Yesterday I was called out to re-level a Pool table that is based very local to me here in Long Eaton about 1 mile away, the table was a Supreme Prince with the round legs , when I got there I could not believe the state of the last recover , the bed cloth was almost off the slate , they had used inferior spray on glue and it had not stuck , I explained to the owner that in my opinion , the charge for leveling would be better put towards a full recover as the cloth was also inferior low grade.
They gave me the go ahead to recover the table , when I removed the cushions and cloth I was even more shocked to find that they had rerubbered the old cushions in old snooker rubber that had been removed from a full size table , not realy shocked at that because it can be done for a lower cost option than brand new cushions,but more so that the rubber was not in one piece , they had used two bits of rubber and the joint could be seen through the cloth, also the rubber was falling off the wood, and they had recovered over three sets of staple, this fitter was not hanging around he was in and out within a hour maybe less?, I always take every staple out of the cushions and tape the rubber just as I would a full size snooker table . this makes for better easier recover on the next visit. and I always do a job with the intention that I will be the one coming back to do it again, it is never a bodge it and scarper job like the last fitter.
I had with me another set of Supreme cushions with the modern blue Rubber on although they where a used set but not very old, they where 100% better than the set that I took off , I then proceeded to take the cloth off the slate , I moved the slate over to one side and the state of the inside of the table was a mess, they had spray glued the slate in situ , and the overspray had gone all over the ball pocket runs and inside the table , also the inside was full of muck and old bits of recover cloth from previous recovers.
I vacumed the table out , washed all the ball rails down , washed the alloy ball tray and inspected the coin mech, I then recovered the slate making sure that it was done with good contact adiesive which was not the sprayed on type, the cloth will now stay on,I then noticed that the legs where also loose, so retightened the nuts back up to stop the table wobble,I then turned my attention to the slate dip.
Pool tables are not made in the same way as a Snooker table , they have a 7 foot lenth span and the body of the table tends to dip in the middle this will also make the slate dip in the middle, some people pack the slate with beer mats, this is not a good idea because you are then leaving parts of the slate unsupported and the risk of slate breakage is always there, I use thin strips of cloth staple placed on the main long middle supports I build them up gradual to form a pyramid , this way the slate is supported along its total lenth and the dip is rectified making level of the table much better.
It is a bit of trial and error getting the dish out of the slate , the slate may have to come out two or three times before you can get it level, but once done it is much better to play on, the customer’s asked me to recover the table in the same cloth and in the same way as the local snooker clubs pool tables which are also in this pubs league,of which I also maintain with regular recovers for summer and winter league, this snooker club is regarded as having the best pool table in the league by most players, I would also now put this table as one of the best to play on in the league provided that they brush and iron it every day like the snooker club , that realy is the secret of a good table , the brushing and ironing. if you leave a cloth without maintenance it will form balls of fluff and ridges in the cloth , the brushing will remove dirt and the iron will keep the cloth flat and fast to play on,
Now thats not the end of the story when I had finnished, the landlady told me who had done the last recover, I was shocked to find out I knew the Guy , I know they can produce better workmanship than this ! she aslo informed me that they had paid for brand new cushions on the reciept, not bodged two piece old snooker rubber, needless to say she is pursuing the matter.
