My felt is a wreck...I need hygiene advice

Thunderball

Thunderball

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Simonis fwiw.

I got stains overlapping stains.
Also, I would be outta fingers and toes if I had to count the spills over the years.
Water, beer, wine, soda and who knows what the hell else....plus most recently...milk....that one is rough by comparison. The rest seem to at least fade a bit...this one I'm not so sure.

I got kids, the wife keeps a few extras, and I know many a drunken idiot (I often qualify)...so thats how I got where I be....but what to do?

No "spray on" cleaner is gonna correct it, although it may help I would imagine.

Is steam/vaccing an option?

I have bondo at the seams if thats a consideration.

The table still plays great and the felt is far from used up...But it looks like monkey ass....can I bring it back to life without effecting the play?
 
Any cleaner that will remove those stains will do some serious damage to the cloth, I'd say you need to replace it. Plus all the liquids probably seeped under the cloth to the bed of the table and you'd have to clean all that out.

Get a cover with a lock for the table, and put it off limits unless you are there to watch it after the new cloth goes on.
 
If you have felt on your table, you better get it changed quickly to pool cloth.. I'd recommend Simonis and keep the drinks and kids off the table.. Just a suggestion of course..

For those that don't get a little humor, it was intended! :)
 
Get a cover with a lock for the table, and put it off limits unless you are there to watch it after the new cloth goes on.
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Thats in the math no doubt...but I would like to cure, or at least somewhat correct, the current situation without recovering if possible.

Ol t'ball has kicked out many a coin lately, its starting to sting if you know what I mean.

I'm looking for a method that requires more effort than cash (if its out there). Effort I got ya know?
 
Best advice I could give you is to have it replaced. There's really nothing that will get the stains out. Then don't allow anyone to put drinks on the table or drink while at the table. It's really simple, I have 4 kids all under age 6 and they all understand not to take drinks around the table. I don't have one stain on my felt. Then get a cover for it, you can get a nice one for less then $100.
 
If the cloth is in that bad of shape but is still fairly new why not give steam cleaning a try just to see what happens? Worse case is you have to re-cloth the table. Take the rails off first so the underside of the rail doesn't get wet.

FYI, I clean my table fairly often with a damp cloth and wipe it down going with the direction of the thread. Learned that from The Coats..
 
DoubleD said:
I suggest multiple beatings. Belt for the kids, bat for the adults.

Your only choice is to recover it. Buy a vinyl cover this time, that should help with the kid situation. The idiot (drunk is NOT an excuse, otherwise I'd have been a sloppy mess a decade ago) situation is remedied by making them pay for the damage. Of course, that might fix the 'I have too many friends' problem, also...

dld
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LOL dld....especially for the "too many friends" comment. You're right...there would be some automatic if not accidental correction there.

But to all:
Unsalvageable ? Really? I'm optionless outside of recovering?
 
Thunderball said:
LOL dld....especially for the "too many friends" comment. You're right...there would be some automatic if not accidental correction there.

But to all:
Unsalvageable ? Really? I'm optionless outside of recovering?
Click to expand...

Anything other then water is pretty much impossible to get out. You can use a damp cloth to "kinda" get it up but from my experience recovering thousands of tables is you'll always have a sign there was a stain there.
 
I would think a steam machine would work but, would loosen your cloth up like humidity would do making the play worse. If you don't wanna recover yet try to brush the tables REALLY good, then vacuum the table, REALLY good with a bristle brush attachment to get up all chalk and dirt. After that, take a lint free towel and a bucket of warm water and ring out the towel real good to where it's damp. Wipe the table in passes with some force in the irection that you break and it will get the mild stains and old chalk up. You'll see on the towel. I work in a poolhall and do this, got the tip from a thread on here. We have a stain remover that pours into a p spray bottle that works miracles. I'll have to get the name of it for you. Good luck and I'll get the name of that table cleaner tonight.
 
