What type of Beeswax for slate joint sealing?
- Thread starter Robotron
- Start date
The installer of my table used "plaster of paris" in the joints. Just like the bondo, he mixed it in a paper cup, applied it with a putty knife and wiped the excess with a damp cloth. That was YEARS ago and it's still fine. He told me it was the easiest to work with if you ever needed to move or reset the table. I don't know what he meant by that but assume it is easy to remove or add to.
JC
Coos Cues
I don't know the answer in scientific terms but in layman's terms it either doesn't nor does it appear to need to. The proof is right there in the pudding.
L.S. Dennis
Well-known member
I had a Brunswick Viscount table in my last house, and in the manual that came with the table Brunswick said to use plaster of Paris. It was terrible, it cracked as it aged creating little rumples un the cloth. The next time I changed the cloth I used Bondo, much better if not slightly harder to work with.
In the house I’m in now, I have a Gold Crown lll and again bondo was used. Some people do use bees wax but I think bondo is the best.
In the house I’m in now, I have a Gold Crown lll and again bondo was used. Some people do use bees wax but I think bondo is the best.
My table was "fixed" with bondo crap and the both joints are now uneven. The "mechanic" put in longer screws and tightened them down as much as he could. He' d never heard of slate being a natural product that requires some amount of movement.
Formerly, it had beeswax joints and never had a problem for 15 years.
I'm of the opinion now that NOBODY HAS CLUE HOW TO MAINTAIN TABLES.
Jeff Livingston
Do some research in the ...Talk to a Mechanics... section.
JC
Coos Cues
I have done a few tables, I have used both beeswax and filler to seal the slate lines. If you use beeswax you need to make you get it deep enough. If you don't, as slate heats up and cools down depending on the environment it sits in. It can crack or break away from the slate.
A good wash with lacquer thinner or acetone will remove the last traces of the bees wax.Yes, I like the sound of the Bondo method. But the table was definitely waxed previously, and concerned I won't get a Good bond due to this
Best when used with blue cloth
PracticeChampion
Well-known member
I've used regular old beeswax and last time I used the blue wax. The blue I think has some hardener or something in it, seems real durable
I'm sure glad NONE of you are pool table mechanic! Here the truth, and the reasons why! Slates are for the most part, screwed down to wooden frames with slate screws, right?
Wood expands and contacts when it sucks up or expels moisture from the air! As it does so, the frame stretches, and what is the slates SCREWED TO? Thats right, the wooden frame. So when the frame expands in length, it pulls the slate seams apart, when it shrinks, it pulls the seams together! When wax is used, at first it might seem great, but the minute that frame shrinks and pulls them seams tightly together, where do you suppose that wax is going? Thats right, squeezed right up out of the seams, creating a nice little ridge right across the seams from one side to the other.
If you ever spill something on the cloth, and it soaks in, the cloth will loosen up, guaranteed. And for all of you that has ever tried using a hair dryer or iron to dry out the cloth, what happened? Thats right, the wax sucked right up into the cloth creating those nice, cute black lines right across the cloth right in line with the seams!
Plaster, give me a break, if you have plaster in the seams, then you've NEVER vacuumed your table, because if you had, you'd find you have nice little rocks spread out everywhere under the cloth. And guess what, plaster breaks apart when that frame expands and contracts, don't even tru telling me it don't. I've seen it ALL over the last 38 years working on pool tables!
Since super glue has been used to lock slate seams together, in order to stop the slates from being effected by the frame always changing, that solved that problem, but you still have a problem with wax and plaster, BUT, Bondo don't share ANY of those faults, so why use anything else. If you have a chip in the slate seam that needs filled in, say about an 1" round, do you really think either wax or plaster is going to hold up under balls hitting that spot? I use Bonds to do ALL slate repairs, and if its perfect for that process, then its more than adequate to fill in the slate seams!!!
And WHY fill the slate seams with something? Because its a ditch across the slate, and if you DON'T fill it in, just the balls rolling across the seams will create a nice straight line stencil mark in the cloth from side to side!
But, you EXPERTS go ahead and do what you think is the BEST for YOUR pool table at home, but my advice is, if you have NO idea what you're talking about, DON'T give your advice to anyone else, please!!!
PracticeChampion
Well-known member
If this was in the skilled mechanics section I wouldn't have said anything.
I gave up playing for 7 years and that green was down for 2 years atleast so 9 years total and when I pulled it apart recently to refelt it still rolled true and seams we're tight.
Maybe in some instances your theory is correct but mine is in house, temp and humidity controlled and wax does real well.
And you're not an asshole like one asshole around here who is always an asshole.
A guy shouldn't drink then post here is my advice.
Jeff Livingston
One example does not reflect the industry as a whole! There are 1,000's of examples to back up my advice.
Truth hurt? I've worked on more pool tables than you'd ever dream of, if I'm wrong, just point it out buddy!
I pointed out something other than your table work. I didn't even mention any table work. None. Not one bit of it.
fyi,
Jeff Livingston
Myself and Jay Spielberg produced the Iwan Simonis cloth installation DVD's for them, for a reason. Because no one was installing their cloth correctly. Jay is probably the only table mechanic in this country who's worked on more tables than I have, and guess what, he uses bonds and superglue as well, why is that??? Because neither of us want to come back and do the work over again, because the slate seams FAILED!!!
The ONLY reason anyone is using drywall mud or wax is because they're inexperienced, or to lazy to use bondo and superglue!!
And what you pointed out is OFF topic isn't it??