GCL Billiards have again been allocated the work at Skegness Butlins Hotshots american Pool Hall for the coming week starting Sunday 24th November 2013 .
We got the contract last year to recover the tables in Butlins own Special designed logo cloth of red stars with the Butlins log across the middle pockets .

the Artscape cloth has matching pattern cushion cloth which have to be placed on the cushion to match up with the pattern on the bed cloth , so it is just like matching pattern wallpaper  .

Artscape can do many designs some standard designs and also custom logo designs , they even do football club logo’s in the cloth , but you have to have the permission of the football club for it’s use of logo rights .

Many thanks to Rob & Wayne at Skegness Butlins for trusting GCL Billiards to carry out the work to a High standard , not rushed and many snags sorted out on the tables too , as you can expect with holiday Camps that are open 11 months of the year , these tables get some heavy traffic , and it is not uncommon to find some damage when we strip down the tables .
Geoff has been maintaining these tables for a few years now both for his  firm GCL Billiards and when he was an employee before he went self employed.
Rob & Wayne can rest assured that Geoff will always find a way of keeping these 1980s American Brunswick’s in playing condition ready for another season at Butlins.

Today we have been installing a Winner supreme pool table into a local pub .
This pub is very particular on the type of table they required .
Not satisfied with low quality of the last pool table mainly on condition of the new rubber cushions they had fitted .
They decided that GCL Billiards was the best choice to rent their pool table from .
This particular table is 6 months old having been in another local pub which is now being knocked down to make way for a new Ice Land store .
the team had played on this table when playing away games in the league , they where very impressed with the bounce in the cushions and the speed of the table due to the best Strachan 6811 cloth used ,  and when they found out I still had it in stock they requested this one for their Pool Team .
The photo below is of the old pub pool area that is being knocked down to make way for Ice Land even though the pub is only 20 years old ?

In fact the old pub used to have two tables rented from GCL Billiards but this one was their main match table .
We decided as it is so close to Christmas to delay re clothing the table with 6811 Strachan tournament cloth until after New year , just in case someone was to spill a drink over it , over the Festive and new year celebrations when these things seem to always occur.
So we have booked a recover on the table for mid January .

Above the photo of the table in it’s new location .

Double eight Pool tables is GCL Billiards Pool table Rental Division , our tables carry the Double Eight logo as well as the Supreme logo .
Double eight Pool and GCL Billiards are now known to offer unrivalled quality and maintenance of Pool table Hire.
If you are local to us then please get in touch if you require a decent Supreme Pool table for your premises. our weekly rental contracts start at just £15 per week , that works out at £65 per calender month which is our preferred method of payment on the 28th of each month , or £60 per every 4 weeks.
Phone Geoff on 07753466064 or email c.large@btinternet.com

We have just completed a re-rubber and a re-cover for a local club in the Nottingham Area
The table is an old Burroughs and watts with modern titan branded cushions , we suspect the cushions where imported by titan from china .
These cushions having been fitted around 1999.

the photo above before we stripped it down for the re-rubber in best Northern Rubber made in Retford Nottinghamshire and as used by the top playing tournaments and tables.
Below photo, the pockets before we started where measured and found to be 3 inch and 9/16ths at the fall on very thin worn cloth , we where asked to replicate the original pocket angles and size on the new rubber .

and the pocket when we finished the recover and re-rubber was till the same size . We also renewed the nets and leathers .

the rubber we use on all Snooker tables is Northern Rubber and it comes with a manufacturers month and year it was made stamped onto the top of each piece .
This set being manufactured in July 2013 , which is only a few months ago that it left the Northern rubber Factory in Retford . it was then sold to our Trade stockist Peradon , then sold to GCL billiards ready to fit to our clients table , we try to order rubber that is current year dated and as new as possible .
This rubber has a life span of between 15 to 25 years depending on how it is treated and temperature of the room the table is kept in .
it does not come cut ready to Glue fit , this has to be Glued on then cut and hand rasped and sanded  to a template either cardboard copy of original pocket openings or to official match templates   by the Time served billiards fitter and is one of the most skilled job’s that the fitter has to learn .

