Ressurecting a gold crown 2 from the dead

[Oregonmeds]

Ressurecting a gold crown 2 from the dead, Request for parts and service in Oregon.

I bought one of the most pathetic examples of a once nice pool table there probably is out there, and am going to restore and rebuild it from the ground up to new condition or at least "looking" better than new and could use some advice or links to other similar projects.

It's a standard white base gold crown mfg 4/20/64. All the metal parts had been painted red with paint as ugly as nail polish, then scratched practically to death with studded belt buckles for 46 or whatever years before the red paint. I've never seen worse. But I already spent the last week sanding those down and polishing them up to perfection by hand, problem solved for now at least, as long as waxing them keeps them from oxidizing. I polished the nameplate with a toothbrush for maybe an hour with comet cleanser to remove the last remnants of it's original finish, now it sparkles and looks great. Stripped the ball box nail polish looking paint off to the original metal, but it's anodizing looks a bit pitted.

Cloth on it looks like awning fabric quality, and is horribly stained worn and torn.

Paint on the skirts looks horrible, must be a few badly applied paintbrush coats and a few coats worth of paint runs under that.

It has 5 piece slate now, since two corners have been cracked off, one the previous owner glued on with what looks like jbweld and he glued it too high. Need to get some advice on what solvent might eat epoxy or jbweld grey looking glue, so I can get that corner off and realign it, and advice on what glue to use for the repair afterwards. Bondo? It's either that or cut it off and realign. My slate is trashed really, but I need to fix it enough to get by for a while at least, until I can afford replacement slate plus simonis plus a pro installer. All the pins are bent and broken out from improper removal (that was my fault, had to remove the table the same day before it was about to be chopped up and thrown in the trash, I didn't have time to look up the proper way to take it apart and I didn't know they had pins.)

All the pockets are cracked and falling apart, I want to replace them with flush mount pockets even if I have to route out channels in the castings to get it to look like gc5 style. Links to what parts to use or someone that's done that before? I heard I think you can use gc4 pockets but does that make them flush or just flatter?

I need some other parts more than cloth and rubber and pockets like the springs for the counters, and trangle holder, and stick holder. I also need wood strips to install cloth if anyone has suggestions where to get the all the best stuff. I'd love to do simonis cloth, but I don't think the slate is worth it any longer, maybe after new slate.

If I can find someone in the portland area or coming by my area with a good deal on slate and simonis, and all the parts I need and pay them to do it up right I'd be open to that for sure. I can't afford it but I'd put it on a credit card or something to have it all done right if the right guy and the right deal comes up. I know I have to do the refinishing part myself, but the cloth or at least the rails I'd like a top quality pro to do. Maybe someone to send the rails out to?

I'm going to strip to bare wood and sand to perfection then do a mahogany stain and clear like jnyrad posted:

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=215616

Advice? Sources for best deal for the parts I need? Offers of new slate in my area? (Portland Oregon)

Tips on keeping the stuff I just polished from oxidizing other than just car wax? Or plating or powdercoating bargains in my area?
Also does anyone know where to find a deal on decals like these, or if not available maybe a method to print them out on paper, trace them, and then paint them on?

This table was practically free and I love them and always wanted one so I feel compelled to save it.
So worth it or not, I'm diving in head first. I know they say you can't shine a turd but it's starting to shine already.

 

[reverend]

Get a hold of Gordan Graham hes up in that part of the country now 425-275-8255. As for the decals, I can make you a set of those. PM me if you are interested.

 

[Oregonmeds]

thanks pm sent.

Is gordon the level of pro installer who I can trust to get stretch mark free perfect looking rails from all angles even with simonis, no flaws showing down the road like uneven cushion rubber leaving a line later on as it wears or defects in the corners.

I'm almost as nitpicky as the overly critical people who I'd often share my table with.

 

[laserbrn]

I give you credit for wanting to save this poor tables life. I don't know why you are going through all of this hassle at this time, but to each their own. You can pick up pool tables right now at fire sale prices. It would take a lot less time and money to just patiently look and wait for the right table to come along. People are having to give them away as they get thrown out of their houses.

I do appreciate a good restoration job, and I understand not wanting it to be chopped up and thrown away, so please do post pictures throughout and update us as I'd love to see it.

 

[rrich1]

www.classicbilliards.net has all the pieces you would need.

 

[reverend]

thanks pm sent.

Is gordon the level of pro installer who I can trust to get stretch mark free perfect looking rails from all angles even with simonis, no flaws showing down the road like uneven cushion rubber leaving a line later on as it wears or defects in the corners.

I'm almost as nitpicky as the overly critical people who I'd often share my table with.

He is very good. You will be pleased with his work. Call him to talk it out tho. I don't know what his schedule is like, just know that he is up that way.

 

[Oregonmeds]

thanks guys

The reasons why are:

It was abandoned in a repo home and the cleaning crew was going to dismantle it with a sledgehammer and sawzall and throw it in the dumpster.

It was on craigslist, the cleaning crew tried to sell it but it didn't sell and I struck a deal at the right (absolute last) moment.
I bribed them with $100 to let me save it, under the condition that I do all the disasembly, and gave them $50 to then load it in their trailer haul it to my place and then help me unload it and haul it up a steep drive into my garage. I had no way to get any table here or move slates like that myself. Anything else would have cost that much just to move it not counting the cost of buying the table or renting a truck and bribing a few friends with enough beer or whatever.

