Yet another addition to our Hall of Shame. A very nice fellow from Long Beach, CA brought his rails into the shop a couple of days ago. He explained to us that he had hired a pool table company in Bellflower, CA to recushion his “dead” rails and to refelt the rails to match his 12 year old Dark Green bed cloth. The 7′ Eliminator pool table he purchased was actually from one of my former competitors and past employer, Best Billiards in Santa Ana, CA. One of the funnest and most rewarding jobs I have ever had. Thanks a million Rick! Now let’s get back to this bungled bumper job.

1. The cushion rubber should ALWAYS be cut evenly with the angles on the rails. Not doing so will create big voids between cushion facing and rail.
2. The cushion facings should ALWAYS be trimmed and shaped evenly with the nose of the cushion rubber. If this important step is missed, a ball traveling down the rail will be kicked out as it passes by the side pocket.
3. The cushion facing should NEVER protrude past the nose of the cushion. Long rail shots would IMPOSSIBLE for even the most seasoned player with cushions like these.
4. The cushion height is one of the most important steps in re-cushioning a rail. As you can see in the photo on the right, we set our cushions to the correct height of one and thirteen thirty seconds of an inch. This is very, very important! If the cushion is set too low, the cue ball can actually jump up and over the rail. Too high, and the balls won’t rebound.
5. Lastly, you should not see gaps between the staples. This would cause a noticeable wrinkling effect on the downward slanted part of the rails. Excess cloth should always trimmed neatly away, not doing so will cause cushion height to be off. Pool table rails were designed to sit perfectly flat against the slate.

All of these things I’ve mentioned, have a dramatic effect on the overall “playability” of a pool table. Whether it be an inexpensive Eliminator or a top of the line Brunswick pool table nobody should be taken advantage of or be misled into dealing with incompetence.