Star table frame dimensions

[j6uk]

s your thoughts geoff?
the poor china quality of the star table with the composite wood makes them light and easy to lug around dissemble and setup for the tour.. but if you were to have a stationary table feel a aristocrat or a custom billiard table with the brass and leather pockets.

[itsnoteasy]

Wow thanks Geoff, what a great informative post.

[Geoff Large]

s your thoughts geoff?
the poor china quality of the star table with the composite wood makes them light and easy to lug around dissemble and setup for the tour.. but if you were to have a stationary table feel a aristocrat or a custom billiard table with the brass and leather pockets.

To me it does not matter if the table is heavy , on tour there are a few fitters around to help carry the wood , the slate are always trollied up to the tale and pivoted on .

it is not composite wood just low grade mahogany maybe a wood that is light and looks like mahogany like Philippine mahogany which is not really a hard wood and used in a lot of double glazing frames in the 70s for alloy to fasten subframes . it rotted quick , the riley club is also made from this . don't get me wrong it is good enough for budget tables like the riley club at around £2000 new but not a £8500 table and sprayed gold to hide it .
I am not sure what wood they use but if they spray it gold they are not going to use top quality wood to do that to it .

[Catch 22]

I have not got a clue as I have never made a full size table . but I will guestimate as follows.


it depends what you want to make it out of , walnut , mahogany , oak ,teak , Plywood ? don't laugh the Thurston jubilee has plywood in it's structure and is one of the most rigid tables you can have.

Welsh slate in the 1970's New old stock was £1000 a set compared to italian imported and delivered at £350 per set , I know this because my Uncle used to import the slate from Italy .

Hard wood is going to cost a bit especially if it is of good quality .

I would say on a good quality steel block table made with good wood the materials cost with italian type slate would come to around £2300 with taxes and delivery , the rest will be made up of wood working costs machining , overheads running a full factory to produce such tables .
Finished product off the factory floor without profit margins and tax would be close to £5000 , so I would say £7500 to £8000 is the worth for any top make UK made table .
Of course you can make one yourself and not have the cost of manufacture but have you the woodwork machinery the planer thicknesser the saw bench the lathe , the band saw .all the long drills , and last but not least the experience to make a table .
I have only met one guy who made his own table and he made a very good job of it , but when it came to the rubber and cover part he left that to the professionals .

Now add the costs of advertising and sponsorship to get the tables onto the world tours and you would be adding much more to those costs.

this is why Star tables built in a country of low wages out of low quality wood used on some parts and soft slates cost's £8500 , they are not worth that sort of money but people want them just like footballers want adidas or puma boots or golfers want Ping clubs .

How much do you reckon out of the £8500 is star putting into the sponsorship package ? these tables are sold worldwide not just the UK.

Don't get me wrong the sponsorship is a must if snooker is to survive as in most sports , my own sport that i like to watch is Ice Hockey and they even changed their name to include the sponsor , from the Nottingham Panthers to the GMB Panthers , yes a union pays for sponsorship out of union fee's now that;s wrong is it not ?
but using a sports product then that's acceptable until you try and buy that product and find it is highly priced because of the high costs of sponsorship.

when the chinese get round to having a go at supreme for the right to have their tables on the Pool table scene as world used tables on the tour , expect them to be priced at double the costing of the current supreme winner tables which can be bought on average from £695 to £895 coin operated. I think supreme tables are priced at a very reasonable price . at the £695 start price , have a look at the price of a spanish made Sam atlantic for comparison .

Just because the tables are used on TV as a world ranking event it does not make them better than UK craftsmanship .

just for comparison an item I bought off ebay recently is this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/103-US-Pro...item486a118f25 I bought this for my workshop , what a load of crap this is , ply wood veneered oak ,

I also have a real one that was made in the USA like this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-H-...vip=true&rt=nc

This is what get's me about chinese products they can make them look good , but on close inspection they are poorly made , even more more worrying is that they have the tool boxes/chest item priced as a buy me now for £599 ? my usa one has steel bottoms in the drawers good quality locks and hinges and hardware , and is made from solid oak every wood piece , and precision made , they are describing the chinese made one as US pro tools , note the clever US at the front implying that is it US made and in the description no mention of ply wood but a subtle veneer mentioned ? the bottom of each drawer is just stapled to the underside , too many tools and the bottoms are going to drop out of it .

They are at the end of the Day a FAKE a copy trying to be the same but falling short by a great margin .

but you get what you pay for and thats the same with anything buy a star table at £8500 but don't expect UK craftsmanship that you would expect from a top UK billiards firm .

Geoff

I stopped reading at the Nottingham panthers .......MON' THE CLAN !!!

Just kidding ....I love the playoff weekend at Nottingham

Clan

[j6uk]

always good reading your posts geoff thanks

To me it does not matter if the table is heavy , on tour there are a few fitters around to help carry the wood , the slate are always trollied up to the tale and pivoted on .

it is not composite wood just low grade mahogany maybe a wood that is light and looks like mahogany like Philippine mahogany which is not really a hard wood and used in a lot of double glazing frames in the 70s for alloy to fasten subframes . it rotted quick , the riley club is also made from this . don't get me wrong it is good enough for budget tables like the riley club at around £2000 new but not a £8500 table and sprayed gold to hide it .
I am not sure what wood they use but if they spray it gold they are not going to use top quality wood to do that to it .