I didn't want just any table, I wanted a gold crown or diamond pro or pro am. There are free or other cheap tables around me reguarly on cl, lots of crazy deals but mostly junk low end or home stuff and I am not interested, they certainly aren't pro tables or 9' just a few 8's and etc. Good deals for sure with much less work, but not what I want.

I could buy a good gc for about 1200 or so around me when they come up, they aren't clearing them out as often or as cheap as I see on the east coast, but even the best I ever see they're never as good as I'd want anyway, never with anything like the finish I want. I'd still have to strip and refinish and still have to recover it, and still want other work done also, so there's really not that much difference in taking this turd or the best one I could find except for getting good slates.

$150 invested so far leaves a lot of room to play with and I get to have it exactly the way I want, plus I save a good table from the dump. According to the current job market my time is worth nothing and I have little better to do atm anyway. I'd rather be rebuilding a custom motorcycle or street rod but that's not in the budget so this is my project to pass the time.

I'll post pics when i can get my desktop working, currently on a laptop. You'll laugh or be scared at how bad it looked and there will be no question why it was abandoned, why nobody else would buy it for whatever they were asking originally.

 

[Donny Wessels]

the plywood they used on the legs and stretcher isn't really stain grade wood. you may consider painting those parts. Imperial makes a decent brazilian slate with a brunswick bolt pattern.

 

[Oregonmeds]

sdbilliards, thanks that's great to know about the imperials slate. Are you saying their standard 9' slate in their common basic cheaper looking 9' tables I see failry often used on craiglist for decent prices uses a gold crown pattern that will just bolt up? Or are you saying they offer a special slate I can order new made to fit a gold crown from them that's cheaper than other options.

I have been watching cl for used tables thinking about what other slates might work, or looking for another beater gold crown with good slates. Also debating about buying any good 9' that's cheap and drilling it and modding it to fit.

I'm in no rush on the slate until I have the rest ready and see what the wood looks like after stripped and sanded. I could have grabbed a gold crown clone that was cheap near me a while back but wasn't sure if it would be properly drilled for the gc1 or 2 I have or not or how much I could trust the slates to be perfectly flat. Are those bolt patterns in the slate different from the 123' to the 4,5's?
My rails have the figure 8 metal parts that I read make it a 1, and adustable leg levelers without ball bearing bases but the blinds have short hinge pieces not full length like I think I read a 1 is supposed to have. It's tag has a manufacture date of 4/20/64 which I love cause I'm an ex stoner, then again I read that they didn't put dates on them so I'm not sure, someone could have penciled that in later as a joke I guess. It is just written in pencil on the label that shows model AK.

I should have bought that chinese gold crown clone either way now that I've seen the price of parts, they want more than the cost of my table just for a couple parts like rack holder and bridge holder on classicbilliards. I can see those kinds of prices years ago, but not now, now it would make sense for me to just find another beater table with good slates and the other parts I need and then sell off whatever's left over when I'm done I think. If I can find another beater and if I can't find a mechanic with everything I need on a good package price... I think classic is pricing themselves out of a lot of sales and killing a lot of what little business may be left out there at those rates. I fully expect pro setup to cost the same as it did in years past, new cloth and rails and other new parts sure, but not used parts that makes no sense at all to me. Prices of everything else used has come down, everyone has less to invest to fix up what few tables are left and many can be found dirt cheap but I guess they haven't noticed or aren't thinking of staying around?

I know it's not the best wood under there, but I've seen some good looking results and some not so good. Depends on what I see when I strip it I guess. Unfortunately I think I have to strip it no matter what even if I want to paint because it's full of nasty runs all over the place and too many layers of paint already. I think it will be easier to chemical strip the whole thing than sand, but tell me if I'm wrong.

If it doesn't look good enough after stripping I'll paint the whole thing skirts and base the same green as those in the first pic I posted, that would satisfy me. I guess if I stain and clear and then don't like it, I can still paint it green afterwards but it would be a lot of wasted time and work.

Which do you guys think looks better, the first pic I posted in this thread with the brunswick decals on green base or this stained and satin gloss restored table? (I'd stain and high gloss though) The only issue I have with the green I like in the first pic is how that might look with simonis 860 on it if the colors don't match. I should order a sample of some of their green options before trying any paint or stain and see what I come up with, but I'm not sure who to call, don't want to waste a dealers time sending me samples if I have another pro coming with the cloth to do the work, that's not right. Most of the places I play use simonis 86o green so I'd like to stick to that I think but I've never seen their other greens in person.
I'm not a fan of tournament blue for my home or for classic tables, though I love how it plays. It just doesn't look right to me on a classic because that was never an option back in the day and I'm almost as old as my table. My dad owned a bowing center when I was a kid and they had a couple gold crowns I was playing all the time by the time I could see over the edge while standing on a step stool. I spent more of my childhood at the lanes than I did anywhere else since both parents worked there so that probably explains a lot why this model was so important to me. Only a crazy deal on a diamond pro table would have made me change my mind, and that's still not happening, not that I've seen yet.

 

[goldcrown4]

the refinished satin mahagony looks fantastic. I'd leave it just like it is, unless you feel it needs more coats to harden it up.