Upholstering the Playing Surface of a Raised Railing Poker Table

Upholstering a Raised Railing Poker Table

The upholstery of the playing surface for a raised rail poker table is the same as any standard poker table.  Add foam for padding and then upholster with your fabric of choice.  Sounds simple enough right?  Let’s get started.

The first order of business is to pad the playing surface.  To accomplish this, you will use piece A along with 1/4″ foam and spray adhesive.  First lay your foam on a clean flat surface making sure to remove any wrinkles or folds.  Then spray a light coat of adhesive to piece A and lay it on top of the foam sticky side down (Figure 2-1).  The weight of the wood will be more than enough pressure to glue the foam to the wood.

Once the adhesive has cured, 15-20 minutes is usually plenty of time, you can cut the excess foam from around the edges.  The next step is to lay the playing surface fabric down and place the wood with padding side down on top in the center (Figure 2-2).  Some fabrics have a “good” side that you want showing.  Make sure that this is facing down when you start upholstering.

Start upholstering by folding the fabric over the wood on one end and adding 2-4 staples to hold it in place.  Now you can move to the other end and add a few staples there as well, making sure to pull the fabric tight before hand.  With both ends stapled, you can repeat the process on each side.  This should hold your fabric in place while you begin to work the on upholstering the rest of the playing surface.  It’s easiest to keep wrinkles out of the fabric by alternating sides always pulling the fabric tight before stapling.  Continue this process all the way around the table so that there is a staple every couple inches or so.  When you’re sure that the fabric is tight, you can cut off the excess fabric and pound your staples in the rest of the way (Figure 2-3).

Figure 2-4 should give you a good idea as to what the playing surface of your poker table should look like once it’s complete.

Now you can set the playing surface aside.  You’re done with it for the time being.  Make sure to set it down somewhere safe where it will not be damaged and get ready to move on to Step Four – Upholstering the Raised Rail.