On strip down we found it to have the lowest quality in Strachan range cloth fitted , it was their special grade and a quick look at this web page and you can clearly see the grades listed
http://www.wsptextiles.com/strachan-snooker-cloths-product-range

Strachan listing from top grade to bottom grade is as follows.
1/  Number 10 as used by professionals
2/ 6811 tournament 30 oz as used by IBSF tournaments …this is my main recommended cloth for clubs and private house’s.
3/ 6811 Tournament 32 oz longer lasting version of 30 oz but slower .
4/ New club 6811 cloth , faster version of normal club 6811
5/  6811 original club cloth , long lasting long nap , OK for club use but not that much lower priced than 6811 tournament , my advice for the extra few £’s go for the better cloth
6/  STRACHAN SPECIAL Long lasting heavyweight cloth .
7/Sub substandard cloth , this is rejected by Strachan as cloth with a fault in , normally has SUBSTANDARD over the top of the iron on West of England  transfer , we can get this but it only works out at around £40 saved over 6811 tournament using this substandard cloth , my recommendation unless you are a snooker club with around 12 tables the saving is just not worth it .
not always available , but we can get it . I do not like using substandard cloths but have included it because some fitters undercut my first grade price by saying they are fitting 6811 tournament Strachan , they are but they do not tell you it is substandard and that is why they are £40 lower priced than using 6811 tournament 30 0z good grade.

Also from above list you may note that 4 cloth grades carry the same 6811 grade number , I use the best grade 99% of the time  , when getting quotes always ask for the top grade 6811 , the lower priced 6811 cloth may result in you thinking you are being ripped off as you may think you are getting the best grade 6811  , confusing I know , why they just cannot number the cloth from 1 to 6 ? it would make like so much simple to understand the grades and the position they  hold in the listings .

As you can see from this listing special is at the bottom of the list and is only described as heavyweight and long life , not the best cloth to play on and also not used at any major tournaments .

We fitted the Strachan 6811 Tournament 30 oz weight which is Strachan s next to top cloth grade , this cloth is used by many clubs as a good cloth to play on , and is used by the IBSF for exclusive use at the World championships and the Asian and European snooker championships  , we could have fitted Strachan Number 10 as used on TV tables , but this is very thin and would not last the club very long , No 10 is only for around 6 months to a years use , it is very thin and just would not stand up to the rough world of club snooker use. it is also very expensive and costs around £550 /£600 to have a table recovered in No10 so almost double the cost of 6811 tournament . Did you know they recover the tables on TV tournaments every three days , that’s why they play without spots and the cloth can be very fast and thin ?

the next photo is of the cushions all having been fitted and pockets shaped with the new rubber ,

Just to show we also use the 6811 Tournament 30 oz on the cushions , the next photo shows it being fitted to a cushion and the wood retaining slip is inserted , you can clearly see the cloth transfer on this piece.

the next photo is of the finished table , showing all nets and leathers had been replaced , the table had one cushion bolt missing which we also replaced , a broken ball rail replaced .

If you have a table that requires this type of work , then please contact Geoff on 07753466064 or email at c.large@btinternet.com
We will be happy to quote you . our main area is the East Midlands surrounding counties , but we do venture out further just call us and we will let you know if we can do the work .
This run up to Christmas has Snooker and pool table work that involves Ashbourne , Perth in Scotland , North London , Colwyn Bay Wales , Clitheroe , Scunthorpe, Skegness , Newark , Leicester , Derbyshire , Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire .

I was called in by a Mrs Patel in Leicester to finish the install of a 10 ft Burroughs and watts 4 piece slate bed snooker table circa 1880’s .
Mr’s Patel’s husband had installed the table and put the frame up roughly level and repaired a Broken slate .
I went over a few weeks ago just to see what I was up against , the cushions required a re-rubber , and the table re-cloth in 6811 tournament cloth .
so I took the Cushion’s into the workshop to re-rubber and re-cover them to save time on the return visit.
Also they had two broken Brass top plate pockets , I never throw any old billiard table parts away and found two to perfectly replace the broken ones in my store room shed.
If I ever scrap a table I always keep the parts that I think may be useful in keeping other tables in use .

the next photo’s show how bad the broken slate was , Mr Patel had made a very good job of repairing the slate and filling in the slate joints , although I did point out that some extra under slate support would help to keep the broken piece in place especially if someone was to put their knee on it to take a shot further down the table, which he carried out and made a good job of putting a board to support the whole broken piece under the slate .
I checked the level and found it to be out by quite some distance , this shows that using a builders level can only get it to rough level , you really need to use an engineers spirit level to get it bang on .

the games room has to be cleared out now the table is installed the room was being used as storage until they bought the table  , the room was built for Mrs Patel’s son , who is very keen to start playing snooker in his own snooker room at the bottom of the Garden .
the Burroughs and watts turned and Fluted leg table was built around 1880  maybe a little before that as it has a 4 piece slate bed rather than a 3 or 5 piece , having 4 sections the joint on the middle pockets are suspect to chipping as a ball bounces back off the middle pocket plate , so all the billiard firms stated to use 3 and 5 section slates so that no joint was ever going to be in the middle pocket . you may note that the table has the old top plate billiard pockets , these where discontinued around 1895 in favour of concealed pocket plate fixings into the end of each cushion rather than the bolt down finger of brass showing in the upper wood capping .
I am sure The Patel’s will find many hours of enjoyment in their own Billiard room at the bottom of their Garden , and keep their son occupied for many an hour .

