In these days of robotics and mass production, we take pride in the fact that your table pad is handcrafted in much the same way as your grandmother's pad was made. Our gals cut, snip, and tuck the same way that it has been done for 98 years, with great care. Folding and unfolding the pad over many years puts stress on the hinges. If the hinges are not constructed properly, they will wear out rapidly. Pioneer hinges are handmade for strength and durability. They will withstand the tests of time and stress. What other industry can promise you such quality in this impersonal age?

The inside of our table pads is 100% “certainteed” insulation; we do not use any solid chip, flake, fiber, or core board. We’ve used this same type of material for 98 years.

“Certainteed” is a major U.S. insulation company, which makes a variety of products; the product that we use is their roofing shingle material, which comes to us in a raw form (without the asphalt and granules). This material is also used in the sides and roofs of cars for sound deadening and insulation.

Our interior layered construction allows our pads to be flexible and have forgiveness so that, when you are sliding the pad on or off the table, it can never gouge or scratch your finish. We have not tried to lessen the quality of the pad by shortening the manufacturing process.

The solid core boards are actually much heavier, although our competitors say they are lighter. These boards offer no forgiveness; if they are dropped, the interior can crack, and this material can adsorb moisture with no ability to relax and fall back into shape.

All tops of all pads from all companies use vinyl on top and have for 98 years. The vinyl serves two purposes. The first purpose obviously is to keep any moisture from reaching your table, and the second is to prevent any moisture from getting into the insulation.

The heights and heat factors are fairly standard in our industry. The medium 3/8” pad protects up to 350 degrees; 1/2” pads protect up to 550 degrees. The heat factor is a bit misunderstood, because, if you were to take something directly out of your oven at 550 and set it directly on your linen, you would scorch the linen and, several seconds later, you would melt the top of any table pad. So the literature from pad factories usually says, “pads protect tables from accidental scratches, spills, and heat.”

Thus, anything transferred—mashed potatoes in a bowl, turkey on a platter, coffee in a mug, soup in a bowl—is fine to set directly on your pad, but, if you are holding something with hot mitts that has come directly from the oven, you should use another trivet, not because you will damage the table but because you won’t want to damage the vinyl top.

I have heard over the past 40 years a couple of horror stories, such as fallen candles setting the linen on fire, centerpieces that have ignited, and sterno accidents. In all of these different scenarios, the tops of the pads were ruined, but the table was saved by the 100% insulation in the interior of the pad.

Just as Sanitas last longer than wallpaper, or a cloth covered book lasts longer than a paperback, vinyl with fabric backing will last much longer than vinyl with paper backing. After several years, vinyl plasticises - that is, it begins to dry and crack because it is a petroleum product. You will see an older pad that, although the vinyl has begun to flake, the fabric backing is still holding the pad together well.  Unfortunately, many companies over the past 12 to 14 years have used paper backing, and their pads are falling apart.  The vinyl has become dry and brittle, and the hinges glide open like a giant zipper.

Properly constructed, the fabric backing of your Pioneer table pad will hold up much better over a long period of time.  After all, what you want from a table pad is durability and longevity.  Your dining room table represents a major investment.  The right pad will make it an heirloom.

Most people don’t need locks. The average set of pads weighs from 20 to 25 pounds. During a formal dinner, the weight of the pad, dishes, and a centerpiece and the fact that we usually don’t put our elbows on the table are enough to keep things from moving and shifting. Our family has used pads for more than 60 years and we never had locks, nor did we sit around wishing that we had them. Having said that, I will say that, in some cases, locks are useful. For instance, some tables, such as small rounds or drop-leaf tables, the pads are smaller or in many pieces and are consequently lighter in weight. The locks can keep the smaller pieces from shifting away from one another. Another scenario would be in the case of people who leave their pads on all the time and who may eat there a couple of times a day or do things such as puzzles, wrapping, or sewing—in other words, elbow activities—on the table; in these cases, locks will be helpful.

