Adjustable slate bearers or Muntings as we call them

[Geoff Large]

today I dismantled a Full sized riley Aristocrat near Northampton , the owners had donated the table to a local School , and is situated now in their 6th form reward room ,

What I would like to show is the adjustable Munting brackets or slate bearers as some call them , you may hear me go on about these as being a good addition to any table in that they stop the slate sagging or bowing down in the Centre .

here is the photo's of the Table we worked on today , may I add that whoever set the table up from new , it was an appaling job , card packing the slates up all over the place , when I set it back up , not one piece of this packing material was used between slate and frame , and no filler in slate joints either , the slates where dished , BUT I managed to get the most of it out useing the adjustable slate bearer to put pressure upwards and lift the sag out of the slate , the next time it is recovered which is not far off as the same cloth went back on , I may get the remaing dish out of the slate by further upwards adjustment of the slate Muntings .
Note on this riley Aristocrat you can see that the frame is double bolted on each face of each leg , looking at the second photo you can see the double nut inserts , some riley aristocrats have not got the adjustable muntings and are one bolt legs not two bolts such as this , I would say this riley Aristocrat is UK made , the others who knows ? my guess is china .

these are the photo's of the adjustable centre Munting Brackets

[Ex Enbild Fitter]

I have never seen them before Geoff! As you are aware the muntins on the Enbild tables were not adjustable and were held in place by two dowels rather than a bracket. How long have they been around? In the ten years I worked for Enbild on various manufacturers tables I never came across adjustable muntins.

[Geoff Large]

BCE was the first to use them , and I cannot remember which year I first came across them but sometime in the late 80s early 90s the slates where dated 1987 on this table so I am guessing these have been there since then or maybe 1988 , but they are the best improvement of a Billiard table since they changed from wood to slate , so what I am realy saying is whoever invented them into the design of the Table wants a big pat on the back , they make fitting a table much more easy to keep the levels in check and stop sagging slates .
and as proved today even get a dip out of the slate

Geoff

[Ex Enbild Fitter]

Yes they certainly were a great inovation...................what next? Over to you Geoff!

Cheers

Keith.

[Geoff Large]

When you think about it , burroughs and watts had a table that had the centre legs closer together and no inner muntings they just had the thicker cross members but had an extra 2 of them , now between the legs these where fixed cross bearers bolted to each leg and none adjustable , but there where two more cross bearers which fell in line with the first slate joints and they where like these adjustable muntings and had angle iron brackets and large bolts to adjust them upwards towards the slate .
I have a mate with one of these Buroughs and watts tables and it is called a Rigidous frame , they also made them with 12 legs rather than the normnal 8 legs and all where Square legged .
But the adjustable inner muntings are a better way of keeping the slate from sagging .

[maryfield]

Saved me the bother of typing that Geoff. A club in our town had 12 B & W with this type of frame and each was steel block.

[snookergr]

great pics Geoff - thanks :-)

[bricktip]

I like the double bolting.

[snookergr]

yep.....solid and rigid frame.....:-)

[Jono857280]

Hi Geoff,

Yes you're correct. Westbury BCE (the classic models - circa 1982-1990) have these brackets . I own a one of these models. The brackets are of great use for balancing the slate via 2 x-muntings each about 2ft-something.

The biggest surprise I had when I rebuilt my table, was that the muntings themselves were pine (as indeed are the ones in your picture), with a mahogany stain. Pine is a weaker wood prone to cracking and seasonalmovement/ bending. I didn't expect to find it supporting the slates.

My cousin is a carpenter and we went to a specialist lumber yard to get Mahogany. Mahogony here in the USA is a 'non-sustainable' wood - which means as the decades pass it becomes harder to find. However -it is a strong wood with 'little movement' in it. Also the rest of the table is Mahogany as you know.

I bought a piece of 14 ft 2 x4 - cost a fortune (which is why BCE probably didn't originbally use it - I guess it would have added about 10-12% to the production cost).

My cousin dressed the wood and the 'maggy' muntings are now supporting the table - with no cracks of 'seasonal movement'.

Jono