This week I have been over in Northamptonshire to start the work on a large snooker club which has 12 full size snooker tables , 2 american pool tables and 6 UK supreme pool tables.
I started off on monday to recover the three Supreme Pool tables , and found a few faults and gave advice accordingly to sort it out going forward on the next recovers.

Photo of pool table area , the dots are dust particles from the recovering the flash is bouncing off them .

The previous firm had swapped cushions over , by bringing second hand already covered cushions they swapped the good cushions with this miss match set of 3 red rubber , 2 black rubber and 1 blue rubber , all these rubbers offer different rebound value and are all on one table so  a miss match .
My recommendation is to buy a new set of cushions and replace next time round and try and match up with other cushions to get all black rubber sets .
Once sorted out the cushions should never be mixed up , always recover and put the same cushions back on each table they came from , as the pool team will be used to the bounce and it could spoil their game to put rubbish dead cushions or mixed up cushions like these on when they have had good rebound cushions in the past.

Another mixed set this time 5 old red rubber cushions and one newer Black cushion rubber .

From Tuesday to Friday we re-covered 6 full size snooker tables in the upper room , this room also had a match set of riley steel Block cushions fitted , all the tables where Square legged Karnehm & hillman tables ,  these are very good tables to work on , but they had a right cowboy re-cover them last year and he had stapled all the bed cloths on and used the lower grade 6811 CLUB cloth when they had ordered 6811 Tournament gold .

the two photo’s above showing that the last fitter had stapled the bed cloths on , these where badly fitted cloths with loose centre pocket falls , long club cloth nap which made the tables very slow , they had only been on a year , and it was the club’s intentions to reuse these cloths on the downstairs tables but they where well past their sell by date .
Always have a bed cloth tacked on , with heads of tacks showing proud so that any future re stretching can be done with ease by simple flick out of bed cloth tacks  by leaving space to lever each tack out with a screwdriver , this has been the prefered method of attaching cloth for over 100 years , staples are the prefered method of attaching cushion cloth but NEVER on a bed cloth .
this is not the first time I have come across this fitters work , last year I did the sister club to this establishment and that cloth was taken off after just one months use .
I was told by one of the local snooker players who was speaking to this fitter a year ago , he had told him that he had been in the trade of fitting snooker tables for over 30 years , well all I can say he must have taught himself , because a time served fitter would never do this type of cowboy work , and I know he is still out there doing it and is based in the London Area so buyer beware as they say .

The Match table has steel block cushions on , giving a better truer bounce .

The corner pocket opening on the match table is 3.5 inch at the fall , I have measured all corner pockets and they are all the same , the last fitter had them al at different sizes , and on all the tables he had just used a speed drill to tighten the cushion bolts up , and not nipped them up tight after with a brace and socket , I made sure all bolts where nipped up tight .
Next week I will return for one more snooker table re-cover , and two american pool table re-covers in Strachan super pro speed cloth with 70% merino wool to 30% man made fibre , this is the best speed cloth to use , not only for fitting easy , but for playing on too .
we are very busy at the moment , a few Saturdays to also fill in before i go away on holiday , as I do not want to turn work away while it is coming in like this .
A busy firm should explain a lot of things to people , it is only busy because we care about what we do and the way we go about it , using good quality cloth and good time served Workmanship , and lastly we listen to our clients , we do not miss inform them just to make a quick exit , today for example , when I had finished al the tables I cleaned up vacuumed the floor , then checked all the levels of the tables  in the snooker room .
Then got the client to inspect , I knew though by feedback from the players that they where very happy with the work and cloth used.

