steelblock or not playing point of view

[chas6868]

i have a fullsize at home its1984 barton it needs new rubbers i . i also have a b/watt table dismantled from around 1910 its a steelblock,it also needs new rubber, from a playing point of view what one is best , bit worried about possible tight pocket on the old table

anyone know if it is possible to fit the old steels to the newer slate.
any comments

[Neil Taperell]

Steel block table for me . Play on the same table about 100 years old .

[Terry Davidson]

chas:

The pockets on the old table can easily be modified by any decent table fitter. The old B&W with new rubber and templated pockets will play better than the more modern table.

Terry

[philip in china]

Agreed 100%. It will also look much better.

Pockets are a matter of choice. If you are rerubbering you can get them whatever size you want.

chas:

The pockets on the old table can easily be modified by any decent table fitter. The old B&W with new rubber and templated pockets will play better than the more modern table.

Terry

[maryfield]

That was one of the questions I was wanting to ask you. how many holes are in each cushion on the modern table. I suspect 6 in each. The old B and W will have six in the end cushions and 5 in the side cushions. Therefore they will not fit unless they are re bored. Even then you may find that it is not possible depending where the existing holes land. If it were my own table I would be using the B and W table rather than the Barton. Barton were not a particularly good make of table. The B and W table can be fitted with new rubbers and cut to the correct size. The only thing to bear in mind is that the centre pockets on older tables are prone to bounce back when sticking the pot hard.

[chas6868]

That was one of the questions I was wanting to ask you. how many holes are in each cushion on the modern table. I suspect 6 in each. The old B and W will have six in the end cushions and 5 in the side cushions. Therefore they will not fit unless they are re bored. Even then you may find that it is not possible depending where the existing holes land. If it were my own table I would be using the B and W table rather than the Barton. Barton were not a particularly good make of table. The B and W table can be fitted with new rubbers and cut to the correct size. The only thing to bear in mind is that the centre pockets on older tables are prone to bounce back when sticking the pot hard.

Yes the middle pocket could well be a problem, I will look the rails out again and set them up against my existing table to check sizes ect

thanks for all the comments
Chas.

[Geoff Large]

Barton tables from Hull are 6 bolt holes on side , so as maryfield says they will require work to fit and yes I agree not the best table you can buy Quality wise and where a product of the 80s boom years when Table production speed was more important then quality , the slate on the Barton table is not Welsh so again the welsh slate is much better on the B&watts , bounce back will be the case with the old B&watts steels ,
I have just aquired a set of Steels from a buroughs and watts and intend putting them on an old Riley table at the end of the month . I see no problems as it has 5 bolt holes on the side , but I may still have alignment problems like depth of bolt hole etc . but do not think I will have a problem with the cush bolt hole slots on the steel aligning up .

[philip in china]

Geoff, you are familiar with my table- especially the density of the wood from which it is made. What difference would steel blocks make to that one?