Featherstrips

Cuephoric

Cuephoric

1hole anyone?
Silver Member
Premade, or make your own, custom fit to rails, or rubber ones?

Since we're breaking things down to parts, let's add one of my pet peeves to the forum list.

Does anyone else out there prefer to handplane their featherstrips for each rail, or does everyone just order them already cut and hope for the best?
Order a larger size and plane them down to size?
I for one, don't think that masking tape, tacks, staples, etc. would be so common if things fit better.
And don't get me started on the Imperial rolls of rubber screen door gaskets on the import tables.....

Thoughts on the subject?
 
Just did one last night with the old spraay glue and tape on the feather strip it was fun to take apart. Thanks installer for the job you did 3 yrs ago, come play on it now! I took the old hard cracked up superspeed off and installed new.

Hand plane freshly made ones when I have time. I do buy premade when onsale in bulk to but probably throw 10-15% away to small or dhewed up from mass production when I order them.

Craig
 
Cuephoric said:
Premade, or make your own, custom fit to rails, or rubber ones?

Since we're breaking things down to parts, let's add one of my pet peeves to the forum list.

Does anyone else out there prefer to handplane their featherstrips for each rail, or does everyone just order them already cut and hope for the best?
Order a larger size and plane them down to size?
I for one, don't think that masking tape, tacks, staples, etc. would be so common if things fit better.
And don't get me started on the Imperial rolls of rubber screen door gaskets on the import tables.....

Thoughts on the subject?
Click to expand...

I've had good results with pre-made feather strips from AC-CUE-RATE billiard supply in Pelham NH. All bass wood, very consistent, almost zero waste. In bulk, I can't produce them as cheap as I buy them.

Also Bob and Brad at Ac-Cue-Rate are great people to deal with. They also produce shims and wedges that are the best I've ever used!


Jay
 
Hi Guys

I made a fence that goes on my router table to cut the strips down to the exact size that I need from the strips that I roughed out on the table saw. It is really easy to get them the right size that way and I can do them at the job if I need to. Just make sure that you are cutting on the correct side of the router bit so it doesn't self feed!

Gary :thumbup:
 
Well....since I run around with a table saw AND a 12" power planer..LOL I make all my own feather strips out of Poplar...scrap wood I get from the waste piles of wood from Diamond...cost??? Nothing, sizes...all sizes as I start at 5/16"ths and step down from there by 1/64"ths of an inch and color code the ends of the feather strips as to the thickness. But I still carry around a hand block plane for odd ball heights of the feather strips.

Glen
 
realkingcobra said:
Well....since I run around with a table saw AND a 12" power planer..LOL I make all my own feather strips out of Poplar...scrap wood I get from the waste piles of wood from Diamond...cost??? Nothing, sizes...all sizes as I start at 5/16"ths and step down from there by 1/64"ths of an inch and color code the ends of the feather strips as to the thickness. But I still carry around a hand block plane for odd ball heights of the feather strips.

Glen
Click to expand...


Once I finish redoing my trailer, I was thinking about doing something along those lines, and making my own.
Ac-cue-rate has a good selection of pretty much everything you could need, but they were out of a couple of things when I ordered last week (1/8" rubber shims for one), so thought I would try the homegrown version.
All Mueller's has are the 1/4" which don't do you any good on the wider spaces on some types of rails.
Unless you like the duct tape and bailing wire approach to fixing things.....

I like the color coding the ends idea....You're full of good ideas when someone actually takes the time to read and listen!:wink:
Although since we don't all have the benefit of access to all the scrap piles of Diamond's leftover waste, I'll probably have to stick with Lowe's and Home Depot for the moment.lol

Thanks for the input guys!
 
A-1 billiards said:
I've had good results with pre-made feather strips from AC-CUE-RATE billiard supply in Pelham NH. All bass wood, very consistent, almost zero waste. In bulk, I can't produce them as cheap as I buy them.

Also Bob and Brad at Ac-Cue-Rate are great people to deal with. They also produce shims and wedges that are the best I've ever used!


