Hello everyone, new to the site, been reading for a while and finally joined.
I just picked up this table, which appears to be older, but it is a wood table not slate. I'm very well aware that this is never going to play like a GC or Diamond, but I'm curious if this table could be made to play decent? Can anyone identify a potential manufacturer, or a date range?
Since the table was free, I'm really not out anything and I can always just let it move on, but it certainly appears to be old, relatively speaking, and I just wonder if this would be worth recovering, maybe cushion work, and new pockets. If it is old, meaning 50's or 60's, is it worth spending a little to make it decent, then eventually when I find the slate table I want, I can upgrade and send this down the line to a new owner.
I don't play pro, in fact I likely couldn't be called an amateur, and the majority of the tables around here are 7' bar boxes that aren't necessarily well taken care of, nor do they really play well. The only table that is local that ever played well was a very nice 60's bar box that the owner treated like gold, including having proper sub-rail rebuild shortly before he died. The rest of the tables play ok, but certainly not great. So, if I choose to join some of my friends for a small tournament (after I get one hell of a lot more practice, since it's been several years since I last played), will this table be ok enough to practice on?
As for table specifics, this table is a bit odd, it measures 44"x92", which is obviously off from a proper 2:1 ratio (measurements taken from crown of cushions). So, it's an oversize 8, but not really an oversize 8. The outer "pretty" part of the rails appear to be hardwood, and will need some work, but nothing that is outside of my tooling or skills. The markings on the rails are round pearl, or at least appear to be real pearl. The pockets are rubber, some are nailed in, while others are screwed, and all appear to have been modified slightly around the bed. The bed itself is 1.25" thick plywood and another very solid wood on top. The top wood so far appears to be smooth, as least by passing my hands across the cloth. The table is heavy, probably between 3 and 400 lbs, not counting the pedestal legs. The majority of the weight is in the playing surface bed, with maybe 25% in the visible wood.
So, a few pics, and I'm sorry I can't set it up yet, my garage is a bit overloaded right now, with more stuff coming for me to store for family. These are the best I can do at the moment, although I'm hoping to get one of the vehicles moved out so I can set it up and refinish it if it's worth doing.
All the screws holding the rails to the bed are slotted round head screws, which is why I think it may be old. You can also see the pedestal legs in the background near the garage door, these have 1" ply and are wood with a laminate covering, oval in shape.
I just picked up this table, which appears to be older, but it is a wood table not slate. I'm very well aware that this is never going to play like a GC or Diamond, but I'm curious if this table could be made to play decent? Can anyone identify a potential manufacturer, or a date range?
Since the table was free, I'm really not out anything and I can always just let it move on, but it certainly appears to be old, relatively speaking, and I just wonder if this would be worth recovering, maybe cushion work, and new pockets. If it is old, meaning 50's or 60's, is it worth spending a little to make it decent, then eventually when I find the slate table I want, I can upgrade and send this down the line to a new owner.
I don't play pro, in fact I likely couldn't be called an amateur, and the majority of the tables around here are 7' bar boxes that aren't necessarily well taken care of, nor do they really play well. The only table that is local that ever played well was a very nice 60's bar box that the owner treated like gold, including having proper sub-rail rebuild shortly before he died. The rest of the tables play ok, but certainly not great. So, if I choose to join some of my friends for a small tournament (after I get one hell of a lot more practice, since it's been several years since I last played), will this table be ok enough to practice on?
As for table specifics, this table is a bit odd, it measures 44"x92", which is obviously off from a proper 2:1 ratio (measurements taken from crown of cushions). So, it's an oversize 8, but not really an oversize 8. The outer "pretty" part of the rails appear to be hardwood, and will need some work, but nothing that is outside of my tooling or skills. The markings on the rails are round pearl, or at least appear to be real pearl. The pockets are rubber, some are nailed in, while others are screwed, and all appear to have been modified slightly around the bed. The bed itself is 1.25" thick plywood and another very solid wood on top. The top wood so far appears to be smooth, as least by passing my hands across the cloth. The table is heavy, probably between 3 and 400 lbs, not counting the pedestal legs. The majority of the weight is in the playing surface bed, with maybe 25% in the visible wood.
So, a few pics, and I'm sorry I can't set it up yet, my garage is a bit overloaded right now, with more stuff coming for me to store for family. These are the best I can do at the moment, although I'm hoping to get one of the vehicles moved out so I can set it up and refinish it if it's worth doing.
All the screws holding the rails to the bed are slotted round head screws, which is why I think it may be old. You can also see the pedestal legs in the background near the garage door, these have 1" ply and are wood with a laminate covering, oval in shape.
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