iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Have any of you built your own pool table?

Started by 1woodguy, August 26, 2012, 10:58:51 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

1woodguy

Just something I was thinking about and wondered what would be the best wood?
  Mostly I have access to erc  oaks and Cotten wood
Was thinking erc would look best
Any thoughts?
Experience is a rough teacher first you get the test later comes the lesson!

tyb525

I think walnut is normally used for a traditional look. But hey, who says you can't build one from cedar.

edit: a quick search came up with some red cedar pool tables, some on them rustic.

A cottonwood pool table would be very easy to move :D
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

metalspinner

Whe I was a kid, dad started to build  a pool table out of some large cypress beams he came across. He got as far as building the base and structure of the thing. Maybe even put a finish on it.  The wood was pecky and I remember it looked really neat. He even had some leather pockets made up. Then one day it was gone??? :-\
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

thurlow

Quote from: tyb525 on August 26, 2012, 11:19:38 PMA cottonwood pool table would be very easy to move :D

Only sawed cottonwood a few times;  my experience is that you wouldn't have to move it;  it would move itself.  8)
Here's to us and those like us; DanG few of us left!

POSTON WIDEHEAD

I have a Connelly Pool Table and it is built from what looks like Red Oak with a Slate top. It want move. The company took it upstairs to the game room in pieces and just the pieces were heavy.
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

Al_Smith

Those old heavy slate top open pocket  Brunswick tables from about 1900 are heavy as lead.You'd better have them on a pretty stout floor though . I always thought they were made of oak but never really scrutinized one .

Clam77

One with a heavy slate top in red oak with leather pockets would look awsome..    ;)   

Andy

Stihl 009, 028, 038, 041, MS362
Mac 1-40, 3-25

jueston

here is a little walk through of a guy who build one, it was interesting to browse through quick... maybe you will find it helpful  :)

http://www.bestbilliards.com/resources/build/index.cfm

beenthere

There is a lot of 8/4 pine in mine, but oak veneer over particleboard for the exposed surface, with some solid oak for trim. The slate is three pieces, and very heavy.
Takes a trained tech to put it back together after it is moved (i.e. when new carpeting is put down).
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: beenthere on August 27, 2012, 01:32:15 PM

Takes a trained tech to put it back together after it is moved (i.e. when new carpeting is put down).

I put new carpet on mine every 3 years. The techs are so precise in leveling, they use playing cards to get their levels to read perfect.
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

PC-Urban-Sawyer

My dad and I built one when I was 14 years old. He ordered the slate (1 7/8 thick I believe, came in four pieces for a standard 9 foot table), felt, rubber for bumpers and the pockets. We used SYP for the framework and finished it out with mahogany. It weighed a ton. It was so level and the bumpers were really lively. My dad could call and make a four rail shot. My little brother spent all his spare time on the table and in no time could whip me and give dad a run for the money.

Herb

sandhills

Can't say as to building one but I can remember the time my dad bought a used one, in a basement, going to his basement, and figured out how to move it without taking off the felt and slate.  It was not fun or amusing for those of us involved but it did work.  Only problem, none of us could move good enough to use it after it was set back up.

1woodguy

Thanks for the replys
I saw what i think was an erc pool table in montana years back in the early 70's at some resort and saw another 4 or 5 years back at a lake house that had four  carvings on it the guy said he gave some nutty amount twelve or 14 thousand for it...I dont know where he got it supposed to be hand carved it was power carved
sold him several signs that I carved didn't get them kind of bucks!!!


My dad ran a bar and uncle a pool hall when I was a kid as a teenager they didn't seem that heavy
A few years ago two of us moved a bar size out of a basement

Brother of mine has a full size in basement that seems to weigh ten tons
I said what ya going to do if ya sell your house in the future????
He said the new owners would have a new toy
Told the wife was thinking about a pool table and making one
She thinks it's the onset of my second childhood or
I am finally loosing what little mind I have left :D ;D

Experience is a rough teacher first you get the test later comes the lesson!

beenthere

woodguy
As I see it, the weight of a pool table varies with the quality and thickness of the slate. Bars usually don't get the quality, so don't have the weight.

And from what I see at a local pool table builder, there is a base frame of wood that is stable, and then there are the decorative trims that may be a variety of shapes and materials for appearance.

Hope you give it a go, and keep us informed of the progress.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Thank You Sponsors!