The city of Derby and surrounding area’s are a hot bed for Cue sports , and there are some very handy cue sharks about in Derby , I have heard of a couple of Hustlers who visit the club’s praying on the not so well learned players for money matches .

on a lighter note we have got work at a very large snooker club in Derby , we have been trying to get into this establishment for years , but they have been using out of area fitters , the owner was just happening to be travelling towards Nottingham one day when he came behind our highly colourful van , with it’s distinctive photo referees hand on ball on the rear door’s , our mobile phone number is also on the rear door , so it was some surprise that I got the phone call from the owner of this large snooker club located near Derby City Centre .
Can you quote us for some work ? when he informed me who he was I said over the years we have been trying to get into your club for work without success, Now I am self Employed and only live a few miles from this club , I really wanted to make a good impression and make sure I get repeat work .

I have now completed two recovers of full size snooker tables and one pool table , hopefully the owner is delighted with the work and we will get some follow on work

the club has 17 full size snooker tables and a few Supreme pool tables , the two that I stripped down had the lower quality Strachan silver 6811 , not a bad cloth , but not as good as the 6811 Gold  tournament 30 oz which we fitted , you may be surprised that there is only a price difference of around £20 between these two cloths , so is it really worth fitting the silver grade ?
we always quote for the Gold 6811 tournament in 30 oz grade and people who are comparing quotes should make sure it is like for like cloth , as that £10 saving per table  in the long run is costing you £10 more . ALWAYS make sure you ask for 6811 Gold tournament 30 oz cloth and look for the gold embroidered words on the edge and the transfer under the cloth .


The old cloth that we took off has silver embroidered thread wording , this not a bad cloth , but it is not what we in the trade class as a good standard cloth to play on , more for it’s wear qualities with it’s long woolly nap than the fine trimmed nap of gold 6811 tournament .

A few posts to add that I did not have time to do over the very busy schedule we now have during the month of January

We visited a local social club near Ilkeston to refurbish the snooker and pool table.

A modern Riley Regis full size snooker table that was purchased from Stapleford Cue club some years ago  , this is Rileys entry turned leg model and sold in their thousands during the 1980’s onwards. you can spot them by their thin frame work and thin legs .
These entry models do not have hand floated slates so there maybe slate joint lines appearing in the cloth as was the case with this one , I did rake out all the old filler in the slate joints and surface feather filled with car body filler to improve the slate joints , they are still not perfect but are a big improvement , you can just about make out the first slate joint showing through the old cloth before the re-cover in the photo below just about in line with my Van keys , click on the photo to enlarge.

We where asked to recover the full size snooker table in Strachan 6811 tournament cloth and also the old Hazel Grove Super league in Burgundy 777 Strachan cloth for the kid’s to play on

We also fitted new nets and leathers to this table to really uplift the table to better playing conditions , I also think this is worthwhile on any re-cover even if the old nets and leathers are not ready , new ones always make job more complete and the tables looks and plays better as the eye is more drawn to those nice new leathers .

The pool table with new 777 Strachan in Burgundy colour

The phone is none stop again , we have taken in orders for numerous pool table recovering , Snooker tables dismantle and store plus set up , and Snooker table Recover and re-rubber at a couple of large local clubs  .
We have been looking at future work for our regular clients too , and have in the pipeline supply 3 sets of steel block cushions and recover 4 tables , and there are tables due stretching bed cloths in the near future too .
We try and never turn work away , we can also work Saturdays too if you cannot make it on a weekday to be at Home or at the Club , We also have our own stock of Pool table hire to maintain too ,and these are now coming up for recover work also , and we are adding to our growing clientèle of Pubs and clubs who like our well maintained schedule for pool table maintenance which we believe is second to none having two recovers a year as standard for Winter and Summer league pool .

We use the latest new die-cast metal cornered Supreme pool tables for our pool table hire business .

We also do multiple snooker table re-covering work for large club’s at competitive rates .
Our Free to advertise tables for sale and wanted are getting some hits too , and work is coming in for table dismantles and relocations from these direct from seller sale’s .
If you are looking for a snooker table then try the For sale Section on our website , if you are looking for a specific type of table , it may be a 9ft or 10ft or maybe a oak one or a particular make like Burroughs and watts or Thurston or George Wright for examples , then try our wanted section of the web site .
all we ask is you try and use GCL Billiards to relocate the table , we have the tools and moving equipment and the Skilled Billiards fitter to make sure everything is done to a high standard .