Jay
Click to expand...

are those shims made out of maple?

also purchase new ones and haven't purchased any for about 8 years. I have NEVER ran into a table that I couldn't use the existing ones on as I always figured if the last guy did it so can I. Sort of the mech challenge. I do think new ones are required when restoring a table at times and mostly use them in that area. And as all of you know its taking them out thats important and I am sure we all have our tricks for this
 
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i always bought them and planed them down to fit
i could buy them cheaper than i could make them ...
scott
 
Sometimes reusing the old way to thin feather strips create more problems. Stepping down from 22oz+ mali cloth to lets say 760 That feather strip can be to thin or pounded on to many times. So I guess realy the question should be do you always carry extra and if needed to take the time to fit new ones to fit perfect or beat them in till flat and leave smiles all over the rail.

Craig
 
OTLB said:
are those shims made out of maple?

also purchase new ones and haven't purchased any for about 8 years. I have NEVER ran into a table that I couldn't use the existing ones on as I always figured if the last guy did it so can I. Sort of the mech challenge. I do think new ones are required when restoring a table at times and mostly use them in that area. And as all of you know its taking them out thats important and I am sure we all have our tricks for this
Click to expand...

Hey John,

They are made from bass wood. I love them because they plane like butter and the wood is a little spongy. I replace feather strips on more than half the tables I work on. If broken replace, if they don't fit perfect replace, and if they have and tape or tack holes replace them. The next time the job is that much easier:)

The wedge shims are made from poplar, the leg shims are made from rubber, the feather strips are made from bass wood.

Jay
 
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If a featherstrip breaks in a poolroom, and no one's around, can you hear it...?.lol

OTLB said:
also purchase new ones and haven't purchased any for about 8 years. I have NEVER ran into a table that I couldn't use the existing ones on as I always figured if the last guy did it so can I. Sort of the mech challenge. I do think new ones are required when restoring a table at times and mostly use them in that area. And as all of you know its taking them out thats important and I am sure we all have our tricks for this
Click to expand...

Not even on those broken ones that are poking through on regular Mali type of cloth when you're recovering it with Simonis or some form of worsted?
I try to improve the quality of the table when I leave, not change it and leave it as close to what someone else did before.
If the facings are bad, change them, if the rubber is bad, change it, if there are 10,000 staples from years of lazy guys before- remove them, if the slate has issues-fix it.....
I don't ever want to be considered in the same category as the last guy that DIDN'T get called back again to work on something.
Have I been forced to using the existing broken featherstrips somewhere in the past? Sure, we all have, but if I can avoid it and make it easier for when I get called back to work on it next time, I consider that one less thing to deal with when I come back, and one more step to a correctly done table.
Personally, I hate feeling pieced together featherstrips when I'm shooting off the rail...it bugs me.lol;)
And Ac-Cue-Rate has better prices for supplies on what they have, than most of everyone else out there.
Takes 10 minutes to set up a business account with them, and they ship quicker than Mueller's.
 
This was one of my first real problems I thought when recovering rails. Maybe I am just lucky but I don't see alot of problems with feather strips. Maybe the mech's on the east coast are better than avg I don't know. Maybe its the OTLB trick way of removing them as they don't break on me. If I see a broken one I just bandaid it together. I never leave a table where you can feel it because its uneven and its coming through the cloth.. As I said on antique tables there are occasions where they are so bad I don't but to replace a feather strip as it will still work fine is like replacing slate because it has a chip. WHY?

If I have an antique table with a broken feather strip in 2 spots, even if every rail has 2, if they don't affect anything I keep them. We have all seen feather strips on antique tables well over 100 years old. If anyone replaces them because they have a break here or there thats just wrong(IMO). Maintaining the original parts of the table is a major concern for me. So at the end of the day I replace what is completely broken, if I can fix it I will.

Now as long as were talking, if you make new ones, and it seems like theres alot of guys who are doing this I would like to know exactly what gap you are leaving between the strip and the channel. Also what length do you make them??? trick question hint!

Many times on GC's there seems to be a problem with fluctuation, a strip shrinks or is uneven and you see that the cloth has loosened. I don't replace the feather strip. Just make a note of it and tape it in that area so it has a little extra bite next time.

When I have my car fixed and the guy says this is wearing out etc I ask him to show me. If we agree its not broke and still has reasonable life we leave it.

