Full size snooker table recover and re-rubber in Corby Northamptonshire

I have just spent two days at a clients Home in Corby Northamptonshire.
My work for the two days was to set up a full size Karnehm and Hillman table and fit adjustable slate bearers , plus re-rubber and re-cover plus fit new nets and leathers
My client and his wife was also putting me up for a night with evening meal and Breakfast on site at his very nice home , this is a common thing with some clients who wish the table work to go smoothly with less traveling .
and I was most grateful for the offer of this which meant less traveling and more time on the job .
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so the first part of the work was to fit some adjustable slate bearer’s or Muntin’s as we call them in the billiards industry
these are converted joist hangers with a bolt and lock nut attached .
I would recommend  this conversion as a very good upgrade on Snooker / Billiards tables , especially those built in the 1980s onward’s which have soft Italian / Chinese / Brazilian  slate which is prone to sagging if not supported in the center .
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this photo shows the adjustable bracket’s fitted and the muntin slate bearer in place and screwed up to the center of the slate bed .
this will support the slate down the center of the table , and if any movement down then the slate can be easily adjusted upwards useing the bolts
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to stop wood being screwed into a metal picture frame plate is screwed to the underside of the muntin bearer ,
so that the bolt only makes contact to the metal plate area , thus stopping the wood being damaged by the bolt .
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a simple conversion yet so effective and makes the table slate bed much better to keep level , and adjust if necessary .
most modern Snooker / billiard table’s made today have this system fitted .
but there are thousands of tables out there which suffer from slate sagging , so always ask for this conversion if possible if you are having a table re-errected .
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slate’s on level and under surround cloth tack wood linings fitted , and joint’s filled
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Onto the re-rubber work , I glue all 6 strips together on my gluing board .
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and we also glue the blocks of the cushions ready to make the contact adhesive  that we use work
both rubber back and block facing have equal amounts of contact adhesive spread onto them .
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the rubber we use is very high class Northern rubber as used on world championship tables
made in Retford in the UK , now owned by Hainsworth
You can see this set of 6 cushion rubbers  left the Factory in March 2016 , so only 3 months old , we only buy our rubber as we require it .
We do not want to end up useing older stored rubber on our table work .
you can get lower priced Imported rubber , but we only fit the best the £60 saved is not worth the risk of being found out , we like to keep our reputation clean
so we only use high quality materials in all our work , the only time I use imported rubber is on UK pool tables which have imported rubber on from new unless the client asked for an upgrade to Northern rubber  .
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the rubber is skillfully shaped and undercut smooth , you will not find any re-rubber done by Geoff at GCL Billiards cut rough and just covered over
I have even sanded the sharp wood angle to prevent cloth splitting when a ball falls against it down the pocket opening .
An example from another firm of rough cut rubber below .
bagworth very bad undercut
just look how rough some fitters think is acceptable !
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the rubber fitted to the block rebate of the cushion .
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the cushions re-covered we now pay attention back to the slate bed ,
the filler we put in yesterday is sanded smooth over the joints and the whole bed lightly sanded to make as one smooth bed .
The level is also rechecked at this point .
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the bed cloth laid on top of the slate ready for tacking .
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The transfer of the Strachan 6811 30 oz tournament cloth used .
all Strachan cloth carries one of these transfers every 10 feet .
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To make try and combat counterfeit cloth Strachan also embroider two blue lines for Tournament cloth or Red lines for club cloth
to one edge , they also embroider Genuine Pure Quality Strachan 6811 tournament to the side too .
Strachan by the way is pronounced STRAWN .
6811 tournament 30 oz is the most used cloth in the world , it has a very good reputation for durability qualities while retaining speed  and close nap , and is 100% pure new wool .
We only use the best manufactured cloth made in the UK.
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Bed cloth fitted and marked out ready for ironing
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the table is now complete apart from the cushion buttons which my client has for now misplaced
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I also supplied a peradon black fitted dust cover and a set of second hand very well made hard top sections that tongue and groove together
the silver dust cover was also put on to protect the black cover , this table top is going to be used for when my client have Family and friends  around for Christmas and parties for dining off
the cover also has rubber inserts that protect the cushions .
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My clients home , the snooker room is to the left of the main house with bi fold doors .
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