Sweet! That has to feel good.

WOOHOO!

CONGRATULATIONS !

Thanks! It does feel pretty damn good. I wish it was actually "complete", but similar to a Bronco, it will never be complete. LOL.

Big milestone!!

I really need my doors & trim. I've kinda run out of things to do. So I started doing some work on my pool table. I thought I'd post up some pictures of the progress.

Its a 1903 Brunswick Newport, solid mahogany with a matching cue rack.

http://antiquetables.brunswickbilliards ... wport.html

My grandparents bought it in 1954 from an estate sale in Youngstown, OH. The table cost my grandfather $150, a guy set it up for a bottle of whisky. My mother had it for many years. It was refinished by an antique furniture guy about 15+ years ago. It was missing some of the ivory diamond sites, they were replaced with old ivory. The table was refinished with a "french hand rub" (I thought you could only get those in shady massage parlors). She spent more on the refinish, than most tables I sold as an Olhausen pooltable dealer for 12 years.

In 2006 I flew to Columbus, rented a moving truck & drove the table to Gunnison. Since then its been in a crate, waiting to be installed. Much of the remodel has been based on this table. You need a space roughly 10' longer & wider than the table to properly play pool. So I needed a 19'x14.5' space in a 1200 sq ft house. I had to remove a wall, making my 3 bedroom house, a 2 bedroom house. The exposed brick, antique beam, and my new floor really tie everything together with the table.

The ball rack doesn't "belong" to the table, but fits nicely. It need some repairs, re-repaired & hung up.

Yesterday, I stripped the old felt & cushions off the rails. Most cushions have clay in them, it drys out & the cushion goes dead, usually after 20 years or so. I replaced the cushions with Olhausen Accu-fast cushions. They are pure rubber & should have a very long life.

P1020401.JPG
P1020390.JPG
P1020391.JPG
P1020392.JPG
P1020393.JPG
P1020394.JPG
P1020389.JPG

Finally hung up Missy.

P1020398.JPG

The second year I hunted elk in Colorado, I missed a "gimme" shot on a bull elk, in front of the wrong guy. He decided my nick name was then Missy.

It took a couple more years, but on my birthday. November 11, 2009, at about 11am (almost exactly), at 11,000' (almost exactly) I finally shot my first elk. At 410 yards, 2 shots of 3 were kill shots. (11/11 @ 11am @ 11,000'-weird).

My friend asked "What are you going to name her?" After a minute's thought, I said "I'm not Missy anymore, she is!".

Too bad it didn't happen two years later, huh?

Ha! - day too early!

I told Frau Castle we should have waited a year to have the kid. That would have made her birthday 12/20/2012

Rails are felted.

P1020402.JPG

That was nerve racking. I have assembled 150+ tables, but never one as expensive & old as this one. Nothing like pounding on 110+ rosewood rails (that have been refelted 5+? times) with a hammer & wood block. Not to mention ridiculously expensive Simonis 860 cloth. I only installed Simonis cloth once, or twice before, its 2x-3x as expensive as normal felt. Add in that I'm not doing this every few weeks, like I was when I owned my shop, so it was kinda stressfull.

They seemed to turn out pretty nice. I love the camel felt with the dark wood. The first time I built a customer's table with this color combo, I knew exactly what felt I wanted on this Brunswick. Turns out the color looks great with the brick & beam, too. Not too shabby for a colorblind guy!

Now I know who to call when I need my pool table setup. $150 and a bottle of whiskey ( maybe even scotch bought in scotland?) sounds like a great deal.

Looks great tho! Maybe someday you can kick my rear in a game of 8 ball.

I'm no good at pool. I've built a lot of tables, but really never played on them. I didn't play this table much growing up. And I never spent enough time in the bars to learn. I guess I better get good, I won't have any excuses.

After I sold my business (and my non-compete clause expired), I bought all the tools to refelt tables. I really enjoy it, especially since I'm not really moving them around much anymore. Delivering a 9' table 3 stories up in a CB condo or mega-house sucks. I'm still doing them on the side, maybe a few a year.

Then it ought to be a good game...

Can you fire someone who hasn't actually done any work for you?

After 3 months of being strung along, I told my door & trim guy I was going elsewhere. I'm surprised, he was very easy to work with when he built my doors in 2007. Now I'm looking elsewhere. Two friends in the building business recommended a local lumber yard. They have a door style available, very close to mine. Hopefully, they can be competitive and deliver quickly. My imaginary schedule to refinance the house is far behind schedule.

I did manage to get the slate out of the basement, and finish building my pool table.