So if it will still work as intended I leave it.

I don't shingle a house because 4 of them blew off in a wind storm.

Its clear to me now, there are some guys who do a better job at feather strips as they decide to fix them by making new ones. To correct every defect in a table to me is not practical for me or the customer. I tell a customer a price based on the info I gather and keep it. Of course I eat certain aspects of the job as we all do, but when it comes to replacing parts etc I charge as I am in business and not charity.

Facings for free, are you kidding me? Shane do you do that for free? Perhaps I am giving my customers too good of a price and trying to help them save money and not spend it. I can't spend my time putting on new facings for free, escpecially the way I do them, perfect.

Maybe Craig has hit on something in his price guide idea. I will say this also, since I am not in first place or even close it seems in this category I will step up my performance as to improve my overall performance after I see what tolerance guys are using. \

I don't know how you can replace strips without making them perfect if your starting new. There is NFW any strips that are premade are going to fit as good as an original if it was made well, even if it was broke in a couple of spots. This would require you to actually make them to size. Ok so now RKC does this and I guess everyone else does to????? To make custom strips takes how long????? If your using new ones and you have to plane them, put tape on them, cut them, etc you are doing more work than just making a minor repair to a broken one that is original.

Perhaps some of our billiard and snooker mechs would also like to chime in on this. Many times billiard tables have two strips on the long rails or more. The cloth is the most revealing on a billiard table, please tell me you are not going to make a new strip out of one piece9+ft long.

I admire you for going the extra mile. If I really thought there was a need to replace a strip of course I would. Shane did you get to see my Amaranth yet?

For what its worth I rarely say anything about a person on here except my good friend RKC. The mere fact that we are all dif makes our mode of operation slightly dif. The fact that we all are here talking also says we are very much alike.

My hats off to you Shane and I am sure you do fine work.
 
Thanks John but the pricing idea started from Glenn a year or 2 ago then Dartman posted something the the other day about fine tune and strat recover no extra's. It took a little while for Glenns post to really get me thinking about it.

Now I have a new poolhall roughly 17 tables some new some old

4 new Diamonds not delivered yet.
7 Gold Crowns bought from a friend.
6 more unknown brand.

How do you bid it...I came up with 5-7 bids to cover labor only, parts, delivery, cloth, rerubber, tighten pockets, with or without ball returns, and something else but i feel if he wants to hagle on price not a problem. I still get my labor you order cloth to save money. want pockets tightened i get my labor you order the ruber save money. If not then i make a little across the board. Just so happens who has it all instock to dit right with parts is Diamond and they are still tryiung to improve billiards all the time.

Craig
 
how much does Diamond charge for Artemis, facings?

I would bid that job like this. Just tell the guy what the avg is for doing this or that and that you are going to fix everything. He pays you $500 for an 8 hr day at his room prorated until your done. Until you start working on the tables you don't really know. Basically he has to trust you. AS in mfg every operation should have std time element. You could make a grid on EXCEL for this with std prices and have him check off what he wants. Hey thats a good idea. There should also be a std list of things but IMO nothing shold be free. Really, either you build it into the price or break it out. I think people feel better when they can see a checklist of items you have corrected per table and in a pool room it would also be good for historical data. But of course the problem is poolrooms don't pay.

I would say though that if you didn't have to pull out staples it would be easier for you the next time don't you think.
 
OK, lets talk about feather strips. This is really a great subject. How do you make them exactly?

Reason is this, actually the feather strip is better if it sits up a bit right? keeps nice cues from getting beat etc. How do you make a tapered feather strip for lets say a GC so it sits up on the formica side but lies flat on the cushions side?
 
The ones I loved I think were stock or I never found out who made them were like you say tapered and radius on the bottom. I mostly found them on Gold Crowns.

You would have to measure the depth of the dado/groove in the rail with a micrometer would be easiest. Plane/surface sand your stock then set your blade to 1-3deg taper then rip away. if you want to radius the bottom then that gets dangerous alot of safety first and use a shaper set up absolutly nuts to skim a radious onto it. I usually just use a hand plane to give it a break or a table top disk sander to chamfer the edge.

What woods do people like best bass, maple, mahogany, douglas fir?


Craig
 
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