Cue maintainence - pool cue vs snooker cue

[NervousNovice]

Hello everybody.

I came from the pool planet. There when it comes to cleaning the shaft, some might use alcohol, some use sandpaper, some use Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. After cleaning/sanding, it is smooth and we use a leather to apply friction and heat to burnish the shaft. It closes up the pores in the maple wood and that's it. I recently came to the snooker planet and snooker players here do something different.

You don't seem to sand the shaft. You use raw linseed oil and 0000 grade wire wool. And you don't use a leather to burnish it. Why? Is it become of the ash wood? I don't know much physics and chemistry. Are the shafts treated differently because of the woods? Or is it the culture?

Thanks a lot.

- NN

[MinnesotaSlim]

Linseed oil is one of the older traditions, but a very good one. if you don't feel comfortable with the oil, i use a combination of a wax product and leather to burnish the shaft and close the pores. (after the cleaning). During general play, i use a damp cloth to clean, and a dry cloth immediately after. Seems to keep my shafts clean and smooth.
As for sanding, the sandpaper produced today is excellent, i usually get down to 1200 grit. I would drop the idea of using any grade of steel wool. the steel has a chance of digging into the grain of the wood, especially on an open grain such as ash.

[NervousNovice]

...

As for sanding, the sandpaper produced today is excellent, i usually get down to 1200 grit. I would drop the idea of using any grade of steel wool. the steel has a chance of digging into the grain of the wood, especially on an open grain such as ash.

Oh! So the "wire" in the wire wool has a literal meaning.

[Wity]

Sanding a cue is the cuemakes job not the players. If the cue is made properly in the first place and looked after theres no need to ever sand it.

Oil/oils commonly Raw Linseed oil is applied to the bare sanded wood to seal the wood not to give it a smooth or a clean finish. Remember wood is, or at least was a living thing and contains water (known as sap in wood). The timbers used in cues are dried first either over time or in a kiln to reduce their water content as left undried the wood will be liable to alter shape (effectively it's still alive so to speak)

Applying an oil seals the wood making it far less likely to absorb any more water and thus possible warp or dry out too much which would make it more brittle ad possibly snap. Sanding a cue is a no no as it's removing that protection.

Adding a wax coating once sealed such as natural beeswax gives you the smooth easy glide feel all cueist want.

If you feel the need to sand your cue then chances are it's a crap chinese cue that's either been varnished or lacquered as those finishes quickly get tacky and even when new they feel vastly inferior.

The ultra ultra fine sandpapers may well do as good a job as 0000 grade wire wool I dunno but 0000 grade is almost like cotton wool it's that fine and theres no chance it'll dig in to the grain. Sorry Slim but thats bollocks mate.

[Watford]

I cleaned me cue with alcohol once never again. It stained the wood near the furrule and made the cue feel dry.
The reason I used it was because a friend had been using Alcohol wipes on his cue for years and his cue felt nice so I borrowed one.
The leather is a new one on me though.

Lots of people including the good UK cuemakers do different things. Trevor White advised me against using wax for example while Craftsman sell wax at their shop!
I personaly wouldn't advice sanding your self either. If you must I say fine sandpaper to "wet and dry" than raw linseed oil to seal. Fine wire wool is good for shinning your ferrule much better than any sandpaper but I've never used it on a cue shaft.

[Wity]

Does Trevor just go with Linseed oil then?

When I posted a while back "Which type of Linseed to use" he explained why Raw and suggested 4 coats over as many days should do it but I just assumed he'd finish it off with wax.

I've stripped another old one down the other day and am just waiting on the first coat of linseed to soak in so i'll be able to compare it to the first soon which I then used beeswax on but right now I'm thinking waxing it as well was the better finish.

[Watford]

Trevor definitely doesn’t wax and he said he just to use oil but his cues are so smooth maybe he has another secret?

I’ve waxed in the past and been happy but Trev said it can make your cue not glide well during the heat of the summer. Well something like that anyway!

[Wity]

He's got a secret formula I bet. When I oiled and waxed my cues I was chuffed with the finish and cussing myself for never having found out how to do it before. Then as you may remember I was even more surprised when I had that one piece of ADR's as that was silkier still and ADR raves about Trevors finish !

ADR had used Linseed and beeswax the same. Only thing different was he uses a plastic piece of guttering and either dips the cue in it or leave it to soak in the oil I forgot what he actually said now.

I've since got mine up to ADR's standard by applying more wax. I must have been too sparing with it before thinking as you say it can get tacky in the warmth of the summer but I've stopped using a damp bar towel instead I'm just making sure my hands are clean and I keep the shaft polished with a clean yellow duster in the hope that constantly being in a polished up state it'll stay hard and not go tacky.

With the one i'm doing up now I'm going to apply some 0000 lightly after oiling just to see if i can get it better still maybe it will, maybe not.

edit,,

Just realised what you actually wrote..

I’ve waxed in the past and been happy.

Did your missus peel of them strips or was it a cream thingy ?

[Qubit]

There are things you can add to beeswax to make it less sticky Theres all sorts of things out there for wood finishing and you can even make your own quite simply.

[Watford]

Did your missus peel of them strips or was it a cream thingy ?

Got to be srtips!
Why what works best for you?
Full back, sack and crack

[ADR147]

i use a home made mixture of mainly raw linseed oil with a little orange oil and a little pure beeswax.