Just to let you know.

Answer to your first question... It is sitting in my work in progress game room 5 years later. It was moved from CA to FL and it plays fantastic. When I got here to FL I got new slate for it for a hell of a price and man am i glad I did! Not saying there is anything wrong with used slate but it does play better on the new stuff. Rails are still very responsive and it is solid as a rock.

For the experience alone I would say build one if you are even a hint mechanically inclined. I have helped several people online build theirs and it is great to get the final email stating "Wow I just broke my first rack on it with my son and we are loving it". I think the best one was a guy that was looking for something to do with his Dad and came across my site. They took 2 months building the table and it really brought them together. I have helped people do the repair jobs and I have got to say there is more work in a repair than a ground up build. Taking years of built up wear and tear on a frame can be hard labor. Although it could be cheaper to do it that way.

When I finished the table I remember getting out of my truck in the parking lot of Ace Hardware to pick up pellet fuel for my fire place and my mind raced through the list of things that I might need for the table. That is when it hit me that I had finished it and I felt as though I had lost something. Building it was so much fun. I think the unique twist on it is that I did it with just normal tools that most guys have in their work shop (except for the sliding arm miter saw which was pretty cheap to rent for a couple of hours).

Yea I have been hit up on the symantics of the drawings before. I am not an architect or draftsman so that is a laymens version of drawings.

BTW if you want to cut that cost in half you can look into using oak. It is easier to work with than the mahogany and around 1/3 the price. You wont be able to get the sharp lines on the rails like the mahogany but It is a great alternative if you are looking to cut costs.