Pool Table Re-Felting Article

Everyone who loves to play pool knows how fun it can be. It's also beneficial for your health, both mentally and physically. If you have space for a pool table in your home, you will have excellent use of it.

As is the case with anything else, if used, a pool table will also be prone to wear and tear. Even with proper maintenance, the covering of your pool table will get damaged over time, and you will need to replace it.

Whether you have a standard-sized 8-foot pool table or a 9-foot one, professionally re-felting it can be expensive. By buying the materials and investing a little time in it, you can do it yourself, for just a fraction of the price.

Level, string, and wood shims – It's of the utmost importance for the finished table to be level; you can use any leveling tool to achieve this.

Screwdriver and ratchet – Necessary to tighten rail bolts, legs, and do the general assembly of the table.

Awl, wire cutters, and a stapling gun – Before removing the old felt, cut all the staples and replace them when putting on the new one.

Feather stripping – Their purpose is to hold cloth at the top of the rail, and best fit them into place with a rubber mallet.

Paint scraper – If you use wax for sealing, this tool will easily remove it. With plaster, you might have to work harder.

Spray and contact adhesive – The first one is to glue the cloth to the slate and the finishing pockets. The cushions adhere best with a contact adhesive.

Beeswax – Recommended for sealing the seams of the cloth. You can also use plaster, but it's challenging to clean when it dries.

Cushions – Along with the main felt piece, these need to be too. They usually have rubber facings as a finish.

Felt – The replacement cloth will most likely need to be cut into various pieces, depending on the type of your table. Use razor blades for a seamless result.

After gathering your tools and putting on adequate eye protection, you can begin to slowly and methodically take apart your pool table.

Lay down on your back under the table and cut the stapling, holding the pocket holes in place. Make sure to gather all the staples while falling to avoid getting them inside your clothes or stepping on them. After removing all of the rail staples, take the pockets off and put them aside. The next step is to unscrew the side rail bolts to remove them using your wrench. Depending on the type of your pool table, the side rail might be in one piece or multiple pieces. You will find this out when you lift the last bolt holding it in place, when you can remove the rail from the table with care.

Put the railing in a safe place along with the cushions. You should also gather and save all the screws you removed from the rails since you will need them later when reassembling the table.

Similar to the railings or slate bed underneath the cover, the felt covering the tool table might be put together from multiple pieces. In any case, taking the felt off will take a lot of time, and it will depend on the method it was put together on the table previously. You will want to work gently and be extremely cautious unless you want to damage the slate or the cushions.

If the felt was glued on the slate, gently start pulling it off, beginning in one corner. Use slow, backward motions and be careful when pulling off the felt from the cushions. You might have an easier job with this last part if the cloth covering the cushions is in separate pieces.

If the felt is in place with staples, you need to remove them with pliers. Again, you will work slowly while taking safety precautions to prevent injury. Once you remove the felt, make sure no staple is left in it, fold the cloth, and put it aside.

Besides gathering the staples, excess glue that you scraped off, or torn material, you also need to be careful with handling the felt once removed. As it's probably full of dust, you don't want to wave it around too much.

The first step in prepping the slate is, of course, cleaning it. As for the cloth covering it, the slate is usually full of dust, too. If the felt glue was holding the felt, you will probably find some excess on the slate as well. Scrape it off gently, then wipe the slate off using a dry cloth. Water and cleaning products are not a good idea to use on slate, as they will penetrate the material, making it less durable. Although slate is quite an endurable material, it still requires some level of care.

If the slate consists of more than one piece, the most effective way to clean it is by removing them one by one. When putting it back together, fasten the slate to the table. Put two strings on it lengthwise, using four quarters underneath them as a guide. Use the fifth quarter to make sure both string lines are at the same distance from the slate everywhere and make adjustments, if needed.

After leveling the slate and the table, seal the seams between the slate parts with wax. Use a torch to heat the seams, drip the wax on them, then let it dry. Scrape off any excess wax so you won't have any lumps after.

Although some pool table manufacturers provide standard dimensions, it's always better to measure your table with a measuring tape. Be sure you have measurements for the bed and the railings, but don't include the cushions or anything inside the pockets.