Today we traveled to a place near Peterborough to dismantle a full size Karnehm and Hillman Buckingham full size tulip leg modern table .
this was not an easy job , the 5 section 2 inch thick slate   was located upstairs and had to be brought down three steps from one room.
then each slate put into a slate slide shoe and slid down the main stairs on a protective carpet run to avoid damage to original stair carpet .
the following photo’s show the table in it’s original room and also loaded onto the van wrapped in blankets ready for our drive back to our nottingham storage agent jonills Removal.

this is the table during dismantle stage , cloth and cushions removed and slates slid apart ready to slide onto trolley , you may notice the wood slate shoe slide
on the floor to the left of the table , this is placed on one edge and ratchet strapped to the slate , this is my /mk 3 version that is home made for the job and works to make the job of sliding the slate downstairs a three man job, rather than using 4 to 6 men.
you cannot go out and buy a slate slide , you have to improvise and make one , this information of how to make one passed down from fitter to fitter .
my version has been modified from the original mk1 and mk2  by adding two ratchet straps to fully fasten the slate into the slide.

some steep stairs where involved to cover over with blankets and a strip of old carpet  so that the slide could be slid without damage to owners carpet and stairs.

the whole Full sized snooker table neatly stored and loaded onto the van , every leg wrapped in removals blankets and also polished ends and cushions .

The house was very large with huge entrance hall staircase , some valuable antique tables and ornaments had to be carefully put out of harms way tyo clear a path from upstairs room to van .

The house is used for Weddings and  Business Conference meetings and has 28 Bedrooms
We arrived at 9.30 am and the table was fully loaded by 1 pm . so 3.5 hours in total for a van and three men .
I set out at 6 .30 am picking the extra men up en-route one from nottingham and another from Lincoln  , and arrived back home after putting the table into storage at 4.30pm , a 10 hour day and no time for a lunch break , we only got 15 minute coffee break once slate was loaded , then cracked on to get the work done and then back to nottingham via Lincoln .

the K&H table was bought by our buying client at very low money , this has enabled him to spend a little in having the cushions re-polished , new nets and leather and new re-cloth .
the table is being stored for around 7 weeks , by that time we will have completed our backlog of work to do , and the customer will have finished his Garage conversion , and I will be back from my two week break in Tenerife. an holiday I am looking forward to after an hectic work schedule .

It has been none stop since my last break in Tenerife about  this time last year , but I am not moaning , you have to do the work when it is in .

GCL billiard are again expanding our rental stock by another three tables into one venue . the Midlands based venue is upgrading and have worked out the Tax benefits of Renting tables over buying and also the two recovers a year that is included in the rental price . It is a a win win situation , GCL wins by expanding its rental stock and guarantees extra revenue , and the venue win by not having any major maintenance costs going forward and the tax benefits of rentals over buying . I have been informed that the three Brand new supreme Winner tables will kick start off this club to become a major player in finals and competitions in the area . now normally we would not venture out of our comfort area zone , but this venue is only just outside that area by around 10 mile  , and we are trying to reach a target of X amount of pool tables out there , this provides valuable guaranteed work and income for GCL billiards thats 6 recovers a year . Below various Black Supreme winner tables , some we have out on rental and others are what we maintain for other clients . We prefer to buy the latest Black Pearl Edition of the winner with it’s improved solid die cast chrome corners with raised lettering much more sturdy than the old plastic chrome corner plates add to this the alloy cushion trim which is much better than the old plastic black trim that breaks up . the latest Green background badge with UK pool tour logo , you can actually date a table from various designs , the Badge is one way and trims are another , also discontinued wood finish is another . We do have other colour finishes of table out there on rental such as White and Woodgrain mahogany and oak . but we would prefer to have all black if possible as they are the one’s that most like to play on , the new Black pearl finish is much better than the old Black ash as it will not reflect light off the cushion surround , a problem with the black Ash especially when they get a little older as Mr sheen or pledge  is used to clean the table the top surround gets more shinier and starts to dazzle the player when taking a shot.

Today I visited the English and Wales Cricket Boards Academy and National Cricket performance Centre located in the grounds of Loughborough University .
I was asked around a month ago to do this work so i knew to take a set of brand new cushions from super League with me as the old ones where way past their sell by date .
The cloth chosen was the Strachan Super Pro speed cloth which has a high content of wool mix within the cloth , when you compare this speed cloth with the many man made fibre cloths you can see why this is rated No 1 choice.

