Anniversary Pro 8 Rehab and Moving a Table Yourself

We were in Augusta GA for some mountain biking this weekend and went looking for a place to play some pool. What a treat to find an old pool hall downtown that still has seven or eight Anniversaries on the floor. I'm now more excited than ever to get this one finished and set up. Unfortunately the tables were poorly maintained but at least they are still there. As long as you stood twenty feet away they looked amazing...
 
Here are a few shots of the recent progress. I spent a fair amount of time trying to find the right process for me to polish the aluminum to a degree I am willing to live with. The current process is described below. If all goes well I'll finish the second leg today.

Once both legs are done to this point I'll finish sanding the wood on the legs and spreader so all the wood can be stained and clear coated.

After the wood is finished I'll buff the aluminum with a softer wheel and green compound. A buffing cone with polishing compound should make the dented areas match the shine a little better.

Random orbit sander
1) 240 grit
2) 320 grit
8" airway buffing wheels mounted on a $40 variable speed 7" polisher.
3) Brown Tripoli compound on a very stiff wheel
4) Same compound on a slightly less stiff wheel.
Original condition
20250405_182534.jpg

During buffing
20250405_182516.jpg

After buffing
20250411_202705.jpg

Take care,
Brent
 
The second base is finished to the same point. On this one 80/120/240/320 grit were used on the random orbit before switching to the buffer. In the first image you can see how many dings the leg has suffered over the past 60+ years. Sitting on the blanket in person though it look acceptable.
20250413_195300.jpg

20250413_195402.jpg
 
I'm normally immune to peer pressure but I had been considering it anyway. ;-) First band is off.

I'd love to hear your suggestions for the best way tools and techniques to get the dents out?

@Steve Dickey what finish did you use on the wood, stain and clear coat?
 
I'm normally immune to peer pressure but I had been considering it anyway. ;-) First band is off.

I'd love to hear your suggestions for the best way tools and techniques to get the dents out?

@Steve Dickey what finish did you use on the wood, stain and clear coat?
I have rather expensive hammers and dollies but you should be able to get away with Harbor Freight stuff for a single job. You just want a relatively flat faced body hammer and a flat dolly, it should have a radius on the opposite side and a radiused edge on it too. You may need a radiused dolly if you have to work on the sides of the bend. Once you see the dollies in person it should be pretty easy to figure out what will work best for you. You just want to make sure to take your time and move it slowly with light hits otherwise you might make an inny an outty and create more work for yourself.
 
Personnally I had zero experience with that kind of dent removal. I used a brass punch and a hammer and push the dents out from the inside and then sand the outside with an orbital sander with a medium grit (probably 120 but I cant recall exactly). I was slighly over correcting the dents and knocking off the resulting high spot with the sander to get a smooth surface. The sanding was revealing the high and low spot really well.

It took me a while but the end result, while not perfect, is pretty good .
 

Attachments

  • DSCN7644.jpg
    DSCN7644.jpg
    118.2 KB · Views: 18
Thanks. The outboard surface of one of my pedestals was pretty beat up due to sun damage. I knew I would not be able to get a decent finish on it so I re-veneered them. Then as one thing leads to another, in an effort to have a similar finish on all the wood I did the same thing to the skirts and stringer. I mixed three stains together in an effort to match the existing formica on the rails ( I can't recall which) and then finished it off with Polyurethane.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_4476.JPG
    IMG_4476.JPG
    344.7 KB · Views: 14
Personnally I had zero experience with that kind of dent removal. I used a brass punch and a hammer and push the dents out from the inside and then sand the outside with an orbital sander with a medium grit (probably 120 but I cant recall exactly). I was slighly over correcting the dents and knocking off the resulting high spot with the sander to get a smooth surface. The sanding was revealing the high and low spot really well.

It took me a while but the end result, while not perfect, is pretty good .
It worked for you, looks great!!!
 
Thanks. The outboard surface of one of my pedestals was pretty beat up due to sun damage. I knew I would not be able to get a decent finish on it so I re-veneered them. Then as one thing leads to another, in an effort to have a similar finish on all the wood I did the same thing to the skirts and stringer. I mixed three stains together in an effort to match the existing formica on the rails ( I can't recall which) and then finished it off with Polyurethane.
I did the same thing when I stained the skirts on my GCI, I couldn't find a stain to match the rails so I ended up mixing 2 together but I don't remember what I used or what the mixture was. I guess if it ever needs touch up its going back to the original white skirts.
 
Back
Top