10' Brunswick Anniversary DC Snooker Table Restoration

S

stevil

Registered
Hi all, wanted to introduce myself and share my new acquisition: a Brunswick Anniversary DC model.

I have been looking for an older snooker table for about a year, and was about to throw in the towel and just get a 9' pool table until I found this on craigslist.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevetulk/sets/72157624800763651/

The aprons and base and bridge holder have been painted, but I think with a little stripping and maybe some refinishing on the aprons it will clean up nicely. The rails are in great shape and I don't think they need anything but some cleaning. I know some folks think these are formica, but I'm pretty sure these are walnut... maybe it was later versions that had the formica.

One question I have is the cushions. I think they are the original Monarchs. They are consistent to the touch (not hard) and aren't warped or broken in any way. Any thoughts on whether to replace them or not? I found a local guy (retired) who worked at Champion for 30 years who's going to help me get it all together. He hasn't seen it, but based on some Q&A and my feedback over the phone when I was picking it up he didn't seem to think they needed replacement. It's hard to tell since the table wasn't together when I looked at it. It was sitting disassembled in this guys' basement for 20 years... before that it was set up at his dad's house when he closed his pool-hall in Peoria illinois, where it was originally installed in the 50's.

I even got an old set of Billiard and Snooker balls, and the original wall cue rack (also painted), and a couple of snooker cues and a bridge (which will all probably just hang on the wall...)

Right now I'm looking locally for someone who can strip and refinish the aprons and base. I may end up getting a replacement apron set from classicbilliards.net, but would like to try and keep things as original as possible.
 
stevil said:
Hi all, wanted to introduce myself and share my new acquisition: a Brunswick Anniversary DC model.

I have been looking for an older snooker table for about a year, and was about to throw in the towel and just get a 9' pool table until I found this on craigslist.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevetulk/sets/72157624800763651/

The aprons and base and bridge holder have been painted, but I think with a little stripping and maybe some refinishing on the aprons it will clean up nicely. The rails are in great shape and I don't think they need anything but some cleaning. I know some folks think these are formica, but I'm pretty sure these are walnut... maybe it was later versions that had the formica.

One question I have is the cushions. I think they are the original Monarchs. They are consistent to the touch (not hard) and aren't warped or broken in any way. Any thoughts on whether to replace them or not? I found a local guy (retired) who worked at Champion for 30 years who's going to help me get it all together. He hasn't seen it, but based on some Q&A and my feedback over the phone when I was picking it up he didn't seem to think they needed replacement. It's hard to tell since the table wasn't together when I looked at it. It was sitting disassembled in this guys' basement for 20 years... before that it was set up at his dad's house when he closed his pool-hall in Peoria illinois, where it was originally installed in the 50's.

I even got an old set of Billiard and Snooker balls, and the original wall cue rack (also painted), and a couple of snooker cues and a bridge (which will all probably just hang on the wall...)

Right now I'm looking locally for someone who can strip and refinish the aprons and base. I may end up getting a replacement apron set from classicbilliards.net, but would like to try and keep things as original as possible.
Click to expand...

If it were me, I would put the table together and see how the cushions play - they may be fine. All you risk is having to remove the rails and recover for the second time if they do need to be replaced.

The rail tops...
There may be good news, if the rail caps are wood, there is a good chance
they are Rosewood rather than Walnut.

FWIW - you might want to pose these questions in the 'Ask a Mechanic'
section.

Dale
 
Last edited:
Sorry, my original post related to a Centennial. I vascilated between the Anniversary and the Centennial and finally picked the Centennial.

I still get the models mixed up.

My bad
 
Last edited:
Seb, I was going to ask you if you meant the Centennial from your (now edited) description... that's a nice table design too, I originally thought mine was going to be the Centennial until saw it in person.... I think you also asked about ball size? From my research, it seems that an American Snooker table uses 2 1/8" balls, and a British Snooker uses 2 1/16" balls... And American Snooker colored balls are usually numbered.

Here's a great site I found with some old Brunswick Catalogs from the 40's, 50's and 60's. http://www.palmercollector.com/Brunswick/BruswickCollectorHomePage.html

They are advertising 2 1/8" snooker balls, describe Rosewood rails for the Centennial, and in the '49 and '52 catalog describe "select cabinet wood, walnut finished" for the Anniversary rails, but the '61 catalog describes "Formica rails, performance-proven by Brunswick..." and on page 14 has a paragraph on Formica Rails for the C-model tables and a claim that "Five year of extensive testing in Brunswick laboratories and in the field have substatntiated [sic] the superiority of FORMICA for use on table rails...."

Dale - thanks for the advice - I think that's a sound approach with regards to the cushions. From what I can tell about how the table comes together, I think I have some semi-DIY options down the road for the apron repair and aluminum polishing/cleaning if I don't get it all done right away with professional table leveling and installation of cloth.
 
My pocket castings on the Centennial are seperate from the end caps (bolted together) and I went to the expense ofhaving them polished.

They had some type of clear coat (varnish?) on them and then the anodized finish was removed, they came out pretty well.

However after reading the extensive amount of information on anodized finishes available on the net I did the end caps my self.

I used the old smelly oven off and sprayed them and let them sit about 5 minutes. I then scoured them with coarse steel wool (a lot of black came off) and rinsed again with the gartden hose. I dried them off and repeated the process and they look as good as the castings I had cleaned up (cost me $60.!)

I am polishing my skirts with Happich Simi Chrome polish and am getting a pretty good match as the anodized surface on the skirts was pretty good condition.

If I were you I would probably go the oven off route and polish them to a high lustre and then get a plating shop to re anodize.( the cost for caps will be a lot less than the 30 feet of skirting that I have:mad:)

Removing the anodized finish creates a maintenance problem as the caps will oxidize and require future polishing (a labor of love?:))

This polish imparts a wax finish that slows the oxidization and should last at least 6 months:

www.satinglosswax.com

The Worlds Easiest metal Polish

This product is used extensively on motorcycles.
 
seb1899 said:
Sorry, my original post related to a Centennial. I vascilated between the Anniversary and the Centennial and finally picked the Centennial.

I still get the models mixed up.

My bad
Click to expand...

OK - if it is a Centennial - it is 99 44/100% sure the rail caps are
Rosewood.

Just for fun - if you can locate a copy of Mosconi's first book,
the 'little red book', probably in every library in America, the table
he uses for demonstration is a Centennial pool table.

Related side notes:

American Snooker balls are indeed 2 1/8 - also the pockets play
about twice as tuff as the English/International tables.

Colors/Colours are numbered 2 thru 7.
I still have an extremely rare set of Centennial Snooker balls
from an earlier life.

Dale
 
PDCUE-

Do these snooker balls resemble your old Brunswicks?

These are 2 1/8" and a local club polished them for me and they cleaned up pretty well:

ry%3D400


Would the old balls be crystalite and would new Aramiths play better?
 
seb1899 said:
PDCUE-

Do these snooker balls resemble your old Brunswicks?

These are 2 1/8" and a local club polished them for me and they cleaned up pretty well:

ry%3D400


Would the old balls be crystalite and would new Aramiths play better?
Click to expand...

That is them - I'm reasonably sure these balls would have been made by Hyatt.

IMHO - Aramiths would not play better - but that is subjective, much
like comparing the "hit" of cues.

One disclaimer - I tend to prefer the older equipment/materials
because I think they were higher quality. In my mind, tables esp have been
in decline since they changed from the old #3 pocket irons.

Dale
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top