Another salvage job!

[Kryten]

Quite probably. I did a little research about bringing up brass and many mention lacquers but mostly to beware when removing it. I may well see what's available

[Geoff Large]

Some little things tonight. I've been sourcing the timber to use mostly, and also playing with ideas about the pockets & brasses.

The brasses polish up well. The below is just with a little polishing, so I'll persevere with these



Following on from Geoff's tip, I've been looking up claw nuts and bolts. I know I can't go too thick on the timber but 40-45mm seems to be a good sweet spot. It's the depth that I'm struggling with.
Currently the softwood under the slate is quite narrow (30mm) and deep (150mm). I'd originally been looking at replacing it like-for-like with redwood, 140-150mm deep, 44mm wide. However, can't seem to source bolts long enough go all the way through.
So, I'll probably notch out where the bolts go through to be able to fit the claw nuts. Or I could use 70mm wide timber instead, but I worry that it needs to be more substantial to offer support to the slate.

spade bit to sink claw nut further in on inner side of under wood slate surround tack lining if bolts cannot reach , same with head of bolt in face of cushion wood then put panel or buttons over them , don't forget to put a washer on the head of the bolt or it will churn the wood up on the hex head

[Kryten]

Mmmm buttons.. another good shout. Was wondering about covering the bolts

[Kryten]

Have absolutely everything ordered/bought now so it's all systems go.
First markup and cut of the new tacking strip frame. Found cutting out the pockets a bit difficult as my jigsaw is a bit ****. Sod's law though, whilst looking for my file & rasp to tidy them up I found a large holesaw which was just about exactly the right diameter. Too late



Got the new bolts in. These should certainly keep things sturdier than the old screws. Plus when they're recessed in, they'll lend a much better appearance.



And the new cushion strips. Rather than try and route out square, made these up using 2 pieces of pine stripwood. Easy to work with and cost under £10 from B&Q for enough to do all 6 cushions + spare in case I mess up. Glued up in this pic, next to one of the originals. You can see on the original that the screws appear to have sunken in; in fact as they had gotten soaked through, that was purely expansion so couldn't really use them as templates for anything. I need to glue up some more today however I need to do a lot more research on getting the curve right for the pockets. I'll probably knock up a template from my existing table and give it another 5mm, as this one is clearly built for use with 2" balls rather than 1 7/8".



If it stays dry out, much of today will be sanding down the frame and the remaining rails.

[rdp50734]

Looking like a great start!

[philip in china]

On the subject of preserving brass, once it is polished, just a transparent polyurethane does the job very well.

[Kryten]

Cheers I'll be doing my best to make sure this lasts a good few years.

Slow progress but mostly as I'm sanding the legs and bodywork. The bulk of it can be powered however it's mostly handwork and elbow grease. I got extremely tired of that this evening so decided to leave the hand sanding until tomorrow (I need to buy a couple of new sanding blocks) and did a first coat test on the stain I'd picked. I'm liking the colour, it's not as dark as it used to be. It wasn't until I was stood in front of an aisle full of stain and varnish that I realised how many shades of brown there were (and that sounds like a dodgy, probably German bootleg of 50 Shades of Grey).
Looked at brown & red mahogany for a while then plumped for dark oak instead.Dark enough to cover and still look good with the polished brass.
Pic below is only (just) after first coat. Pleased there is still the character shining through and I'll be sure to polish them up nicely



And some more goodies arrived in the post today. New leather straps for the ball runners I could have cleaned the originals up quite well but these were only a few pounds. Plus new cloth. I'm a sucker for fast, low maintenance cloth; as much as I'd have liked to plop on the 6811 I don't think it'd have stood up to the test of my kids or even me after a few bevvies. So yet again, Hainsworth Elite Pro; and this time didn't make the mistake of buying for a 6 foot pool table



Will do more sanding tomorrow when I'm homebut likely to be slow progress for a while. Lots of actual work to do

[Kryten]

Slow going but I've finalised the staining of all the rails.



Very pleased with how they've come out. I will quite likely need to re-do the sides when I drill out the holes for the new bolts. Finding the sanding of the legs amusingly difficult but having unearthed a Dremel and various attachments from the bottom-most depths of my shed, they're coming up lovely Just waiting for delivery of new nets, rubbers and runner bolts now. Got my new leathers today, apparently for small brass plates but these things seem huge. Will have to cut them down, not looking forward to that! Rubbish at cutting material

Off-topic though, LOVING the camera on my new phone (OnePlus 3) - the thing is great!

[Shockerz]

Looking good now and a great thread.

[perpetualboredom]

One of the only post I've enjoyed on here for ages, time for a progress update!

[philip in china]

One of the only?

[Kryten]

Hasn't been forgotten, have had to take a break to concentrate on other family related jobs good news though, my other table is up for sale and I can properly concentrate on this one Watch this space!

[Big Splash!]

Top effort this job; mucho mucho respect for even attempting it. Should be the biggest turnaround many a table has ever seen. What size is it may I ask?

[perpetualboredom]

One of the only?

Had intended to write the only... but thought that a bit harsh, but probably true considering some of the pap we have to wade through.
In any case - looking forward to the updates when they come. It's amazing what can be salvaged with a little know how and a lot of effort.

[Kryten]

It's only a 6 footer, but perfectly sized for my outside covered decking area

As said, things have been slow as I've been making fences, levelling & turfing gardens and laying gravel to patios Plus I've recently been re-introduced to carp fishing, so have spent a little time relaxing in the sun!

Just a couple of anecdotal pics though;


Just a layout check, making sure the right rails are in the right places and re-marking them appropriately.


And first mounting on the rails. Miscalculated the length of the bolts required though by a mere 10mm. I can get them to bite, and I could probably take another few MM out of the sunk boltholes I've drilled in the rails however worried I'd take out too much of the structure by doing that. I'll get either longer bolts or use longer claw nuts.

I've been making test cuts on the new cushions and have been very pleased with how the jigsaw cuts the rubber with the new soft material jigsaw blades I bought. Means I can get far closer to the correct curve and then sand back to suit.