slate seams

winners07

winners07

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
ok this been talked about before im sure. what is the best for slate seams
the wax or plaster paris, or a cement and plaster mix. i replaced the seam with plaster paris about a year ago and we are going to recover it again now and i want something better because the plaster started breaking up a couple months after the last job.:eek:
 
Well, I'm no expert like some of the people here but Bondo works well for me. That's what I've used on the few tables I've done for myself and never had a problem. Make sure the slates are tight together, spread the Bondo into the seam and use a razor blade to scrape off the extra just before it gets hard. Lightly sand it, do it again if needed and you're done. Worked great for me....
 
I personally like to use wax. Especially on a table with center slate holes or an older table where the slate screw holes are not back far enough to be under the rail. It's pretty irritating to get contrated to move a table that someone else has set up using plater or bondo. You have to chisel the screw holes out to get to the slate screws. The plaster in the screw heads almost always ruins the screws or at the least makes it difficult to remove them.

With wax you can either dig it out easily with a screwdriver or you can actually push an electric drill screwdriver bit into the wax and back out the screw and wax all together.

Wax also seems to set up faster, it is self levelling, and if there are any cracks or gaps in the slate seam it will fill those in nicely but still come apart easily if you have to move the table.

Many times I've seen plaster bond to the slate and chip the slate when you take the table apart. Wax will never do this.

Wax is also a little more forgiving in terms of environment. Heat/humidity changes will not break down wax and if all of your excess is scraped off before covering the table, you'll never get the line in the cloth from the seam like with plaster.

Just a few reasons for my opinion, but I use wax every day and always dread running into a table someone before me has plastered. Hope that helps!
 
Beeswax. Bondo and other items have their places (mainly slate repair) but for seems beeswax is the chit. Besides, if someone bondos your seams you're really not going to like the price when the next guy comes in and has to remove it so he can do it the right way.
 
short term like a 1 year lease on a house and you move around alot go with wax or durhams hard rock wheat putty. if you play seriusly and dont move around much go with Bondo..... most insallers dont like the smell of bondo or dont use it right and just pile it on let get hard then cant plane it downn with a razer blade scraper. if you catch it 60-80% dry you can plane it down very easy. When your done you should have a small trace left in the seam only not on top of the slate..

On a well assembled table you you should have very small amount of any filler used to fill or level a seam out.

best of luck,
Craig
 
ok thanks for all the help, I think I will go with the wax, it goes on petty easy. but this table won't be moved for a long time the only reason this time was he tiled the floor. thanks again
 
Beeswax

I use beeswax, with a brand new 4-inch wide putty knife to level and slice off the excess. It is durable, won't crack and collect under the cloth; easy to remove next time; won't melt even in Death Valley; scraps are reuseable; very forgiving if you make any mistakes... just re-melt the area, add some more, and do it again perfectly.

While you're at it, beeswax is also perfect for plugging up little scratches, pits, or defects on the surface of the slate, using the same technique.

I have read the bondo advocates post here in the past, but have never been tempted to change. :)

RL
 
bondo sucks

magnetardo said:
Beeswax. Bondo and other items have their places (mainly slate repair) but for seems beeswax is the chit. Besides, if someone bondos your seams you're really not going to like the price when the next guy comes in and has to remove it so he can do it the right way.
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Well said. Working on a table that has been bondoed is nothing short of a pain in the ass. Most, not all, of the bondoed tables I have done, they're using the bondo to compensate for not bening able to align the slates across the seems. Why anyone would sand on a soft machined surface (slate) is beyond me. Bondo for repairs maybe be never for the average install. How do you like the jokers that fill screw holes with bondo?
 
SlateHumper said:

Well said. Working on a table that has been bondoed is nothing short of a pain in the ass. Most, not all, of the bondoed tables I have done, they're using the bondo to compensate for not bening able to align the slates across the seems. Why anyone would sand on a soft machined surface (slate) is beyond me. Bondo for repairs maybe be never for the average install. How do you like the jokers that fill screw holes with bondo?
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Just score the bondoed seem with a utility knife and it will pop right apart. As for the bondo in the screw holes, i make wood plugs for mine first most of the time then bondo over that, or just use wax for the screw holes. I work on an average of 10 tables a week, and try to not use a filler at all when possible, then if needed finish the seem with either wax, bondo, or rock hard water putty.

