Feather strip installation

[SpotOn]

So tell me if I am wrong but I think when you cover a rail the feather strip should be installed flush with the wood rail so that when the cloth is pulled over the feather strip the cloth is: one cloth thickness above the wood rail so that you never have your cue shaft touching the wood rails. Every table I have seen is done with the feather strip pounded down to deep into the rail and your shaft contacts the wood rails if cueing off the rubber rails.

 

[Sheldon]

You're not wrong.

 

[fat tony]

I would rather have the rail cloth and wood flush, and not have the cloth one thickness above the rail wood, since the cue tip catches the cloth edge quite easily on some shots. Ideally, I think the featherstip height should accommodate having the cloth and wood flush. I don't have that much experience on this, but I suspect that is rarely the case. But given a properly tight fitting featherstrip that is "too low", I'd leave it so that the cloth and rail wood are flush. If the strip is not very tight fitting, I'd bang it all the way down.

 

[GoldCrown]

Cue gets killed regardless. I tend to hit the butt cap somehow when moving around the table. Or when everything is going perfect the cue hits the ground .... or I had someone walk by me and hits my cue with theirs.

 

[Sheldon]

Definitely a personal preference thing. Unless someone specifies, I tend to leave them very slightly high. Not as high as the cloth is thick, but so that your cue rests on cloth and not the rail material with a level cue

 

[fat tony]

Speaking of feather strips, how would you guys go about installing cloth around this beauty? Introducing the Riley Ray 9ft pool table corner pocket feather strip. The corner casting is supposed to tighten against the feather strip, keeping the rail cloth in place. A local bar asked me to repair one corner a while ago that had rail cloth come loose at the end. Shocker, right. Now they want new cloth, levelling etc. Last time around I put in 2-3 small nails from the top between the feather strip and the wall of the featherstrip groove, securing the cloth.

Anyone have a better idea how to keep the rail cloth in place at the ends? Corner castings tend to come loose once in a while, so I'm not betting on those. I thought about putting some CA glue on the face of the cloth that is against the dado before tapping the featherstrip into place. Maybe?

 

[Sheldon]

I don't like nails. I would either spray the ends of the featherstrips with glue, or use a glue stick.

 

[fat tony]

I don't like nails. I would either spray the ends of the featherstrips with glue, or use a glue stick.

Thanks for the suggestion Sheldon. I think I'll put the new rail cloth + featherstrip in place when the corner castings are mounted, that way the casting is giving support to the glued featherstrip and cloth while it dries out.

If the rail frame is rigid enough that it can be flipped over in one piece, I should attach the rail cloth (by the above glue method) all at once while the castings are in place, then flip the rail assembly over, take out the old cloth + staples from the underside, staple new rail cloth --> flip the rail assemby over and install as a single unit.

Thanks again for your input!

 

[realkingcobra]

Speaking of feather strips, how would you guys go about installing cloth around this beauty? Introducing the Riley Ray 9ft pool table corner pocket feather strip. The corner casting is supposed to tighten against the feather strip, keeping the rail cloth in place. A local bar asked me to repair one corner a while ago that had rail cloth come loose at the end. Shocker, right. Now they want new cloth, levelling etc. Last time around I put in 2-3 small nails from the top between the feather strip and the wall of the featherstrip groove, securing the cloth.

Anyone have a better idea how to keep the rail cloth in place at the ends? Corner castings tend to come loose once in a while, so I'm not betting on those. I thought about putting some CA glue on the face of the cloth that is against the dado before tapping the featherstrip into place. Maybe?

All you need to do is hit the last inch of the featherstrip with spray 77 adhesive, then install the featherstrip as normal.