With the recent news that Nottingham Snooker Academy’s members had raised funds to finance the re-rubber and re-cover of 4 snooker tables, another table re-covered this past week just happened to have the same process.
The owners of a Caravan Park were not releasing funds this year for the upkeep of the snooker table, as funds were required in more important areas of the park. But the table was way past its sell by date for a new cloth and rubber plus pocket leathers.
The local Residents and Fishermen who use the site bar clubbed together in an 8 month fundraising venture to do it themselves. A quote was provided 8 months ago and a few people decided to get fund raising events off the ground to raise the cash so to speak. It took them around 7 months and a date was booked in to do the work.
The table in question was the 10ft that I have just put up on the Blog, but here are a few more photos of the strip down.
The wall fund raising chart
The cushions have been stripped of cloth and rubber and the blocks sanded up to take the new rubber being glued to them.
The new rubber is glued all 6 at one time on my glueing board.
As can be seen again from the photo above, the old cloth retaining slip showing signs of where it was nailed into the cushion slip slot and a new planed to fit tight without being nailed in new slip.
This last photo shows the old green rubber. Northern Rubber is black and can last upto 25 years. This old green rubber lasted less than 7 years. When pulling it off the blocks it was brittle and broke up.
Today I stripped down a 9ft set of cushions and the Black Rubber on them was dated 1935, but it was in much better condition than this green rubber. But I am also re-rubbering this set too.
Low quality rubber can vary in the way it just goes off, you can get sunlight damage where the sun shining through a window catches part of a cushion and that part goes rock hard and crumbles. Yet there may be 1 foot of the rubber length that cannot catch the sun that still remains good. You get this a lot on UK pool tables that use red / pink rubber.
Northern Rubber plays good in most conditions. The only thing that Northern Rubber does not like is cold, but thats the case with all types of cushion rubber.
Another example I have used before showing the hard red rubber with Northern Rubber at the side of it.
