How to Put Felt on a Pool Table Bumper

Look under the pool table. Under each bumper rail are three sets of bolts for a total of nine. The outermost bolt of each set of three attaches the rail to the pool table. The inner two bolts secure the slate and do not need to be removed to refelt the bumpers. Remove the three bolts holding each cushion on using a socket wrench. You can work on one cushion at a time.

Turn the cushion over and remove the staples holding the felt onto the cushion with the pliers.

The metal strip holding the felt in place is called the feather strip. Mark the middle of the feather strip and the rail so you can replace it properly. Remove the feather strip by gently prying one end free with the screwdriver and then removing it the rest of the way by hand.

Lay out your felt and set the nap up to run the same direction as you shoot from the break, brush your hand along the nap, and it should lie down in the direction that the cue ball would move. Measure 6 inches down from the corner along the long side and make a 1-inch cut into the felt. Repeat at 12 inches from the end. Hold the felt on each side of one of the cuts and tear the felt all the way across. Repeat with the other cut. Tearing the felt will leave us with one large piece and two 6-inch-wide pieces of felt that are bit longer than the width of the table. These two 6-inch pieces of felt will be used to recover the bumpers on the two ends of the pool table.

Move to the short side and do the same thing. Make a cut at 6 and 12 inches from one edge and then tear down the long side of the felt. These two long pieces of felt will be used to recover the bumpers on the long sides of the pool table. However, because of the side pockets, the long pieces of felt will need to be cut in half so that each section of bumper on the long side can be covered separately. Fold these long pieces in half and cut across the 6-inch width to give you two pieces of equal length and 6 inches wide to cover the two cushions on one long side. Repeat for the other long side.

Place the felt over the bumper, lining it up along the edge where the feather strip was removed. Line up the marks you made on the metal strip and the bumper. Make sure the felt overhangs about the same distance on each end of the bumper.

Tap the metal strip into place on the rail in a fold at the edge of the felt. The metal feather strip should be inside a felt sandwich at this point with felt on each side. Start at the center of the bumper and work to each end. Do not insert the metal completely at this stage, just get it started. Avoid leaving wrinkles in the felt.

Cut a small 1/2-inch slit along the edge of the pocket protector on the end of the bumper in the felt. Cut away 1/4 inch of excess felt along the feather strip using a razor knife.

Pound the metal strip all the way in using a block of wood pushed against the metal to drive it in. Use the hammer to hit the wood.

Turn the cushion over and, pulling the felt taught, staple all along the edge starting in the middle and alternating from side to side till you get to the ends. Fold the felt over the end and put extra staples holding it in place. Trim the excess felt all along your staple line. Make sure your ends where they will show look neat, and then trim the excess felt.

Repeat the refelting process for the other bumpers. Position the pockets back where they were if you removed them. Reassemble the bumpers on the pool table by resecuring the bolts using the socket wrench. Check that the rails are square, then finish tightening.