all the pretty pool tables

i've been making pool tables now since about 1989 .... hmmm almost 25 years?  seems like a blink.  i was first captivated by pool in high school, at the bowling alley, at Fry's, the luncheonette with two pool tables 'in the back', one for an open 9 ball game (50 cents and a dollar) and one for the 'old men' to play one pocket on.  high chairs to watch too.  there was also another 8 table room on the second floor above woolworth's where we hung out and played games to 25 or 50 for 'time'.  loser paid for the table time.  i got hooked by the geometry, the skill building, the camaraderie and pool hall culture.  and, in one of my fondest high school memories, my father, who was also good with a stick, took me into 'the city' to play at Allinger's, the famous philly pool room where they still had girls come around and rack your balls up and a pretty fair sized gallery section to watch the action on the hot tables.  it was something.  but i digress ... the table above was a redo of an old brunswick table i bought with peeling veneer and a broken leg.  i was making it for my boys, but a client (for the second time) bought the table as i was working on it.  click the photos to enlarge them.

the table above, with claro walnut rails by will and a steel frame by sam is one of our latest.  finished last fall and shipped to chicago.  more pictures and info here. 

10/7/17 ... we've made 5 versions of this design now

side view, in the shop

this one was for a special client, back in 2003.  they were building a large barn/party/entertainment building and we got to make the pool table and a large kas style tv cabinet.  i'm doing some work there now and it's great to revisit this stunning space.  we received a design award from custom woodworking business magazine for it in 2005.  there is a video of how this table plays at this link.  i hope to get better at this video thing as time goes on, but it gives you an idea of how the table plays.

and here we have our first attempt at acquiring a pool table in about 1989.  this one was in rough shape when i bought it for $500. and i had to make new curly maple rails, new legs, and strip the peeling veneer off the body and paint it,  but it was worth the effort, though that one sold too before i finished it.

the 'mark of zorro', table a version of my original beidermeier inspired table

then we got into our 'arts and crafts' era.  this one's mahogany with burl accents and i wish i had a better picture of it ... it also had a nice wood frame light above it inspired by the brother's green and i know i have a picture of it somewhere.  also 2003.

and this one, yet again the same year (it was a VERY good year), a little fancier with some baseball inspired motifs on the legs and some fabulous quilted maple panels ... i'm planning a visit to as many of these tables as possible to take videos of them in action.  they all play great.

simpler version of the same style ... 2012 ... more photos here

and then in the 2004/2005 ea, we had a short 3 edition run of these vertical grain fir tables.  simple, direct, effective, and they all went in spectacular rooms with lots of windows.  stratton mountain, vermont above ...

weston, vermont ...

and finally, greenwich, ct

and then our next diversion/trend was for some 'post and beam' style tables.   this one was for a builder friend who made the base and leveled it up, we just did the slate work and built the rails and the did the cushions and felt work ... 

 

 this one came next in 2009 and it went to martha's vineyard.  will and i took it down one crystal clear january weekend ... i never saw the vineyard quiet like that.  we felt like we owned the place.  the blog post about this one is in my list of  'popular posts' off to the right there.  that post can get you started if you are interested in building your own pool table. 

and this is our latest version of the 'post and beam' style.  we delivered that one to sugarbush, vt just last december and here is a link to a video of it in action ... more video links to follow soon i hope.

now we're looking forward to our next commission, which is in manchester.  that project will be an older table that has lost its slate (somehow).  we've ordered some new slate and when it comes, we'll set up the base, refelt the rails and cushions and set that one up in a spectacular recently remodeled home.  more on that later.

pool .. i love it.  i think i'll go to my man cave and shoot a few racks right now ...

man cave with my modestly 'restored' 1915 brunswick balke-collender pool table.  after selling the first two attempts to get a pool table for myself, i decided to not make this one too fancy so no one would buy it.  it almost sold once, but i talked the clients into a new table, and i still have the one above in my cellar today.

sam and will, (now 30 and 28), on the day of the original set up in our previous home.  this was in the very early 90's i think. no date on the photo and that period of our lives was pretty much a blur.

Dorset Custom Furniture's Custom Pool Tables

Throughout the 30 years of making custom fine furniture Dan Mosheim and Dorset Custom Furniture has also done a number of custom handmade and/or restored pool tables. They have ranged in many styles from traditional billiard tables, Beidermeier and Arts & Crafts. All of the tables are full sized with a slate top. To accompany the custom pool tables Dorset Custom Furniture also designs and makes pool table spectator chairs.

Award Winning Traditional Mahogany, Curly Maple and Walnut Custom Pool Table
Winner of the 2005 Custom Woodworking Business Magazine Design Contest
Walnut and Big Leaf Maple Arts & Crafts Custom Pool Table

Arts and Crafts Pool Tables

I posted an attachment photo of a Greene & Green style pool table to a newsgroup forum I belong to (Green & Greene at Yahoo) and the attachment shows up for some members and not for others so I'm posting it here. It's a table by Catskill Furnituremakers from a 2004 or 2005 ad in American Bungalow Magazine (the price is from then) . Coincidentally, we'll be starting an Arts & Crafts, though not Greene & Greene, inspired pool table for a client in Virginia in a couple of weeks and Ill be documenting the building process for that once we get underway. I have also posted some of my other Arts & Crafts inspired pool tables. Other models with different design influences are shown in the 'pool and game tables' section of my website ... Click the photos to enlarge them ...

