DIY Billiard Table

If you're constructing your own game room and wish to have your own billiards table in it, you can build your own instead of spending hundreds to thousands on a table. Despite the many fancy designs many billiard tables have, you can build a very simple table that will work just as well. It starts with making a table with six pocket holes in it and making sure the legs don't get in the way of those pockets. The other supplies you'll need include slate board (or wood), billiard cloth, vulcanized rubber and netting. Does this Spark an idea?

Size and Dimensions

Billiard tables can come in many different sizes, but the general rule is that they are twice as long as they are wide. The standard size of a pool table is nine by 4 1/2 feet with the legs being 30 inches high while a snooker table is 12 by six feet with 34-inch legs. The main playing surface place on the tabletop and covered by the cloth is usually made of slate, but wood can also work. This surface's length needs to be four inches shorter than the table and its width two inches shorter. The cloth itself is made of either wool or a wool/nylon blend and measured in ounces; the heavier the cloth is, the more expensive. Once you have the tabletop cut to the dimensions you want, drill the holes for the pockets into the surface--one hole in each corner and one more right in the middle of each long side. The holes should be 3 1/2 inches in diameter with the center of each hole two inches away from the table edge.

Building the Table

With the tabletop cut and drilled in the proper areas, attach the legs to the table; the best method is to glue them in place first and then nail or screw them from the tabletop. All four legs need to be within the inside edges of the holes. Attaching sideboards in between the legs will give them more support. The playing surface, be it wood or slate, is now glued onto the tabletop. There will be parts of this board that overlap the pockets; cut these pieces off. Stretch the billiard cloth as tight as you can over the surface and staple or glue it to the tabletop outside the board. Now add the rails to the table - the wooden boards that border the playing surface. These boards should be 1 1/2 inches higher than the playing surface. Glue strips of vulcanized rubber to the inside edges of the rails, glue extra billiard cloth to the rubber and then screw the rails to the table, fastening the screws from the table's underside. Finish the pockets to complete the table, attaching netting made of leather or nylon to each of the pocket holes.