Help Me Recover a 7' Valley

C

CT_IN_TX

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First of all, let me state that I don't for a minute believe that any old yahoo like myself can replicate the work of a good mechanic. I respect and appreciate the work you do and am willing to pay a premium for it.

That being said...

Some of you may have seen my thread last week looking for a 7 foot table for my sister. When she first asked me to help her find something, our goal was to be cheap, hold out for deals, and try to get up and running for under $1000.

We ended up getting a Valley Black Cat for all of $100 and it was in remarkably good shape. Our goal has now become getting it up and playing for as little as possible just to say we did. We did decide to buy new rails so we have those on order already covered along with a piece of bed cloth. And we haven't even hit $500 yet.

I would never even attempt to cover rails but since it's just the one 7 foot piece of slate (actually, it's a 6 1/2 footer - I'm just used to saying 7), she's convinced me that we should try and cover it ourselves. Since we're so far under budget, I don't have any problem experimenting with one piece of cloth. Not too big of a financial setback to buy another piece and have it done professionally if I screw it up.

I'm looking for any advice, suggestions of what type of adhesive to use, or tips and tricks you may be willing to offer.

Thanks in advance.
 
CT_IN_TX said:
First of all, let me state that I don't for a minute believe that any old yahoo like myself can replicate the work of a good mechanic. I respect and appreciate the work you do and am willing to pay a premium for it.

That being said...

Some of you may have seen my thread last week looking for a 7 foot table for my sister. When she first asked me to help her find something, our goal was to be cheap, hold out for deals, and try to get up and running for under $1000.

We ended up getting a Valley Black Cat for all of $100 and it was in remarkably good shape. Our goal has now become getting it up and playing for as little as possible just to say we did. We did decide to buy new rails so we have those on order already covered along with a piece of bed cloth. And we haven't even hit $500 yet.

I would never even attempt to cover rails but since it's just the one 7 foot piece of slate (actually, it's a 6 1/2 footer - I'm just used to saying 7), she's convinced me that we should try and cover it ourselves. Since we're so far under budget, I don't have any problem experimenting with one piece of cloth. Not too big of a financial setback to buy another piece and have it done professionally if I screw it up.

I'm looking for any advice, suggestions of what type of adhesive to use, or tips and tricks you may be willing to offer.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I don't think the Valley Black Cat came in a size smaller than a 7ft, but besides that, buy the Simonis DVDs to learn how to recover the table...as it's all explained in the DVDs. That's going to be the best advice you're going to get if you want to take on the project on your own.

Glen
 
Thanks, RKC. I was actually wondering if there was a good video available somewhere because god knows I've run across plenty of bad ones. I'll look into the Simonis videos.

Now that you mention it, I've never actually measured the table since disassembling it. I was just going by the code on the table - BB-C-FA - which according to the documentation I've found labels it as a 6 1/2ft.
 
Here's the best advice you'll get - ask this forum who's the best table tech in your area and have him do it. I had SD Billiards do my Global bar box and I've been so happy with it. Do it yourself and if it doesn't come out perfect, every time you play on it you'll regret not having a pro do it for you. You're way ahead of the game money-wise, so tell your sister that sometimes pinching pennies is not the best course to take. I've watched Donnie cover my table and believe me, it's not a chore for an amateur.
 
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Thanks, Pete. I meant to say in my first post that telling me I'll just end up pulling my hair out so go ahead and hire a professional installer would be a perfectly acceptable answer. It really isn't about pinching pennies at this point - just thought it would be cool to say "wow, can you believe we got this table set up for only $xxx".

And, of course, being that I do all kinds of repairs on cars, furniture, the house, etc. by myself there is part of me that wants to TRY and do it - but I am starting to lean toward the pro route.
 
if you are willing to try , you just got the right table for doing so. a one inch three piece slates with backing is a lot harder to cover. if you don't tight it enough, it's a lot easier to take the rails off and stretch it some more. i say go ahead , let us know how it turned, and good luck.
 
Decided to re-cover the table last night and I can say without hesitation that I will not be doing it again. It is my estimation that you would have to do this 900 times to be good at it and I don't have the patience for 899 more.

Thanks to everyone for the advice and encouragement.

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your estimation is about right. sorry for luring you into doing it yourself. it does look good on your pic though. you give us mechs credit for our work because we might tend to forget how hard it really is...
 
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