I thought some of you might appreciate the attached, not because it is an example of fine design or craftsmanship, but because the inspiration came from articles in Best of Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding. After reading Paul Bowman’s article on building a pool table, I was sure I could do it, but was put off by the price and availability of the slate for the bed. A few years later I read the article on concrete countertops and realized that I might have found a suitable alternative to slate. After buying Cheng’s book and studying the techniques, I was sure of it. The table is solid oak with a custom designed subframe (more inspiration from Fine Homebuilding articles). The bed of the table consists of a 3 piece slab of 2″ thick concrete poured using the countertop technique. The whole thing cost me a fraction of what I would have spent to buy a similar slate table so I was prepared for a less than perfect result. To my great delight the table is as solid, flat and playable as anything you can buy in a store. I only wish I had finished the rec room before finishing the table because getting the flooring under this thing is going to be a real challenge.
Replies
Resized it for you.
Jim W.
Coventry Woodworking
Bump
I think more people might want to see this.
I am interested in learning more about how you made the top and handled the seams. Why 3 pieces? Because the slate is done that way or because of "move-ability"?
Move-ability. Even a single section is heavy and unbelievably awkward to handle. I formed the first piece in my garage and enlisted a friend to help me carry it into the house and down the stairs to the rec room. When we finished he told me to call on someone else to help with the next two! I ended up doing them in the basement so I wouldn't have to move them so far. The seams line up pretty tight because of the form design. The gap can be filled with bees wax, although I used Durabond 90.
I think I have a few pictures of the form and the assembly process if you're interested in seeing them.
I think we'd all like to see some construction pics!
Here you are. Because the three top sections are exactly the same size, the one form is used for all three. The styrofoam pocket cutouts just need to be changed for the center piece. The metal reinforcement is attached to the MDF and that whole framework is forced into the concrete when the form is 2/3 full. Then the center is filled until flush with the MDF. The MDF provides a smooth surface for levelling when the slab is flipped over, as well as a tacking surface for the table fabric. Note the air sander and recip.saw attached to the workbench for vibration purposes.
That is incredibly cool and clever. Thanks for sharing it!
too cool!
What are the round items sticking in the concrete on the finished side? Are those the Re-grid attachments that I see on the mdf frame?
Are those pennies that you are pulling the leveling string across to act as a consistent spacer?
Did you then cut out the mdf in the pocket areas?
How do the rails attach?
Is there a small radius on all the edges, if so how did you create it?
Thanks for sharing.
The round items are lengths of copper pipe. The slabs have to have bolt holes all around each edge to allow for the side rails to be attached later. I figured it would be easier forming the holes than trying to cut through the concrete later. I'd do it with wood dowel or foam next time. The MDF in the pocket areas gets cut out after the slabs are in place. As for the radius on the edges, the only place it really matters is on the pocket edges because all the others are covered by the rails. The bead of silicone around the edge of the form serves to make a perfect radius. And yes, those are pennies under the string used for the initial levelling. Final adjustments were done with a straight edge across all the seams. Thanks for the interest.
That's very cool!
What do you have in this cost wise? Maybe you said so in the other thread, I'm assuming that you did it for considerably less then buying a table.
Doug
I wish I had kept better track of the costs, but I bet I didn't spend much more than $2K CAD total, and some of that was on tools that I'll get to use for other things. The concrete was cheap compared to what the slate would have cost me ($1K + shipping) The oak was about $500 and the fabric was close to $250, although there are less expensive types. Throughout this project I was very hesitant to spend too much because I was never really sure what the end result would be like. Now that I know the concept is sound, I would probably use more expensive materials for some of the components and would spend more time on design, finish and overall appearance. As it is, a very similar table in the store sells for $10,000, and I'll bet mine is a lot more solid!
This is the first table I've ever heard of that uses concrete instead of slate. Are there benefits/drawbacks to the concrete other than the lower cost of the concrete? Does it play the same? A very interesting idea. Thanks for the post.
Don
Other than cost, I can think of two, the first being the ability to adjust the size of the surface to fit your room. Nothing more annoying than a table that's just a shade too big for the room. Although there are some accepted standard sizes for tables, the basic rule is that the length should be twice the width. If your room won't quite accommodate a 4'x8', reduce the size of the form slightly. If you can handle more than 4'x8', increase the dimensions. The second advantage, and something this audience would appreciate, has to be the satisfaction of being able to say "I made it myself". Drawbacks, probably the difficulty getting the form perfectly flat as any mistake will result in an uneven slab that would be almost impossible to level. Maybe I got lucky, but my table turned out to be extremely smooth and level. It plays as well (or better) than some slate tables I've tried. Interesting note, I bought my pockets and rubber from a Vietnamese guy who imports table parts from Asia and assembles them for some of the large retailers in my area. When I mentioned that I was using concrete he laughed and said that it was a very common substitute for slate in his home country, but that North Americans were reluctant to accept it. I also discovered in my research that there is a much reduced availability of good quality slate for tables. Many of the slate tables on the market today use an inferior grade which could mean that a slate table today isn't as good as a slate table made 30-50 years ago.
the fabric was close to $250, although there are less expensive types
Iwan Simonis?
I have a Brunswick Medalist 9' (bought used from a friend) that gets about 45 mins to an hour of my attention most evenings. Great thing about pool is that you can play alone if no-one is around. Very therapeutic.
Simonis alright. Worth every cent, although not something you want to make a mistake with.
Yeh...that is what I have. Plays fast, and even w/ some "nicks" in it from the teenagers, rolls straight and true.
Congrats again on a great looking table. Hope you have the time to enjoy it.
Very cool. Great Idea on the concrete.
When I completed a home for a very good customer, we moved his pool table thatwas in the garage..and set it up agiain in the house..refelted the bumpers and top etc.
The beeswax in the seams was kinda fun to do.
Did you also wax the joints?
There were a few small pits in the surface of the finished slab and I decided to use Durabond 90 to fill them. Once I got going I it just made sense to smear it over the seams as well. No problems so far.
Nice table!
I scratchbuilt a "pro 8" sized table once, after getting the slates from my BIL who was throwing an old table out.
Did it in cherry, in a great art-deco design I saw done by Neal Barrett in a Popular Mechanics article.
I found that upholstering the rail bumpers was the tougest part of the job. Second to that was using rock putty to repair the damage to the slates around a couple pockets.
I used the recommended playing cards for shims when leveling the slate slab joints. Did you?
Pool table slates are milled to a tight-tolerance flatness. How were you able to get your 'crete slabs flat? Did you use a melamine form and mount your slabs on the table with the formed face up? Sounds likely.
To those who ask why do the top in thirds, the reason is for setup, takedown, and portability. Handling pool table slates is like lifting and carrying sidewalks sections. Imagine the hassle of getting single-piece slate slabs up into the second and third walkup levels of all those old pool halls out there.
I would have to agree that covering the bumbers was one of the tougher parts. I decided to splurge on the fabric and bought the best I could find. They don't give you a lot of extra material though. Stretching it tight and smooth was a real challenge.
The form was melamine and the formed side of the concrete does end out face up. I spent a great deal of time making sure that the work surface supporting the form was as smooth and flat as possible so as to avoid any sagging from the weight of the concrete. I used an expensive 48" straightedge to check the inside bottom of the form for flatness prior to pouring the mix. I used playing cards for shimming the underneath of the form as well as shimming the slabs on the sub frame. When I dumped the first piece out of the form I was absolutely amazed that concrete could actually be that smooth. In fact, neighbors that stopped by to see what I was doing couldn't believe it wasn't slate.