Living in Arizona, we see lots of climate changes, from well over 110* in the summer to below freezing in the winter, and the wax sometimes tends to work its way up out of the seem and cause a lump on the seem that can easily be felt under the cloth, thats why I don't like to use wax all the time.

Bondo does not expand or contract with temp changes, and acts as a bonding agent to keep the slate seems from slipping or shifting. I always use bondo on tables that are at a far location, or ones I know I do not want to have to go back to and fix a seem on the table.
 
Screw holes within the first 4 1/2" from the outside edge of the slate don't need to be filled in with anything as they're NOT in the playing surface of the table. Only someone new, or a dumb-ass would fill them in if they're not in the field of play...LOL I picked up and moved 5 Diamond 8ft Professionals from 5 different Fox & Hounds restaurants from 5 different cities, in 3 different states. The one thing they all had in common was the slate seams were filled with wax. On all 5 of the tables, the seams had come apart. I'm not a big fan of using something that "MIGHT" come apart at a later date. Maybe it's because of who ever did the work, but all 5 tables were not done by the same person, the work was different on all 5 tables. I'll tell you all something, I don't care what you're using to fill the seams of the slates, if you don't know what you're doing...anything used can turn out to be a nightmare for who ever has to come along and fix it, and I've had to do it all! If you don't get them slate seams tight together, I don't care if you use wax or not, it won't hold as it'll press down into the seam! And yes, if there's a 1/8" gap in the seams and someone tries to fill it with bondo, or the slates are not level to one another before using bondo...it can be a nightmare following that dumb-ass as well. If plaster isn't mixed right, it'll break apart as it drys out, then you'll have little ROCKS all over under the cloth.

Bottom line here guys, is be sure you know what you're doing first. And what ever you use to seam the slates, make damn sure you know HOW to use what ever it is that you're using to make the job turn out right, and LAST until the next recovery or move.

"The bridge is only as good as the architect who designed it!"

Glen, the Realkingcobra!
 
realkingcobra said:
Screw holes within the first 4 1/2" from the outside edge of the slate don't need to be filled in with anything as they're NOT in the playing surface of the table. Only someone new, or a dumb-ass would fill them in if they're not in the field of play.
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Thank you, Glen! I wish the Brunswick installers around here knew that. I don't know who installs for them, but every one I've moved, I've had to chisel the plaster out of the holes and replace all the slate screws. Very good point, Glen, I wish more installers did the job right.
 
Install Slates "right" Before Filling Seams

realkingcobra said:
The one thing they all had in common was the slate seams were filled with wax. On all 5 of the tables, the seams had come apart. I'm not a big fan of using something that "MIGHT" come apart at a later date. Glen, the Realkingcobra!
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The real KC :cool: has a point. But neither bondo nor wax can "come apart" so long as the slates are level, tight, and completely immovable in all directions. That, IMO, is the key to "doing it right" as he says. Seam filler, whether bondo or beeswax, is not supposed to be a structural component of the set up table.

(Cracked bondo, with floating subclothian rocks, due to improper mixing, is another problem, of course.)

RL
 
RED LITE said:
The real KC :cool: has a point. But neither bondo nor wax can "come apart" so long as the slates are level, tight, and completely immovable in all directions. That, IMO, is the key to "doing it right" as he says. Seam filler, whether bondo or beeswax, is not supposed to be a structural component of the set up table.

(Cracked bondo, with floating subclothian rocks, due to improper mixing, is another problem, of course.)

RL
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So true, as I've only come across a filler being used to mask a bad slate leveling job a couple of times in my 25 years of experience...:rolleyes: There is NO substitute for knowing how to correctly level the slates before any filler is applied!

Glen
 
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