Step 5 - Upholstering the Padded Rail

Padded Poker Table Rail

      To build and upholster the padded rail of your poker table you will use pieces B and C, a sheet of 9'x4.5' 1" high density foam, a piece of 4.5'x9' vinyl, spray adhesive, 7/8" wood screws, and a while bunch of staples.  The first thing that you need to do when assembling your poker table rail is to put pieces B and C together.  If you lay piece C on top of piece B you should find that it fits quite nicely.  Now you need to fix them together by driving a 7/8" wood screw through them every few inches.(Figure 3-1) 

      Once the 2 pieces are firmly attached to each other you need to attach the foam.  You're going to go about this the same way that you did in step 4 when you made the poker table top.  Spray the adhesive on the foam and then lay the wood on top and let it dry.(Figure 3-2)  Once it dries its time to cut off the extra foam.

1 Inch Poker Table Padded Rail Foam 58 x 108 in

      In this step however you aren't going to cut off everything that hangs over the edge.  This time you need to leave 1.5" extra on the inside of the rail and 3" on the outside.(Figure 3-3)  The reason for this is so that your poker table will have a railing that is padded on the inside and outside instead of just the top.  The extra foam will get wrapped around the sides of the poker table rail to make a seemless padding on all sides.  If you don't understand this step please refer to the cross section of the padded rail.(Figure 3-3b)

      Now its time upholster the padded rail with vinyl.  The first step to adding the vinyl is exactly the same as upholstering the poker table top.  Simply stretch the vinyl tight and get it stapled on all sides.(Figure 3-4)  If this is your first poker table you may want to hold off on trimming the extra vinyl until the inside is also completed.  Once the outside is completed you should have something that resembles a large drum.  You then want to cut the vinyl down the middle and in a star pattern on each end.(Figure 3-4)

      Now that you have the vinyl cut, the sides are extremely easy to get out of the way so I do them first.(Figure 3-5)  Make sure that you pull the vinyl as hard as you can when your putting the staples in.  If you finish this step and your forearms aren't sore, your poker table rail probably could have been better.  When you start on the ends of the table you will find that you will probably have to continue to make these cuts in order to get the vinyl to wrap around the inner curve of the padded rail.  Just make sure that you don't cut too close to the rail or you may end up with a tear in the vinyl that's showing on the finished poker table.  Thats not good upholstering.

      When you finish stapling the inside of the rail you can pound all the staples in as you did before and cut off all of the extra vinly.(Figure 3-6)  Before you cut the extra vinyl make sure that you don't have any large creases or wrinkles in the rail.  To give you an idea of what the finished product shoud look like I have provided a cross section.(Figure 306b)

      Now that you have the playing surface and the padded rail complete its time to put them together.  Your poker table is nearly complete.  Move on to Step Six - Completing The Poker Table Top.