Please do not use a rotating/revolving bristle brush attachment, really bad idea! Use a non moving hand held bristle attachment. They sell them at lowes for a couple of bucks if you don't have one.
 
sk8ordie said:
I would think a steam machine would work but, would loosen your cloth up like humidity would do making the play worse. If you don't wanna recover yet try to brush the tables REALLY good, then vacuum the table, REALLY good with a bristle brush attachment to get up all chalk and dirt. After that, take a lint free towel and a bucket of warm water and ring out the towel real good to where it's damp. Wipe the table in passes with some force in the irection that you break and it will get the mild stains and old chalk up. You'll see on the towel. I work in a poolhall and do this, got the tip from a thread on here. We have a stain remover that pours into a p spray bottle that works miracles. I'll have to get the name of it for you. Good luck and I'll get the name of that table cleaner tonight.
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Thanks Sk8. Much appreciated advice
 
sk8ordie had some very good advice. Maybe in addition you could go see your local dry cleaners to get some advice on what to use on those stains in wool. But I would be interested in the stain remover sk8ordie uses :thumbup:.

One issue is that after it's cleaned, you may have to re-stretch the cloth because it will probably stretch out after all the cleaning if you have any many stains as you indicate. But it's all worth a try, you would have to re-cloth anyway at least this gives you a fighting chance to save it.

Good luck,
Dave
 
I tried this once and it turned out surprizingly well--Bissell cleaner with a little Woolite mixed in with the cleaning solution--I was going to recover the table in a few months anyway, so I gambled on trying this and it really worked pretty well--gotta make sure you stay off of it for a day or two and vacuum it good after it's dry--Worked for me.
 
I suspect steam would put way too much water on the cloth, and as stated above, would be way too loose as a result afterwards. Might not tighten up very well even with drying.

This probably won't work, but Oxy-Clean and water have taken some stains quickly out of clothes and upholstery of mine. Mix some with warm water, get a wash cloth soaking wet with it, wring out the cloth, and brush the table with the cloth, pretty much like using a brush. In other words, you're working briskly, not getting it too wet.

May take multiple times, and did I mention, it may not work? If that's the case, replacing the cloth is the only option, which is pretty much the majority opinion above.

And keep people away from your table.
 
Use plain cold water.
wet the cloth real good --soppy wet.
vacuum with a shop vac to pull the water and crud out.
don't worry about the cloth getting to loose.
let air dry for a couple of days -- don't touch the cloth while drying.
repeat the process three or four times to keep pulling the crud out.
for the final pass,wet the cloth pretty good but don't drown it and let it dry for a couple of days.don't vacuum!the cloth will draw tight.

bill
 
Watch eBay for cheap cloth...... Can probably find something for $30 used but in better condition than yours. Then go on YouTube and learn how to refelt yourself.
 
Thunderball said:
Simonis fwiw.

I got stains overlapping stains.
Also, I would be outta fingers and toes if I had to count the spills over the years.
Water, beer, wine, soda and who knows what the hell else....plus most recently...milk....that one is rough by comparison. The rest seem to at least fade a bit...this one I'm not so sure.

I got kids, the wife keeps a few extras, and I know many a drunken idiot (I often qualify)...so thats how I got where I be....but what to do?

No "spray on" cleaner is gonna correct it, although it may help I would imagine.

Is steam/vaccing an option?

I have bondo at the seams if thats a consideration.

The table still plays great and the felt is far from used up...But it looks like monkey ass....can I bring it back to life without effecting the play?
Click to expand...

IF you're willing to experiment, You may want to try mixing a 25% solution of Acetone and water. 3 parts water to 1 part Acetone and put in a spray bottle, spray on the stain spots the brush to loosen the stain and wipe dry in the direction you break. Acetone is an organic solvent so you don't want to use it full strength but it evaporates fairly quickly. Be sure to wear eye protection etc if you mix your own solution.
 
I had chalk lines and soda rings on a simonis bed cloth that I took to the dry cleaners... I paid em 14 bucks and told them to do whatever they thought was best.... The cloth came back almost as good as new.. Wish I had asked them what they had decided to do......
 
stains

Thunderball said:
Thats in the math no doubt...but I would like to cure, or at least somewhat correct, the current situation without recovering if possible.

Ol t'ball has kicked out many a coin lately, its starting to sting if you know what I mean.

I'm looking for a method that requires more effort than cash (if its out there). Effort I got ya know?
Click to expand...

There are some stain removers that will help alot.
But other then that It really seems you enjoy your children and your drunk friends company more then your pool table.
So clean it up the best you can an play on it.
And when you get new FELT try cloth instead just make sure you are the first one to put a stain on it.:thumbup:

ps my wife is a expert on stains
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cowabunga
MMike
 
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