Italian slate, but still crappy table?

[cgreer00]

I have talked to a guy who is selling his 8 foot table for $500. He has no clue what brand it is, he crawled around underneath it and looked all over, but has no idea what the make is. All he sees under the table is a tag that says "genuine Italian slate." I am going to go take a look at it, but I was wondering if there are badly made pool tables that still use Italian slate?

He says he bought it about 7 years ago from a store that was affiliated with Gandy, however he doesn't know if it is a Gandy. He says he only paid about $1300 for it though, which makes me think it probably isn't (although the table is located in Macon, GA).

Thoughts??

[Scott Lee]

Gandy made 'home-style' tables too, along with the more famous "Big G" commercial tables. They were pretty solid tables for years, until the company was sold. Check again, and see if the slate is backed. That means there is a SOLID wood (not particle board) frame underneath, around the edges of each piece, with a cross piece in the middle. If it's like that, the table is probably okay. Also, the braces across the table body should also be solid wood. Cheaper tables use particle board or plywood.
The actual sides of the table don't really matter, since they can just be 'veneers', and don't serve any purpose other than looks. I'd make sure the cushions are okay too. You should be able to bounce a ball 4x in both directions, to show the rubber is still playable. The price sounds great, if it has these qualities!

Scott Lee

[cgreer00]

crap, he just sold it /ccboard/images/graemlins/frown.gif