About 20 years ago, four pad companies, including ourselves, engineered prototype locks; something brand new to the table pad industry. Every company’s lock is different, but basically all locks work the same: they keep the pieces from shifting away from one another. There is no lock that makes the pad adhere to the table.

In the past 20 years, two pad companies have had to reengineer their locks because they had so many problems. Our locking system, called Snug-Locks, is our original system and we have never had a single complaint.

Our locks were engineered at the Western Reserve Engineering School. Prior to the engineering process, we were asked for a wish list of things that we wanted to see happen and not happen. Obviously, we are in the business of protecting people’s tables, so we did not want anything plastic or metal that might come in contact with the finish. Nor did we want a lock that might break, crack, and or fail to align properly and then, in turn, need to be sent back to the factory for repair. Some of the locks installed along the seams can protrude, thus keeping your pads from coming together properly. Other locks require cutting away the insulation about 1/4” along the abutting section on the bottom part of the pad; this is actually cutting away your insulation, thus resulting in the loss of your heat factor in a very important area of your pad.

Magnetic locks can demagnetize, or worse, collect ferrous magnetic materials; these are fine metal particles found in dust that can come in contact with your finish.

For years, most table pad manufacturers reinforced the outer edges of their pads with stitching, much as the top stitching that you find in quality purses, briefcases, and luggage.  Over the last decade, newer finishing methods have been developed.  One of the more popular methods is acetoning.  After all the materials are assembled and laminated, acetone is applied around the edge, which causes the vinyls to melt together and seal.  The pads are then quickly pressed and dried.  This bonding can separate in 7 to 12 years as the vinyls plasticises.  Gluing is another alternative sometimes used in finishing, but again all pastes and glues become dry and brittle.  We recommend that you have your pad stitched.  Simply mark the box on your order form.

The number one reason that pads are replaced is that they are not stored properly.

The proper way to store a pad is back in its original carton—not in a bag. A box to a set of pads is what bookends are to books. A table pad has a stress area and this is the fold, sometimes referred to as the hinge, but the hinge is not a metal or mechanical hinge; it is a fabric hinge very similar to the hinge on a hardcover book. If you are familiar with good books, you know that the recommendation is to store them between bookends. The reason is to protect the fabric binding or book hinge. If you lean a book, the outside cover wants to rest, so it eventually droops to the shelf, and, in time, this breaks down the binding.

A pad is much bigger and heavier than a book. So, if you store your pad in a bag against a wall in your closet, gravity doesn’t allow you to have the pad flush with the wall; generally it makes you lean things. Over time, just like the book, the outside panel of the pad will want to rest on the floor, stressing and eventually tearing the fabric hinge.

Therefore, when your pads are stored in the original carton, the bottom of the box is like the shelf and the sides of the box are like the bookends, always keeping your pad perpendicular to a flat surface. If ever your box were no longer suitable for storage, we would recommend storing your pads flat in a closet, under the bed, or on a shelf.

I have a pad that I have left on my table for 20 years and it looks brand new. The key to cleaning a table pad is just a clean, warm dishrag to wipe down the vinyl after use, or, if something has dried overnight, a mild solution of dishwashing liquid would be sufficient. You never want to use harsh cleaners or any type of vinyl cleaner or shining product; these products are made from chemicals that can react with the other chemicals that were used to make up your vinyl top, and, when you use chemicals against chemicals, it is possible for them to react with one another and disintegrate the vinyl.

The bottom of your pad should never be touched. To ensure the cleanliness of the bottom of your pad, simply dry dust your table with a dry soft flannel rag or a swifer before sliding your pad on. Some people slide the pad onto a dusty table, or they do the opposite and polish the table before they put their pad on, and then, consequently, the back of the pad becomes like a tack rag and eventually the backs of old pads can look pretty seedy.

My recommendation is to select a warm or dark bottom color. My experience suggests that the darker colors are more practical because they show dirt the least over time.