A Devil Amongst The Tailors Table

This old Devil Amongst The Tailors table was a bit tatty when I bought it recently, though still perfectly playable (there's very little to go wrong). It would have been either home made, or constructed by a local joiner for a pub or club, and there are many features which are non-standard for a table of this size, including the positioning of the plinth and pole which are normally more central. Whether this design was specified to suit the tables local situation, or just a mistake on the part of the joiner, we'll never know, but it does mean that the pins can have a tendency to fly off the table when hit with any force. I've stained and waxed the woodwork, polished or replaced any rusty metalwork, and replaced the vinyl tray lining with green felt. Genuine baize would have been a better, more durable option, but I've found that this is now quite hard to find.

The pins are slightly larger than those found with manufactured tables, and quite crudely turned from what appears to be Teak wood.

The score board, which acts as a cover for the storage tray, is a common feature of these tables. This one is made from a hardwood and is not the standard Cribbage Board layout. This board has multiples of 35 as opposed to the usual 30 + 1 of a cribbage board. I may modify this at some point to give the more traditional option of scoring to 61 or 121, by drilling an extra 'finish' hole at one end of the board.

The ball, which would need to have a reasonable bit of weight to be effective, is made from a nice bit of turned hardwood, possibly Mahogany. It has lost a chip of wood at some point.

A nice feature of the table is the banding of different woods on the raised plinth. Entirely unnecessary, and suggestive of a certain pride in the work. This part of the table, along with the base, has been made from plywood, which stains up to give an attractive striped look.



Everything bar the main length of Mahogany pole fits into this compartment when not in play.



The all important swivel mechanism at the top of the pole has been made from half of an old bicycle hub (the marks where the original spokes would have been can still be seen on the underside), a feature I've seen before on an old table. I've polished, cleaned up, and re-greased the bearings, and it now runs very smoothly. The limited 'mileage' this is likely to see in play means it should easily outlast the rest of the table.