Oiling Maple cues

[wayync]

I know alot of people oil their ash cues regularly, and I was wondering if the same kind of care needs to be applied to maple cues?

[DeanH]

Wood is wood, so yes if it is oiled before it will need attention to prevent drying out and cracking.
I tend to oil my maple 2/3 times a year with raw linseed oil, as it is used relatively heavily.
Cheers

[wayync]

Wood is wood, so yes if it is oiled before it will need attention to prevent drying out and cracking.
I tend to oil my maple 2/3 times a year with raw linseed oil, as it is used relatively heavily.
Cheers

But do pros oil their maple cues?

The reason I ask is from what I know after you oil your cue a few times, it becomes shiney and darker in color. But I see Hendry's, Lee's, and even Macguire's maple cues they are still very light and matte in color, just like a new cue off the rack, even though they most likely have been using it for a number of years already.

So just wondering if the pros do it and if oiling is really neccessary...will my cue start cracking if I don't? I live in vancouver which has cold and warm days pretty similar to UK i'm guessing so the treatment and condition of the cues should be quite similar

[wayync]

Also does oiling a cue have any effect whatsoever on the cues susceptibility to warping over time? Does a well oiled cue tend to stay straight longer?

[trevs1]

If a cue has a decent finish on it already, it needs NO OILING.

There seems to be a general view on the need to oil cues when in fact there isn't any need for it if the cue feels ok as it is. Before timber (ash or maple) is used for a given purpose, it's kiln dried down to a moisture level to ensure it will not rapidly lose more moisture and distort or suffer cracks and splits due to further drying. This level of moisture is often lower than the ambient (or surrounding) moisture level it spends much of its life in once it has been made into whatever product it becomes.

Many wood finishing processes are done to enhance the appearance of timber, as well as to offer some protection to the ingress of dirt, grease or other contaminents. Oiling wood is not something primarily done to stop moisture getting into the wood, it's to enhance the appearance of it, AND to offer SOME protection for it, BUT, protection is far less significant, because the timber is already dry. THAT is the main thing you need to achieve with timber to make it stable in service (or how it exists in every day use as the product it becomes).

to be completely truthful, as long as the timber is really dry, you could use no finish whatsoever on it, and just rub it with a cloth day after day for weeks on end, and STILL make it feel fine and smooth. Oil is not absolutely necessary for cues, and certainly not to stop timber drying further in normal use.

Oiling cues too much is more likely to ruin them than help them.

[Inoffthered]

If a cue has a decent finish on it already, it needs NO OILING.

There seems to be a general view on the need to oil cues when in fact there isn't any need for it if the cue feels ok as it is. Before timber (ash or maple) is used for a given purpose, it's kiln dried down to a moisture level to ensure it will not rapidly lose more moisture and distort or suffer cracks and splits due to further drying. This level of moisture is often lower than the ambient (or surrounding) moisture level it spends much of its life in once it has been made into whatever product it becomes.

Many wood finishing processes are done to enhance the appearance of timber, as well as to offer some protection to the ingress of dirt, grease or other contaminents. Oiling wood is not something primarily done to stop moisture getting into the wood, it's to enhance the appearance of it, AND to offer SOME protection for it, BUT, protection is far less significant, because the timber is already dry. THAT is the main thing you need to achieve with timber to make it stable in service (or how it exists in every day use as the product it becomes).

to be completely truthful, as long as the timber is really dry, you could use no finish whatsoever on it, and just rub it with a cloth day after day for weeks on end, and STILL make it feel fine and smooth. Oil is not absolutely necessary for cues, and certainly not to stop timber drying further in normal use.

Oiling cues too much is more likely to ruin them than help them.

Great post, thanks Trevor

[jonnylovessn8ker]

as long as the timber is really dry

so what is really dry timber? and how do customers know if it is really dry?