertising for us .
if you require your table re-covering or new rubber etc. , then contact Geoff on 07753466064 or email  c.large@btinternet.com

Today I have been over to Northampton to sort out a re-cover that had been done only 8 weeks ago.  The client phoned me with a list of things he did not like about the work that had been carried out by a firm from down south.  I cannot name them for legal reasons but for now we will call them Bodge it and Scarper.

On arrival I started to dismantle the table down for a re-cover.  What I found will alarm some, but I do come across this type of shoddy work all the time.  Remember a low quote normally results in shoddy work or lower priced cloth used.  You are not saving any money in the long run using firms that do this type of work.

The first fault I found was the slips were hammered in low on the cushions.  This made the cushions look untidy and you could feel proud staples under the cushion cloth from above the cushion where you rest your hand on sometimes to take a shot.

Photo 1: Just look at this stapled in slip with proud staples showing after I took the cushion cloth off.  You could really feel these through the cloth!

photo 2 ,  fault 2 , I found where the very large V on the middle slate fall , this is where a person cannot fit the cloth properly and glues a piece of cloth in the fall before he attempts to recover as he knows he is going to end up with these very large upturned V shape in the pocket fall .
photo below of V in fall , a badly fitted cloth .

Fault 3 , the Bed cloth had been put on with a staple gun by Mr  Bodge it , on no account should anyone put a Billiard table Bed cloth on with staples , it is amateurish and for a so called professional firm to do it , that is shocking workmanship as is all the faults that I am listing in this thread . and Fault 4 was the type of cloth they fitted to a Match table , Club grade is for normal snooker table use , 6811 Strachan  is available in three or four different grades and in different weights in that grade , the cloth they should have fitted is Strachan 6811 tournament with two blue embroidered lines in , you can clearly see this 6811 club has red lines in .  when quoting for a match table they should have been given the choice of match cloths not club cloths , and pointed out to them what the difference is in such cloths .
So bad choice of cloth and not fitted correctly .

The next fault I found was the none cleaning of the slate before fitting the bed cloth , under the spots on a snooker table you get a large mound of compounded slate dust , this should have been removed by lightly sanding the slate down , the client expressed that they where having difficulty getting balls to stay on the spots straight after the cowboys had re-covered it , When I removed the cloth , I found out they had not cleaned the slate down before fitting of new cloth . look at the photo you can see the two lumps of chalk dust where the old spots used to sit , this is common on tables where players pound the ball into the spot , it vibrates dust to the impact point and builds up small mountain of dust under the cloth which gets compacted just like these two lumps . but it takes months for this to happen not 8 weeks since they re-covered the table .
 the next fault was the level of the table , it was expressed by the owners that the table be levelled when they re-covered this match table , they left it dipping towards the black spot end , by a very large amount , that a slow ball across the table just kept rolling off .
I also found that on one cushion the rubber had been nailed on for about a foot ,this should have been re-glued back on , but I cannot be sure the people who did this  re-cover did this, so will let them off that fault , but I did take a photo for my records .

Right that’s enough of the fault finding for now , the following photo’s show what I did to rectify the poor workmanship .
First of all the Bed cloth was fitted using 5/8ths tacks as used in the Billiard table industry for fitting bed cloth for years and still used today , the slate fall on the centre pocket is fitted correctly no large V can be seen , the cloth used for this Match table is Strachan 6811 tournament cloth , there is only around £20 difference from using this cloth to Strachan club cloth , so is it really worth fitting the lower quality club cloth to the match table ?
I took the old cloth off as careful as I could this is now going back to the firm that undertook the first re-cover .
I put a strip of cloth in the large rebate that the cloth slips go into , to raise the slip slightly , this got rid of the sunken slip shape in the cushion . you may also note the Electronic digital  level is at 0.0 , which is bang on level , although in places it is 0.1 which is the thickness of a £20 note out of level , which is nothing to worry about as the ball still rolls true . and is miles better than the 0.7 it was out by before I levelled it .
Pocket openings are 3.5/8ths at the fall on all corner pockets , the fitter who did the The last re-cover had one pocket wider than the other , it is very simple to make sure that both end pockets are the same , nip each end bolt up and measure,  if they are not the same ,slightly slacken the  end bolts  and tap cushion across slightly towards the larger pocket opening , there is a 1/8th clearance around each bolt so this gives adjustment to make sure the pocket opening at the fall is identical , when they are simply tighten all the bolts up .
The finished table , why the other firm did not carry out the work to a satisfactory level is beyond me they also did three pool tables at the same time as this snooker table and made a mess of recovering the cushions correctly on at least two of these  , I base my business on repeat work , by showing my new client how I went about the work show’s him I really care about my work ethics .
and the result was a promise of more work on their many snooker tables and pool tables , not only in this club but at their much larger sister Club .
I hope by showing the faults and what to avoid will point more customers my way , I may be £20 to £40 more expensive , but I do use more expensive materials and invest in the proper tools to do the work , so in reality am I any dearer ? and you can be sure I take my time and also improve the table if possible .