We do not use third party sub contract fitters or old high miles  hire vans which have a tendency to break down , we have invested in a new van and plan to upgrade every 4 years so less likely to let anyone down with a breakdown . We also wrap all the woodwork up in professional Removals Blankets .
We treat your table as if it where our own.
The only time we do use a third party is for storage , we find a professional Remover’s Dry warehouse  to store our tables and our good friends Jonills Removals have just the place for this , we do not add any extra you just pay what jonills charge direct for the storage and they insure your goods in with the price.
If you are moving house we can also combine the use of jonills removals for your house move and also take the snooker table down too on the same move .

We use our own new van for table removals , but if you wish for the table to be moved at the same time as main removal may we suggest our good friends jonills below for the house removal.
   
http://jonills-removals.co.uk/

We are ready to start taking orders for the New 2014 year, we already have work booked in for some of January and would like to fill the rest of the month in and also start taking work in for February and March .
We decided to take a longer break this Christmas and New year and move our Daughter into her new Home in Nottingham and do a little decorating and tiling , now that has been done we are 100% into taking New orders for Re-covering  – stretching of Bed cloth’s and levelling / Table move’s / Re-rubber / Pool table Recover & Rental .

We specialise in relocating tables from one area to another offering a full service of table dismantle load transport and set up , if you have a table that requires a move then please get in touch , our rates are very competitive .

a Full size snooker table table move , van loaded , cushions and legs well wrapped .

This move was for a customer who bought two shipping containers to store the entire contents of his house , his House is then going to be demolished to make way for a total new build .
We just dismantled the Full size table and stored it in one of the containers .

Well Dennis has not lost his popularity as a player and all round cue sports commentator and comedian .
A special night at the Stapleford cue club in Nottinghamshire thanks to Adam Jed And Steve Judd .
the club is not very large and the aim is to not overfill but to have a more personal hands on personal approach to entertaining the 75 to 100 people who attend these special nights put on by the management of Stapleford cue club near Nottingham and very close to junction 25 of the M1 so easy to get to.
here are a few photo’s of the night

Myself and Dennis on the night , before anyone says it , NO I don’t look like Steve McLaren !
we had a few Derby county supporters in and they where chanting to me that I looked like him , but Iv’e got more hair but only just !
I wonder where they got that idea from Jed ?

Tuesdays work was to re-cover a full size snooker table in a basement games room in Trowel in Nottinghamshire close to  ilkeston in Derbyshire.
The table had been purchased by our client from stoke for just £350 and a firm from stoke had set the table up around 6 months ago.
they had been saving for a re-cover for the last six months and called GCL billiards in to complete the work.


the pocket openings where 3.5/8ths at the fall before I took the table apart , but when they went back together the opening was 1/16th less due to the fact that I got the cushions on tightly fitted , if the cushions are not on tight they will not give the full rebound value of the rubber and the openings would be slightly larger as was the case on this table .
The table looked like an allied billiards table make.
I found that the heating that was under the table was too hot being a convector open element type which gave a very hot spot in the centre of the table the heaters being a free standing  shallow type so something could have fallen on them  , I have advised to replace with  tube heating of lower wattage or oil filled radiators , a gentle rising sealed in heat is much better for the slate and wood work than an open convector type , in fact I would say it was a time bomb waiting to happen , if anything had fell on top of these heaters being only around 12 to 14 inch high , as some other parts of the underside of the table was being used for storage then a fire would have started .
The owner has taken this on board and is looking to replace ASAP .
He is highly delighted with the work that GCL Billiards have carried out and advice given not only about heating but also new type lighting and type of Brush and iron required to keep in good order .
To complete our work on this table we adjusted for level and looked at the slate joints , the table has a set of very good Hand floated Italian slates which makes the £350 paid for the table a real Bargain .

Mondays work was to set up a Sam K steel american pool table .

When we arrived the frame was already set up with slates on , but they had left out vital parts from under the slate  , we removed the slate then put all the small metal levelling pads on the bolts within the upper frame , we then put the 3 section slate back on and levelled the table , put the lock down bolts in and filled the slate joints in .

we then stripped the cushions and started the re-cover in new Burgundy american speed cloth .
the table was a little tight in the cabin and they will have to play with some cut down cue’s for some cushion shots .

as you can see it was daylight when we started this job , but it was late when we finished it and really dark outside , partly down to some parts missing when they put the table in removals storage and us having to find spare bolts and nuts for it . and us having to strip down to rebuild what was put up before we arrived. also it was very tight working around the table  , I am  6 foot 2 inch I found it really cramped at time’s , but it is not the tightest area I have put a table up , I once put a full size snooker table into a terraced house with 18 inch space down each side for cueing !

