Upholstering the Rail on a Raised Railing Poker Table

Upholstering the Raised Rail for a Poker Table

The fist step it to assemble the wood for our rail.  For this step we will use piece C and B.  Make sure that you have B rather than E as the pieces are very similar.  In fact, they should be the exact same, but may not fit together properly if mixed up.  Once you have the correct wood in hand, all you have to do is lay B on top of C, line them up, and secure them with 1 1/4″ wood screws (Figure 3-1).

Now we will follow a process very similar to that of upholstering the playing surface.  Upholstering your padded rail will be done with 1″ foam and vinyl.  First lay out your foam and spray the top of C (not the side with B attached) with the remainder of your spray adhesive.  Lay it on top of the foam making sure to leave an equal amount of foam overhanging on all sides (Figure 3-2).

Once your adhesive is dried and your foam is secured tot he rail, you can cut off the excess.  In this case, rather than cutting all of the extra foam away, you want to leave a 2-3″ overhang on the outside and a 1″ overhang of foam on the inside of the ring.  This will allow the sides of your rail to also be well padded for extra comfort.  Next, place your vinyl, finish side down, on a clean, flat surface.  Now lay your padded rail down on top of your vinyl with the padding facing the vinyl (Figure 3-3).

To upholster the padded rail, you will use the same techniques outlined in the previous step.  Begin by folding and stapling the vinyl on one end of the rail.  Next move the the opposide end and pull the vinyl tight and staple there as well.  Moving on to the sides and around the arcs will complete the outer section of the rail.  The best way to get a tight flawless rail is to continually pull and stretch at the center of the rounded corners.  First stapling the middle of the arc and then continually moving to the middle between stapled areas always pulling very tight.  When you’re done, the rail should be tight like a drum.

To upholster the inner ring, you will have to cut a line straight down the middle of the vinyl and cut a star pattern around each of the rounded ends (Figure 3-4).

Upholstering the inside of the padded rail is a little bit trickier, but still fairly straightforward even for a novice.  The easiest approach is to start with the straight sides and then work your way around the rounded ends always making sure to pull the vinyl tight and remove any folds or wrinkles.  Don’t be afraid to use a lot of staples either.

Once all of the folds and wrinkles have been successfully stretched out of the vinyl, you can cut off all of the excess and pound your staples the rest of the way into the rail (Figure 3-5).

Figure 3-6 shows a simple cross section of what your rail should be before adding the riser.

Now that the rail is upholstered you can add the riser to give you the raised railing.  Go to Step Five – Adding the Riser To Your Rail