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 .