We are that booked up for the Christmas rush that we are working weekends to fit all the work in , Last Saturday we had arranged to re-rubber a full size snooker table for an old school friend of mine , who just happens to be related as he is my cousins cousin if you can get the meaning from that .
Mick used to be in the same year and same school as myself we both left school in 1969 , Mick bought Anthony Hamilton’s Full size snooker table that he had at home when Anthony lived with his parents in Carlton in Nottingham , I moved the table for Mick around 20 years ago to a stable block at his home in Ockbrook which is about 4 miles from where I live in Long Eaton.
The Table is an old Riley square leg in oak , Mick has stripped the table down to bare wood and just sealed it for a more natural rustic look of natural light oak , he and his brother also replace the lower moulding with rebate slot for the slide in cushion panels , with good English oak reclaimed from another source.
Mick is very enthusiastic about showing the woods natural grain , he has made furniture around his house like a roll top desk and head boards for the beds all in oak .

As can be seen the wood has some very good natural oak Grain swirls, and for what was Rileys entry model in the 1920’s the quality of the oak is very good. there is even some 1/4 sawn oak striping on the cushions.
Mick has just completed an extension onto his house and built into this a very large basement games room , he has put up the modern high frequency lighting , and there are also mood lighting concealed in upward light reflection lighting system around the outside edge of the room which changes colour .
You may have read a few months ago on this GCL billiards  blog site about the job of lowering by crane  some snooker slates into a basement . well this is the table and the finished basement, you can read that posting here https://gclbilliards.com/crane-in-snooker-slate-into-building-basement-near-derby/


This is the table before the re-cover , the new rubber has been fixed onto the cushions and the corner and middle pocket openings have been cut to size using a template , the set of templates we use are just a shade too large for these standard cushions at the back edge of the template in the inner pocket it overlaps the oak woodwork  and are really meant to be used on steel block cushions , so we used the templates to get the size at the fall and then adjusted the angle to suit the wood work of the table .
Now before you think i am saying the templates on steel block cushions are larger then these , they are not , I know it is confusing , but what I am describing is the back edge of the template so here is a couple of photo’s showing the template in and what I cut them at , taking the first part of the template as it meets the fall then free hand the cut to the rear.



the corner pockets cut to size  , the black ball to show the size of opening which without cloth is 3.3/4 of an inch at the fall and with cloth 3. 5/8ths at the fall .
As with most of these old tables especially the Riley’s , the rubber narrows at the back end of the angle , this makes for ball rattle , I am afraid the rubber has to be there and you cannot just have bare wood with the cloth just in front of it as the cloth will wear out very quick , some players and some Match officials still cannot understand why these old tables have narrowing pockets from the 3.5/8ths to just 3 1/4 inch as in this case , it is because of the way the cushions have been manufactured , trying to cut woodwork off it to rectify the opening would not work you would end up with other problems of trying to fit the pocket plates onto a wider opening  , the only option to get modern pocket openings is to fit modern cushions or steel block cushions , I have seen tables like these that Billiard fitters have butchered trying to get the modern opening , they always look a mess .
So I am afraid you have to learn to live with the opening , after all Joe Davies was making 120 to 147 breaks on these types of tables in the 1930’s / 40’s with tighter pocket openings than these.
Joe had the Mahogany turned leg version of this table with the same cushion profiles as this table at as his own table at home  , the last time I worked on that table was at the Metal box company in Mansfield in the 1990’s where his Nephew had the table installed. He of course had other tables in his lifetime but the first one he owned was given to his Nephew who worked for the metal box company in Mansfield. and because he had no where to put it , he asked his work if he could put it above his workshop and then the workforce could use it , I do not know if it is still there ?

Mick’s Brother has re-blocked the cushions for the new rubber to be fitted , I found he had by mistake reproduced the corner angle to the centre pocket angles so , I  spliced new bits of wood to the centre angle and belt sanded them to form a proper angle for the centre pocket undercut of the rubber , this allowed for a much better job when re-covering the cushions .
apart from this minor mishap the woodwork renovations  carried out by Mick and his Brother was spot on and the Rustic oak look is what they where after and I think they achieved it .
Mick is also about to strip the very nice original vintage double bevel mirrored oak scoreboard that came with the table which is worth around £350 on it’s own , he will of course strip value off the scoreboard as well as the old polish , but he does want things to match up woodwork wise within the room .


The finished table , after working Saturday and Sunday , we could not have fitted the work in otherwise , it was the same last year when I also had to work weekends to get the Christmas work completed , only this year we have had to turn work away .