Any good wood workers in here?

[Skidmark]

I picked up a pool table recently and want to redo the exterior wood. It'll be a big project for me as this is my first time to tinker in this hobby.

The rails of the table are laminate. I can't stain this at all and this will be the hardest part to replicate. Not sure what i'm going to do with this yet, but I really don't want to paint it one solid color yet.

The legs of the table are fine, but I need to make some feet for them, I don't think that'll be tough nor the exterior panels as I can get that in cedar. The exterior does not hold any weight.

I guess i'm just rambling... I really don't know what to do with the laminate yet. It's a lighter shade, like oak, but I wanted to go darker.

[donnie90stang]

I picked up a pool table recently and want to redo the exterior wood. It'll be a big project for me as this is my first time to tinker in this hobby.

The rails of the table are laminate. I can't stain this at all and this will be the hardest part to replicate. Not sure what i'm going to do with this yet, but I really don't want to paint it one solid color yet.

The legs of the table are fine, but I need to make some feet for them, I don't think that'll be tough nor the exterior panels as I can get that in cedar. The exterior does not hold any weight.

I guess i'm just rambling... I really don't know what to do with the laminate yet. It's a lighter shade, like oak, but I wanted to go darker.

What are you calling "laminate". Is it a plastic covering, or is it just a thick clearcoat. Most I have seen are just a thick clear coating that could be sanded of and refinished. Im not 100% on any of that, just an observation. :sadwavey:

[Skidmark]

The rails are a laminate covering over a particle board type wood.

[doopie]

Pictures?

[Skidmark]

Pictures?

Here they are... cell phone pics, sorry.

I think my options would be either learn to faux paint, stain the wood i'm replacing the same color, or paint all of the wood. However, I think painting the entire table would look weird.

[donnie90stang]

Any way to just take the laminate off and replace it with another color???

[Skidmark]

Any way to just take the laminate off and replace it with another color???

With the curves of the rail I don't think that is an option. I think i'd have better luck building my own rails... which would be hard as hell with minimal tools!

[donnie90stang]

Well I dunno.... if you were to clamp it after glueing it... and put it out in the heat of the day, I would think that it would stay!!!. Again im just speculating!

[Skidmark]

Hmm, possibly. Maybe I should just to sell it for what I paid and invest a little more money into it and get the colors that match my casa.

I had the intentions of re-doing this table, but it's going to be a lot of work on the rails just to get it the color I want.

[donnie90stang]

I dont know... I hate wood because its unforgiving with errors. I like metal... take some off, put more on, weld it where you want it and its there. :saroll:

[miketyler]

You can buy real wood veneer sheet and recover it. I have done that with antique jukeboxes. I don't know about gluing to formica but a wood laminate is no problem. Most veneers are substrate-backed type material and will conform to curves well. It is a bit pricey though.

I just restored a Valley bar pool table for my game room. The wood was in good shape. All I really did was disassembled, cleaned it up, refelted the slate and rails, and bought new galley boots and pocket bumpers. The anodized aluminum trim was a little scratched up so I sprung for a new set with a satin finish. Damn thing looks like new.

The REAL fun was getting it upstairs. :bigeyes:

[Skidmark]

You can buy real wood veneer sheet and recover it. I have done that with antique jukeboxes. I don't know about gluing to formica but a wood laminate is no problem. Most veneers are substrate-backed type material and will conform to curves well. It is a bit pricey though.

I just restored a Valley bar pool table for my game room. The wood was in good shape. All I really did was disassembled, cleaned it up, refelted the slate and rails, and bought new galley boots and pocket bumpers. The anodized aluminum trim was a little scratched up so I sprung for a new set with a stain finish. Damn thing looks like new.

The REAL fun was getting it upstairs. :bigeyes:

Never heard of the veneer sheet until now. I've been looking around on the net at it. Do you know of any local places that sell it? I'd like to take a look at it and get a feel for it.

The table I have probably could use new felt as well. Being a newbie i'm worried i'll mess something up, but it sure beats paying the money to have someone else do it. There's a lot of direction online, so I don't think it'll be all that bad.

[miketyler]

Its a wood workers material. You can buy at Brazos Forest Products (formerly Paxton Woodcrafters) in N Grand Prairie. There are other places I'm sure. It comes in an odd ball 2ft x 10 ft lengths I think. I want to say I was paying $40-$60 sheet for oak. Burl or any of the other exotic wood veneers are crazy expensive.

The felt isnt too expensive and its pretty easy to cover the slate. Mine was a one piece. You will want to buy the really good spray glue. The rails were tough to recover, I bought an electric stapler and with a lot of stretching got it done.

BTW - I bought my felt, glue and an extra set of balls here:

H A Franz & Company
414 Regal Rd
DALLAS, TX, 75247 USA
(214) 631-5050

[the spindoctor]

woodworld sells real wood veneer, they're off of ti blvd in dallas. rocklers might have some too.

[doopie]

Why not just cover the laminate with leather/pleather. It is much easier to wrap and staple and then it has a nice look to it if you do it right You can fill the knicks with putty and then just smooth it over sand it and then wrap it. You can use colored leather to match the theme in the room or a sports team

It would be better to sell it for a loss and buy a new table that is ready to go. Craigslist has tons for less than a grand.

Raymond

[Skidmark]

Why not just cover the laminate with leather/pleather. It is much easier to wrap and staple and then it has a nice look to it if you do it right You can fill the knicks with putty and then just smooth it over sand it and then wrap it. You can use colored leather to match the theme in the room or a sports team

It would be better to sell it for a loss and buy a new table that is ready to go. Craigslist has tons for less than a grand.

Raymond


Yes I agree with you. I bought this one on a limb and probably shouldn't have. 200 bucks or so will bring it back to great condition, but i'm just going to purchase a nearly new one from CL once I get into the house.

Great idea on the p/leather too...