The ad from American Bungalow

We built this table in 2004 and we'll be doing another version of it in a couple weeks ...

Got some walnut for it today ... Actually, I talked to my friend Myron at Irion Lumber Tuesday when I was looking for some 10-12" walnut for the legs and rails and I ended up talking myself into a whole log of walnut. There are about 10 boards in the 18-20" range which I'll use for other projects in the future and the other 10 boards (10-14" wide), (it was a big log), I'll use for the legs and other parts of the table ... Hey! how can pass that up ... I can always refinance the house...

Mahogany and maple burl ... this one had a nice hanging light with it ...

Other pool accessories in vertical grain fir, cherry and oak that went with a table similar to the one shown below. The spectator chair I notice has some vague Greene & Greene references ...

Vertical grain fir in a simple though very pleasant combination of elements .. End grain cherry details and gold abalone sight inlays.
Pool tables are great ... As long as the slate's level and the cushions work well, you can hold it all up with whatever kind of a structure you want ...

new steel and wlanut pool table

ok .. we've gopt another steel and wlanut pool table going here .. same as the one below from 2012, only an 8 footer instead of a full size 9 foot table .. it's going to be just as cool though .  

click the photos to enlarge them

we added an adjustable feature to the leg as the last building was not as level as some ...

lots of parts with angles

sam took all the measurements and angles from the cad drawing above and trevor whipped up some welding jigs for him on the cnc

end jig

long side

here's a photo of the original that we sent to chicago in 2012

we assembled the base as soon as sam had it welded up.  we'll do the patina on the steel after the rail and cushion work are completed .. even after at least 15 tables, we occasionally refer to a fine woodworking article by paul bowman from 1989.

this client requested steel diamond sights to go with the base .. i started with some 1/8 by 1/2" steel and made a jig to cut the diamonds on a 45 degree angle .. it was fussy, but once i go tthe set up, it was easy to make the ones i needed, plus an extra set for next time.

chris and trevor worked on the rails and diamond inlays this week .. we're awaiting the arrival of the custom pockets, which could hold us up for a week or so .. we'll see

that gave us some time to work on the cue rack, and all it needs now is some final sanding and staining and some patina on the steel parts .. 

so more photos as we progress .. there is quite a long blog post on the first table, and this one will be more or less the same ... we like pool tables ... here's a link to some others we've made over the years and lots of links to other blog posts at the end of that post as well as in the category heading to the right called

custom pool tables

i'm a pool player and we always enjoy a new challenge ...

the table was finished before the builder ...

the new pool table is finished

12/31/12 we received this onsite photo of the pool table yesterday ... looks like a good spot ..

  well, after some serious setbacks along the way, all of them inconvenient, but none of them fatal, we finally wrapped up this pool table earlier in the week.  but, due to the hurricane, and the fact that my shipper is based on long island, it is still set up in  my shop, waiting to get on its way to chicago.  hopefully early next week.  click the photos to enlarge them.

 it features curly claro walnut rails with figured mother of pearl inlays and black leather pockets, a welded steel frame base, (about 450 pounds of it), with a 'rainbow' finish and low shine lacquer. 

 

 it started out as a cad drawing with two different designs.  there was some indecision, which offered us a perfect chance to make a scale model to study the two choices.

one design on one side, one on the other.

not one, but the first TWO sets of slates from our supplier in florida arrived broken due to poor packing and poor trucking.  in the end we were able to secure a high quality (and more expensive) italian slate set from a supplier in (sort of nearby) albany, a short hour and a half away.  setbacks numbers 1 and 2.

we made some jigs on the cnc and sam cut, fit and welded the frame pieces.

Will made the curly claro rails and did the inlay, cushions and felting

here Will drill the rail ends to receive the pocket ears.

 

we made some support jigs so we could move the sides, with the legs attached, into place to bolt things together.

 

 and then we set it up in the shop to test everything before finishing the base, and covering the blinds and the slate frame edges in 1/8th" steel too.  it was at this point that we discovered the long side angle iron, that we thought would be stiff enough, wasn't so we had to seek approval to add the center supports to the long sides.  (small) setback #3.

due partly to the jigs we made on the cnc and mostly to sam's care and fitting and welding ability, it was level pretty much wherever we looked.  let's hope the client's floor is as good as ours.

then it was back to the metal shop for finishing.  we ran out of the patina chemical on the last side section and had to wait 5 days for it to ship cross country, hazardous, ground.  setback #4.

and, while sam and jim were doing the patina on the last long side assembly, it fell and smashed jim's finger to the tune of five stitches when he tried to catch it ... too heavy ... setback#5.

while we were waiting, another part of the commission was to make this custom cue rack, also in steel and claro walnut.

 

and a jig to locate the hidden screws to hang it. 

and now were tapping our foot for hurricane sandy and setback #6.  fortunately, our clients have been ENORMOUSLY patient and understanding as we navigated the process.  i am most certainly looking forward to seeing some photos of the room once our chicago mechanic does the final onsite set up.  it will be in the same room as this 12' claro walnut table we shipped back in july.  must be some room .. all for  now.

for pricing information on this pool table visit our website at this link .

other pool table posts are linked below:
other pool tables we have built
build your own pool table
a custom pool table
felting the rails; rack em up!