Today I have been on a job near Ashbourne to repair a torn cloth and service of two full size snooker tables , you can see from the impact that this was a hard strike down of cue into cloth . you can see where a round sharp ferrule has cut the cloth and the impact of the tip chalk is seen on the slate ,  someone trying a trick shot or screw back of cue ball ?
Resulting in a L shape rip .

Please note you really must check tip and ferrule condition to avoid the cloth being damaged like this .
The following photo’s show how the repair was done , taking the cloth off the table , cleaning up the jagged edge of the hole and then sewing from under the cloth , wax the thread for strength, then re stretch back down and lightly tap with a hammer until flat  . put cushions back on re-mark out and re spot and iron .

We are giving away free a set of import competition Pool Balls with each recover of a 6ft or 7ft Pool Table during December 2013 .
please quote F/DEC2013  when ordering the recover and we will make sure the balls are on the van for your recover .
We will also include 12 piece box of chalk free .

these balls have a retail value of £19.99p on ebay . see link http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REDS-YELLOWS-2-POOL-BALLS-STANDARD-SIZE-/380046522590?pt=UK_SportingGoods_SnookerPool_RL&hash=item587c89b8de#ht_498wt_1161

To Qualify for a free set of pool balls please phone Geoff on 07753466064  or email c.large@btinternet.com with your recover order for your pool table , we will be using  Strachan 777 cloth grade in Green  for this offer of free pool balls .

We are used by a three  removal firms in the Nottingham and Derby areas to work on any large cue sports tables that they cannot and do not have the experience to work on dismantling and erecting .
Today we where called in as their client has had serious damp issues and the whole room is to be re tanked to stop dampness coming through the plastered walls.
The table was a rare 8ft American pool table , Titan being the brand name , But we did spot some issue’s with the table , the slate looks like it is not fitted correctly to the table and the corner pocket falls are not cut correct , three cushion bolts missing and one pocket Allen bolt missing , also loose cloth on one cushion , and the adjustable feet are not working correct .

The table during strip down

We where being asked to refit the cloth on this table when it goes back up in December , but there is no spare cloth as the previous fitter has not left much cloth on to grab hold to stetch it back on , we have suggested a new cloth on the set up .

Some very odd pocket fall shapes , I have never seen one cut like this before , I think Ray Charles did it?
Note also the holes have been slotted to the right of this pocket to try and match up with the bolt holes in the underside of the cushion , which they have failed again , the 3 bolts that where missing out of the cushion was missed out because they did not align up . some work has to be carried out on this table to make sure all the bolts align up , one cushion has just one bolt holding it on when it should have had three ?

the legs where also showing signs of damage , at each end of the leg the Formica is supposed to bend around when glued on , this leg shows it is under so much pressure that it is trying to bend back off the wood and has cracks appearing in it . the feet where just jammed in and had no adjustment to them at all , how they managed to level it is a mystery .
This is just the sort of work that SPEED fitters do , they are in so much of a hurry to get as much done in one day they cut corners , looking at the corners of this table they did not hang around !

This photo of the cushion shows loose cloth coming out of the cloth retaining slip , another speed fitter not making sure the retaining slips are tight and holding the cloth in secure.

The 8ft titan American pool table fully dismantled and ready to be wrapped by Removal firm for loading , I have advised for the table to be recovered , I have priced it up and have been told they may have someone else who can do it at a lower price ? , my rates are the going rate for this type of table using quality cloth and the work will be done correct and some of these faults sorted out during assembling it back up.
although I got the impression they where comparing my prices up against a normal uk7ft pool table with the sort of prices they where saying to me. this is an American pool table with three section slate bed not a one piece lift out and glue cloth on like a uk pool table .
I have posted these photo’s as a warning that not all firms are craftsmen when it came to quality , you can clearly see all,the faults with the table from these photographs .
As for prices on recovering , you get what you pay for as they say.