The blind rails are pretty rouh, but easy enough to replace, I guess:
...but I knew most of this, no biggie. It's what I couldn't see before a 2 hr drive that's annoying. Notice that blind rail by itself? All are like that. They appear to originally have been glued to the rest of the rail/cap...is this correct? Unfortunately, at some point it appears somebody got sick of working around them...they were attached with drywall screws:
...at least they were consistent, 3 screws to a rail. The rail caps were in the expected rough shape, and it's a damn good thing I planned on chopping them up, because they're pretty mutilated on the ends:
...In all fairness, that's the worst one. At least the sockets for the pocket iron sockets are intact on the rest. Gotta love the felt job.
However, the rails seemed nice and straight and the snooker rubber didn't feel dead, for what it's worth.
I haven't peeled the felt yet, but the rails measured dead on 1.75" tall with my eye. If it changes when held against the wood, I wouldn't believe it could be more than 1/16th of an inch. I mention this because RKC did elude that it'd probably be shorter. Considering the blind rails are rough, and the caps aren't much better, I think the rails will probably end up being replaced in their entirety, as many already suggested may be the best option.
The slate itself is a sore spot. While there were no through cracks, this, unfortunately, is what's left of the liners:
...Sometime in the last 80 years somebody decided to unscrew the liner, and glue it instead. I don't know if those boards are the original liner, but judging how decrepit they are, it very well could be.
I unfortunately learned of this while carrying the slate. The glue came loose and the tongue and groove split...luckily I saved the slab from disaster with my leg. More pain ensues. Slate dolly woulda been nice.
After that we pretty much just pulled it all off so nobody ended up with a broken leg...considering how well attached it was, it was the best option. I will probably be able to use it all as a template and cut new pieces.
The slabs themselves have a good number of smaller chips, and one big one by a pocket that has been rebuilt reasonably with bondo. There were some well repaired scratches and such...some work to do, but not too bad.
The pocket shelves were not wood, they're all slate. You'll notice the ONLY piece of slate backer that didn't come loose with a tug:
...I read about the T-rails and how he have no hole in the top side of the slate. Well, this one does. Lots. Evidently, somebody decided that 1100-1200 lbs wouldn't hold itself steady, so they drilled over a dozen holes around the edges to attach it to the base. They almost could've passed for stock, except the were all completely different angles, none of them were perpedicular. Not a big deal, but annoying.