The table before any work was done

The badly worn cloth , you can see where the ball has burnt the cloth , each white mark is a skid burn mark as the ball is suddenly accelerated forward , this occurs mainly on 100% to high content of man made fibre speed cloths .
the Strachan Super pro worsted cloth has around 70% of merino wool content and 30% of man made fibre, this cloth maintains it’s characteristics longer than any other Premium cloths , is durable and LESS PRONE to ball marks such as the above , more resistant to tears holes and bruises , and as a bonus is treated with spill guard to protect against spills and stains , but remember spill guard is just a spray on treatment and quickly wears off , you can buy a can of spill guard and retreat your cloth at anytime on a regular basis .

The sign of quality cloths the Strachan branding , at GCL Billiards we specialise in using Strachan cloths in all of our cuesports re-covering , whether it be on pool tables with this worsted cloth or full size snooker tables with Strachan tournament cloth , you can be sure we use the best .
We can also supply the Hainsworth cloths but we tend to recommend the Strachan cloth over this , and at the end of the day it is the customer’s choice.

Bed cloth going on

The old cushions with hard 5/8th rubber and the Brand new cushions , supplied from the manufacturer of the table Super League at Master billiards .

The finished table , we supplied two new door locks and replaced one pocket liner .
Again our client was delighted with the result , the new cushions and the new speed cloth made for a very fast table , with the ball bouncing off 8 cushions when hit around the table and almost made the 9th  cushion .

A new client of ours asked us to look at his DPT ascot Pool table in a conservatory .
The cloth had faded pretty bad , this is the case with most pool or snooker tables sited in a conservatory with glass or plastic roofing.
on strip down we found the red rubber ( low quality taiwan) that the UK manufacturer used was just turning hard especially on no 2 and 3 cushions .
So it was decided to have the cushions re-rubbered in best northern rubber as used on full size snooker tables on TV tournaments .
below a photo of the table before we started work


First thing we check when re-covering a pool table with taiwan rubber is to check the rubber for bounce , this table was just turning from soft rubber to hard no bounce on some parts of the rubber .
this is caused by the red dye in the rubber being more inclined to be affected by ozone , which decomposes the rubber in two ways , one to send it like sponge and sticky and the other like this , to turn hard from the outside edge inwards .

Cushions taken off and stripped down , the wood is in excellent condition not having had any re-covers from new , so it was decided to have much better quality UK made black rubber fitted which is long life and not effected by ozone

Two photo’s showing the high quality northern rubber used , the end buffers where taken off the old cushion rubber and reused onto the new rubber .
with all good northern rubber , it carries a date transfer , and this set was manufactured in September 2013 .
it can be around £45 higher costing to have this make of rubber put onto your cushions rather than the standard black rubber , but you then have peace of mind for around 20 to 30 years of the cushions being good .

cloth being glued on , slate has been cleaned and old spray on glue removed . We also clean the ball rails of all sweat grease and dust , this builds up like a black wax on the ball runs and the result is sticking balls , if every table had this work done on a regular basis or every re-cover then balls would not stick .

Finished table with the original cloth photo next to it , this really shows it was due a re-cover , with the new cushion rubber this table is now better than when it was new , better cloth and better cushion rubber is proof of that .
A peradon black dust cover was also purchased to keep the sun off the table cloth when not in use .
The Owner was delighted with the result !

We are pleased to say we are very busy at the moment
even working weekends and Bank holidays to get through the workload.
I have worked booked out solid from now until end of June , then I am away for two weeks on a well deserved break in Tenerife.
for those wishing to book GCL billiards for work , please book us in advance of any work , GCL Billiards are getting really busy now
and we put this down not only to our hard work to get out there and seek the work , but also to all our clients who repeat work with us
And also recommend us to other new clients , they say word of mouth recommendations are the best way to get your firm noticed , and this has been the case from day one of GCL Billiards being set up .
I received around 6 phone calls on sunday and again on Bank holiday Monday for work , and have arranged some weekend work to get this extra load done .