Next question for billiards technicians.

[realkingcobra]

Why is it, that when I walk into a pool room to take a look at the recovery work done on the pool tables, if the pool room has coin-operated pool tables...Why are they always the worst looking, worst recovered pool tables in the house? Do billiards technicians that recover feather stripped rail pool tables...NOT know how to recover bar boxes?...or do they just not care enough about them to put the same work into recovering them as they do for the rest of the tables in the pool room?

So, here's my question.

Shouldn't billiards technicians in order to be called "Billiards Technicians" be able to do the best work possible...on what ever the pool table is...even if it's a bar box? I mean, why such a difference in the two different types of tables as far as recoverying them goes?

Glen

 

[Poolschool]

I think they just don't know how to cover them properly. It took me much longer to perfect the rails on a bar box then it did regular rails. Thats a pet peave of mine too. The rails are always sticking up, too low or has a bunch of cloth behind the cushion and you can see a gap.

 

[realkingcobra]

One of the problems with most bar tables is that when you change from one thickness of cloth to another, like from Mali to Simonis, you'll end up with a gap between the bottom of the rail and the surface of the slate. First of all, I remind myself...I didn't build this piece of shit, but...I will make it look great, and I will make it play better than it did before...even if that before...is just looking better. While I have the slate up in the air on boards, I place one rail recovered on the slate that's been recovered just like it would be inside the table. I then take a simple sliding micrometer and take a measurement from the top of the rail down to the bottom of the slate. I then measure the table from the top of the p-lam down to the slate supports. If the rails and slate measure 2 1/2" but the distance inside the table measures 2 5/8" then I take 2 thickness of cloth and place it on all the slate mounts inside the table to shim up the slate before I place the slate back inside the table. When I bolt back on the rails, I end up with a perfect fit against the top rail laminate. No guessing needed. This is just one of my tricks.

Glen

 

[realkingcobra]

When recovering Valley style rails, do technicians that don't wrap the cloth all the way around the rails on the back side of the rail realize that they are intentionally lowering the point of the rails when they do this? They start out stapling the cloth to the back of the rail on the top side of the rail, then they wrap it around the rail over the rubber and down to the bottom of the rail where they staple it there. If they don't continue to wrap the cloth around the bottom side of the rail and bring it around to the back side of the rail, all they're doing is placing cloth behind the rail above the center of the bolts, but not countering that by placing cloth behind the rail below the center of the bolts, thus causing the rails to tilt downward creating a situation that will cause ball hop and unusual rail rebound speed.

Why would somebody do this? IMO that kind of work is bullshit. Valley/Dynamo, Great American, Global...etc...have a bad enough reputation as not being "REAL" pool tables as it is, that they don't need someone intentionally trying to make the tables play worse than they already do.

Bar owners put their trust into a technician by "PAYING" them not only to recover their pool tables, but also to do a good job when doing it. If you compare how long it takes to recover a GC or a Diamond to how long it takes to recover a bar box...per hour the bar box pays a hell of a lot higher...so why is the work done so cheaply compared to feather stripped rail pool tables.

Example: Diamond 9ft Pro Am...Labor $200.00...Time 4hrs = $50.00per hr.
Vally/Dynamo 7,8ft....Labor $125.00...Time 1hr = $125.00per hr

That's a contradiction to the "hourly rate" quote don't ya think, because every billiards technician I know....has one!...LOL...including me, and mine is $65.00 per hour.

 

[smittie1984]

I hate covering bar box rails. I normally let my buddy do them because he is better at them than I. I've been meaning to get more practice with them but I'm always rushing so I rather my friend who is great at them get them done faster and right than me screwing around with them.

One thing I notice between a pool hall with say Gold Crowns and a Pool Hall with Coin Ops. The Coin-op places generally cater to drunk people who often rest their drinks on the table. So a coin-op pool hall is going to hire somebody cheap. Because why spend big money on getting it done right when odds are that night their will be budweiser all over it anyways.

While a pool hall that is full of Gold Crowns is likely going to have the sole purpose of being a pool hall. People will come there to drink yes. But often times they are there to play pool and you want to attract those people back. So you have to pay someone more money who is a better mechanic to do a better job.

Another thing I have discovered is many coin-op places will just get some cloth and try to get their cook to do it or something. Places like that will normally glue the felt to the rails.

 

[realkingcobra]

Actually, I was referring to pool halls that all the tables are hourly except one or two coin-op bar boxes. I know about the work performed on bar tables in bars...but what about the bar boxes in pool halls? Ain't the same guys recovering the Gold Crowns..recovering the bar boxes in the pool room as well?

Glen

 

[realkingcobra]

Correct Bar Box Recoveries, Simonis 860 Tour Blue

Bar box recoveries.

 

[realkingcobra]

And yes, there's folds in the side pockets!

Glen

 

[PoolTable911]

nice job! Very clean.

Pat O'Donnell
www.Pool-Table-Services.com