Typically, pool tables come in four sizes: 7, 8, pro 8, and 9. Measuring the width alone should be enough, as the length is usually double the width. However, you won't lose anything by measuring it lengthwise as well. It's always a good idea to buy a couple of extra inches of material for safety, particularly if you are cutting it later into pieces.

If you are thinking about changing the color, you need to check the options manufacturer before buying it. Almost all manufacturers make felt with a certain width, but not all carry the correct color in the exact size.

After you successfully purchase the felt, lay it down flat on the table and let it sit for a couple of minutes. In some specialized stores, you will have the option to have it professionally cut separately for the bed and the railing. If that's not possible, you can buy it in one piece and cut it at home.

To smooth it out before cutting, run your fingers over the material to feel any lumps or roughness in it. When the felt feels perfectly smooth under your fingers, you can proceed with the cutting.

Take a sharp pair of scissors or a razor blade and cut the felt according to the measurement you have taken. Some types of cloth will rip in a straight line, avoiding the need to cut with scissors.

When cutting the material for the main piece, make sure to follow the measurements and cut the exact amount. There should always be a sufficient amount of felt left behind, so you don't run out of felt on the rails.

Additionally, some cloth manufacturers can provide you with cutting instructions for each piece of felt you'll need. This guide will also tell you about the allowance that you need to leave for securing the seams.

Stapling the felt is a popular method of attaching to the slate. But it's only an option if your slate has a wood lining underneath it, where the staples can enter.

Lay down the felt and start stapling one shorter side, beginning in the middle and going towards the side lengthwise. Then go to the other side and pull the cloth toward you, again starting in the middle. When the material feels tight enough, start stapling that side from the center to the end while pulling it all the time. If you don't stretch the felt evenly on the whole table, you may be left with lumps, resulting in the disruption of your next game. Repeat the process on the longer side, pulling the felt to a consistent stretch.

When the cover is secured sufficiently on all sides, take a razor blade and cut openings in it for the rail bolts to enter. Make sure to cut the holes directly above the bolt holes. The easiest way to ensure that is by finding a hole with your finger and guiding the cut from the bottom up.

For pool tables without a wood backing under the slate, gluing the felt on is the only possibility to tighten it in place. Securing the felt by using glue is based on the same motions as with the stapling gun.

Begin in the middle on the shorter side, work to the end, then switch sides. The only difference here is that you will need to spray one end of the slate with the adhesive, then sprinkle the same end of the cloth. Wait about half a minute for the glue to get tacky and press the felt down to the slate. Do this around the whole table while stretching the cover.

When you are finished applying the adhesive on the last side, the side where you began should be dry enough for you to start cutting holes for the railing.

Whether you secure the felt on with staples or glue, you will need to cut the pockets too. Cut 3-4 slices for each one, at least 1/2 inch away from the edge of the slate. Peel the cloth slices under the slate and glue them in place. You can also glue a slip of cloth to line the pockets and make them look nicer.

The proper function of the pool table rails depends on the covering of the rails, as well as on the bolts securing it. Failing to install the rails correctly will result in the inconsistent speed of your balls rebounding.

When putting the rails back, secure every bolt tightly, starting with the side rails and ending with the end one. Otherwise, they can come loose from the vibration after only a couple of uses.

When replacing the felt on the rails, you want to pull it tightly, similarly to the technique on top of the slate. If you are securing the material with a stapling gun, you need to put the staples close enough to each other to avoid movement during use. Stapling the rails may be more difficult than in the case of slats, because it's made from a different wood. For that reason, gluing the material on is the more recommended way of covering rails. Uneven, bunching material can also cause hopping balls, so work very slowly when covering the rails.

Cushion rubbers can also affect the rails. If they don't work anymore or have an improper placement, you need to replace them and install new ones.

Re-felting your pool table can be a great DIY project, or you can choose to do it yourself to save a significant amount of money. It won't matter if you are doing it because the cover of your pool table is damaged, you want to change the color of the cloth, or the rails and cushions need changing. The most important thing is that you do an adequate job if you want your table to perform well in the future.

It's not exactly the easiest thing to do, especially the part about refitting the clothes over the slate, or most critically, the railing. You really want to take your time doing that to get the smoothest result possible.

Since you are already saving money by changing the cover yourself, you might want to invest in good-quality felt and cushions. They will last longer while performing better, which can make your game of pool more enjoyable.