1. With the new pool table felt secured in place, cut a small slit along the edge of the pocket protector…

refelting your pool table's cushions

2…so that the felt can hang down like this.

You’ll need to finish refelting the pool table cushions BEFORE you can finish the pockets.

refelting your pool table's cushions

3. Now, CAREFULLY, use the metal strip as a guide to cut off the 1/4″ excess felt. Use a fresh new blade, and don’t slip! If you do slip, and cut into your new felt, you probably won’t be very happy about it.

 

refelting your pool table's cushions

4. Lift the excess felt out of your way as you slowly, CAREFULLY cut.

refelting your pool table's cushions

5. Allen is using an old piece of cutting board, but you don’t need to raid the kitchen, just use a small block of wood to finish pounding in the metal strip.

refelting your pool table's cushions

6. Work your way down from one end to the other.

replacing the felt on your pool table rails

7. Now, to finish recovering the pool table cushion, flip it over, pull the felt tight, and staple it in place. You’ll want to start from the center of the pool table cushion, and work your way to one end, and then the other. If you happen to notice that the edge (where the pool balls contact) comes out a little wavy, don’t worry, given a little time, the felt will relax a bit, and they will straighten out. Try to keep it to a minimum though by using equal pressure when stretching the felt well, and stapling it in place.

stretching the new pool table felt around the corners

8. Wrap the corner of the pool table felt pretty much like you would a Christmas present, and staple it well, trying to keep it nice and smooth where it will show. The pocket liners will cover part of it when you reinstall them.

cutting off the excess felt

9. Trim off the excess felt on the underside of the pool table cushion.

removing the excess felt from the pool table rails

10. Trim off the excess felt from the ends of the pool table cushion.

spraying the new felt with water so that it will stretch around the corner pockets

11. Continue the same way for the rest of the pool table cushions on your pool table, but because of the tight angle on the side pockets use your spray bottle to get the felt damp with water on both sides of the felt. The water causes the felt to expand while you are stretching it around the end of the pool table cushion, and will tighten up nicely when it dries.

side pockets of the pool table

12. Here you can see the dampness of the new felt. Making the felt damp lets it expand and then contract as it dries for a nice tight fit on the side pockets of the pool table.