The construction of the table is amazing. After 111 years, the cabinet is still perfectly level. Most every modern table I have worked with, has had some bow in the middle of the cabinet (think swayback), 5-10 years after installation. Did I mention that the old slate is significantly heavier than the slate on modern tables (thicker slate & heavier wood backerboard). And, my table was considered an economical option with lighter construction than the premium tables.

Here are a few pics of the slate before I fine tuned it. I wouldn't usually use a 9' level, but there was one in the house & I wanted to see how true the cabinet was.

P1020404.JPG

P1020403.JPG

A couple strategically placed, folded, playing cards & the table was perfect. It was one of the easiest, most "perfectly" level tables I've ever built.

P1020412.JPG

P1020409.JPG

How they built the pocket recesses & wood backerboard on the slate

P1020416.JPG

P1020415.JPG

Slate seams & screw holes filled, and everything cleaned up.

P1020418.JPG

Bed felted

P1020420.JPG

Rail bolts, and my home made antique rail bolt socket wrench

P1020421.JPG

Finished product

P1020422.JPG

P1020423.JPG

That is very cool, next time I'm in the neighborhood I'll let you swindle me out of a few dollars.

Thats one beautiful table! Dibs if you ever want to let it go. (I know you wont)
Great job putting it back together.

Looks great! What a nice piece of furniture for sure. Just don't make 'em like that anymore.

I've been holding out posting progress pictures. I'm very close to being done, despite having to find a new source for doors, purchase roughsawn alder, and "mill" all my own baseboard & door casing material. I've also sanded, stained, and laquered the doors (except the closet doors that were manufactured wrong), and trim. I've also hung it all myself. I've pushed my carpentry skills to new levels. The trim & doors have turned out very nice, and I'm pretty impressed with myself. Making natural wood trim fit an old house with whacky walls, isn't easy.

I've also installed a gas stove I've had in my garage since I sold my business in 2006. I ran a gas line, cut a 10x10 hole in my brick exterior wall & run the vent cap. I built a pedastool from the reclaimed wood my friend has donated. He also finished out the second original window with waxed reclaimed wood. It will become a boomstick cabinet, when I get a soild door built.

Since October, my only goal has been to get this remodel tied up to the point where I could get an appraisal & refinance my home. I have worked myself silly since. I snowboarded once, ONCE, this winter (not that it was much good snow this winter). I've spent more on credit cards than I'd like, all the time, knowing when the house refinances, I'll pay them off. I've dealt with a no-show for a door supplier. And I'm 99% ready.

Today, I was declined for my mortgage. I have an 800 credit score, lived in my home for almost 20 years, I'm asking for far less than 80% of my home's value, and am not increasing my monthly payment, while consolidating a truck loan & some credit cards, thus reducing my monthly payments by $300-$400/month.

I was declined because my job is commission based, and I've had it less than 2 years. New federal lending regulations, you know. So I can't get a new mortgage until Feb 2016.

The irony is that my current mortgage (which is 100% paid on time, every time), that I'm trying to end, is one of those evil, sub-prime, "stated income" loans, that ruined the world in 2008.

Dumb. But congrats on being almost done!

That is dumb. No current signs the Fed will raise rates, but you never know.

Now I see what you're talking about in the other thread. Sorry, what a downer!! I know you've worked hard. Leave it to the .gov to screw things up for you!

But your house is nearly done and it'll be BRONCO TIME! and Feb will be here before you know it!

Yep.

Spent some time on the phone with a family friend, who just retired from the mortgage loan business. He gave me the low down on the new loan requirements and how my credit & debt are seen by the banks & underwriting. I know enough now, that I can reorganize the little debt I have & get the best rates/mortgage available in Feb.

The worst part is my loan officer didn't know the "new" law and let me go through the whole loan application process, lock in a rate, put down a deposit, and have my application submitted to underwriting. All the time I was told I was a shoe-in. So I really felt like I'd been kicked in the gut, on Friday.

The Dodd-Frank lending laws took affect in 2014. Any major employment change will disqualify you from a mortgage for 2 years. I'm sure there are lots more surprises lurking to blindside an applicant. The retired banker said Dodd-Frank is a nightmare, and prevents lots of good loans, but still allows some very bad loans. Typical.

I'm still working away (not quite as fast), since I'm going to need an appraisal for a home equity loan.

Pictures soon. I want the place to really look "done".

Its official, there is no visible spray foam, framing, wiring, or insulation in my home.

Still a few pieces of trim left to install, and still need to prep, stain & hang a set of closest doors, really about 99% done. I probably have a few nights work left. I might actually be able to work on my Bronco next weekend.

P1020443.JPG

P1020444.JPG

P1020445.JPG

P1020451.JPG

P1020446.JPG

P1020447.JPG

Outstanding work.

Beautiful. Congrats!

Now I know what the sigh of relief was the other day...