Cue issue

[Neil Taperell]

F604903A-0AEE-4CEF-B6EF-EBC4C6DDCEB9.jpeg A Friend of mine bought this cue from a UK cuemaker in a October and there are 2 white marks / patches at the top of the cue . It looks like the oil has worn away . He contacted the cuemaker for advice and he said re-apply linseed oil . Surely this is down to the cuemaker to rectify ? I’m not sure the pictures have come out as clear as when I saw the cue tonight 6C148093-46B3-4790-B076-E25380D276A3.jpeg

[Neil Taperell]

Just to add , that he received one cue in October that had 3 scratches across the personalised nameplate and butt of the cue . This cue was then received one week later .

Maybe the cue finish hadn't dried prior to the cuemaker sending it out ?

[trying]

Hard to see from the pic but could it be where tape has been wrapped round the shaft? Like the wood has aged slightly differently/less where tape had been?

[Neil Taperell]

It looks like it has lost it's suntan ! It really is quite bad .

[tomwalker147]

Hi Neil,

Your friend definitely hasn't been using sand paper or suchlike to take the varnish/oil off the cue have they?
Looks a bit suspect from the pictures in the sense that is seems to be the part of the cue people tend to 'doctor' for smoothness.

I imagine even if it was down to the cue maker there are lots of variables they could blame such as where the cue has been stored, cleaning methods used since October etc.

[Neil Taperell]

Hi Tom , stored in a cue case , not touched with sandpaper or any cleaning products . It is where he holds the cue when he is not playing , i.e waiting for a shot .

The white marks look bleached . Could be not enough oil used in the first place ?

[vmax]

Clean off the oil finish with 0000 grade steel wool, clean cue with a cloth lightly dampened in meths, leave ten minutes to dry and apply three coats of danish oil waiting 6/8 hours between coats. Apply danish oil with a lint free cloth and remove the excess straight away with a clean cloth before leaving to dry for the 6/8 hours and then don't use the cue for a week to allow the oil to cure, this is obviously what hasn't been done or he has used raw linseed rather than boiled and as many of us have stated before, raw linseed never dries, you have to use boiled linseed which contains driers. I myself don't use linseed, find it a bit thick and slow drying.
I wouldn't send it back to the cuemaker as he simply might just do the same again for a quick turnaround.

[Neil Taperell]

Cheers Vmax , I will pass that onto him . Not a good advert for the cuemaker though .

[mathias12]

What cue maker?

[Neil Taperell]

The cuemaker has now agreed to rectify the issue .

[kayen147]

Clean off the oil finish with 0000 grade steel wool, clean cue with a cloth lightly dampened in meths, leave ten minutes to dry and apply three coats of danish oil waiting 6/8 hours between coats. Apply danish oil with a lint free cloth and remove the excess straight away with a clean cloth before leaving to dry for the 6/8 hours and then don't use the cue for a week to allow the oil to cure, this is obviously what hasn't been done or he has used raw linseed rather than boiled and as many of us have stated before, raw linseed never dries, you have to use boiled linseed which contains driers. I myself don't use linseed, find it a bit thick and slow drying.
I wouldn't send it back to the cuemaker as he simply might just do the same again for a quick turnaround.

cheers vmax, i made the mistake of cleaning my cue with grade steel wool too much that i worn off the oil finish and worse than that : i can feel the emptiness in the grain patterns. how do i fill the grain on the cue before refinish with oil ?

[Neil Taperell]

Is meths ok to use Vmax ? Would it not dry out the cue? Or is it used sparingly so as not to effect the wood ?

[vmax]

cheers vmax, i made the mistake of cleaning my cue with grade steel wool too much that i worn off the oil finish and worse than that : i can feel the emptiness in the grain patterns. how do i fill the grain on the cue before refinish with oil ?

The grain isn't below the surface of the wood but is simply softer than the main timber, so a finish with fine particles in it will penetrate into the softer grain more than the other part of the timber. If you can feel the ridges of the grain then the cue wasn't sanded to a smooth enough finish in the first place and I would recomend doing so with 300/500 grade sandpaper, then 0000 steel wool before the final oil finish.

I use activated charcoal mixed with the first coat of oil. It's a very fine dust and fills the grain very well and once the oil cures it's very solid.
It will change the colour of the shaft as it darkens the oil, gives it an antique patina, so if you don't want that you could use regular grain filler mixed with ebony dust or activated charcoal mixed to a fine paste and rubbed into the shaft with a cloth and the excess removed immediately, or you could even paint the shaft black with aerosol blackboard paint, remove when dry with 300 grade sandpaper and the grain is darkened by the paint, some use black shoe polish or a black wax, there are many different ways.

All these different ways will darken the shaft a little bit or a lot as some of the colour will seep into the main wood, but most of all into the grain, even a simple oil finish with nothing added will darken the grain a little bit.

Hope this helps.

[vmax]

Is meths ok to use Vmax ? Would it not dry out the cue? Or is it used sparingly so as not to effect the wood ?

Meths is fine, white spirit also or IPA (Isopropol alcohol), this simply removes the fine dust from the final 0000 steel wool application and evaporates very quickly so doesn't seep into the wood so that there's nothing left that will contaminate the oil.
The cloth is dampened, not wet, wet will raise the grain and you'll have to do it again.

[kayen147]

The grain isn't below the surface of the wood but is simply softer than the main timber, so a finish with fine particles in it will penetrate into the softer grain more than the other part of the timber. If you can feel the ridges of the grain then the cue wasn't sanded to a smooth enough finish in the first place and I would recomend doing so with 300/500 grade sandpaper, then 0000 steel wool before the final oil finish.

I use activated charcoal mixed with the first coat of oil. It's a very fine dust and fills the grain very well and once the oil cures it's very solid.
It will change the colour of the shaft as it darkens the oil, gives it an antique patina, so if you don't want that you could use regular grain filler mixed with ebony dust or activated charcoal mixed to a fine paste and rubbed into the shaft with a cloth and the excess removed immediately, or you could even paint the shaft black with aerosol blackboard paint, remove when dry with 300 grade sandpaper and the grain is darkened by the paint, some use black shoe polish or a black wax, there are many different ways.

All these different ways will darken the shaft a little bit or a lot as some of the colour will seep into the main wood, but most of all into the grain, even a simple oil finish with nothing added will darken the grain a little bit.

Hope this helps.

i dont mind dark shaft as some of the chinese players has some gorgeous looking cues (yan bintao for a reference), anyway thanks for the advice, i will get to work and share with you guys the result once its done.