Well...I had a busy and long weekend trying to get this thing done. I almost pulled an "all nighter" on Saturday, I was up till 5am.
Anyway, I sanded and stained the entire frame. It looks pretty good except every piece came up a slightly different shade. They must have used different kinds of wood when building it, which might be why they had it stained dark red. I was debating re-staining the whole thing darker, but it didn't look bad when it was all put together.
I decided against the chemical stripper because of my four young kids and pregnant wife...it just wasn't worth the risk. I ended up renting an orbital floor sander from Home Depot. After about an hour of going up and down with 20 grit paper, I stopped to take a look to see how much poly was left, and it looked like I barely made a dent in it. So, I decided to go with plan "B"...flip the board and sand the bottom. It was rather rough looking at the start but I figured with some heavy sanding it might just work. After about a dozen passes with 20 grit, I gradually stepped it up 36, 60, 80, 120 and 150 grit paper. After all the dust settled (pun intended) it actually looks really good! I can't see or feel any gouges and I went up and down with a level and it looks pretty close to perfect. I'm quite happy with it so far.
As far as cutting it goes...I had to do it. There didn't seem to be any feasible way to fit it as it was and be able to play with any bit of comfort. The only other option that might have worked (which was given to me after the fact, of course) was to push the table flush to one side of the basement and always throw in one direction. I might have actually gone in that way if I had of thought of it. Oh well...the good news is that at least now it is regulation size. It was 25' (which is longer than regulation) and I cut off 3' to make it exactly a 22' regulation table. It actually looks and fits really nice. There's about 2.5' on each side of the table. I figured at least if I have anyone over that is used to playing at bars, it will feel the same and even more importantly, when I go out to bars I'll be able to kick some major shuffleboard butt (after a bit of practice).
The cut looks really good. I clamped my straight edge to the board to make sure I stayed perfectly straight. The only down side was that even at my circular saw's deepest setting, it wasn't deep enough to go all the way through. I had to flip the board to finish the cut. When trying to flip it back (it's a 700lb board) I accidentally dropped it on my foot!

That really hurt and is still swollen and bruised. I haven't gotten any x-rays yet but might go get checked out tonight if it doesn't improve.
Ok,so here's my question...I'm about to finish the table...does anyone know the pros and cons of lacquer vs. polyurethane? I have found several posts where people used lacquer, including one from someone that used to work in a shuffleboard factory. Does lacquer self level the way poly will? Does one last longer than the other?
Pics will be coming soon. My wife left the digital camera sitting on a park bench last week, so I'm without a camera right now.
