Linseed oiling cue....

[cueman]

No, just the shaft, the wood will only take what it needs and with Ebony a very dense wood it will just sit on the surface and feel tacky and oily.

[SouthPaw]

No, just the shaft, the wood will only take what it needs and with Ebony a very dense wood it will just sit on the surface and feel tacky and oily.

Yeah if the butts been done before it's prob best to leave it, going by this thread and doing some research, I've decided I may only lightly linseed my cues once very lightly 1 or 2 years, maybe not at all if I buy from one of the top cue makers like trev...

[cueman]

My uncle is a wood turner and although he's never made cues what he doesn't know about wood isn't worth knowing.
When I suggested about using linseed oil his reply was similar to what Trevor said. Whenever you put a finish on the wood it is basically sealing it, whether its oil, wax, shelac, lacquer etc. Its a permanant finish that provided isn't taken off, i.e. sanded, the finish should stay there indefinitely. By constantly adding linseed oil, all you are really doing is putting oil on top of oil, yes it will soak into the grain somewhat but really you are just adding a layer of oil on top of the previous application, unless of course you restripped the cue down to the bare wood, in which case it will need sealing.

So really speaking I wouldn't put any oil on the cue unless the seal has been removed.

[DeanH]

I would say one thing about Trevor's bannister analogy could be slightly misconstrued, an old bannister can be very smooth yes but it has probably not been left totally untreated, as usually a bannister will have been polished (wax polish usually, i.e. Pledge, etc.) on some regular occurrence, so I don't think this example should be held as gospel. (I remember my mum weekly giving the old oak bannister railing we had in the old house a quick dusting with some pledge monthly (approx.), and yes it was clean and smooth but not untreated).
But I do agree that if you have a quality cue of quality material and quality original seal and finish, further treatments may not be needed, a light wipe with a damp cloth and dry buffed will usually suffice.
If you have a lower quality cue, extra treatments maybe required, but if a cue is constantly requiring oiling due to being dry and or sticky, then I would recommend that the cue was sent to a cue doctor/maker for a refurb and refinished with a quality finish.

In response to the comment above, when oiling you can do the butt as well; just as with the shaft, don’t use too much oil, do not leave too much on it to dry (always wipe off as much as you can, i.e. the excess, with a dry cloth), then leave to dry then buff rigorously with a dry cloth then it wont feel tacky/oily/sticky.
As has been said many times, the feeling of tacky/sticky is usually the persons hands and not the cue.
Years ago, a pool team friend was constantly wiping his cue, nearly for every shot, so I asked him and he said it always felt sticky, I held it and to me it was smooth, dry and ran through my bridge lovely. I said to him to try washing and thoroughly drying his hands before each game, not as much as a problem since then. Not saying that could be everyone's problem but something to consider.

[trevs1]

My point with the bannister analogy was.....

When a NEW cue is well finished, it SHOULD NOT require any oiling or treatment of any kind within the first year (probably far longer in truth) or so of ownership. ALL that SHOULD be required to keep it feeling great should be a dry cloth to polish it, apart from maybe the odd wipe over with a very slightly damp cloth to remove dust / dirt from hands and the cloth on the table. There should not no reason to use any further products on it, either to protect it or seal it.

There was no suggestion made that a bannister rail would have no finish applied from new, or that it would not have some treatment throughout its working lifetime. My use of that comparison is to show how the surface of wood (especially hardwoods used in cues) often improves with age and friction. Any "polishing" of bannister rails would really be done to keep cleanliness standard up, remove dust and provide a shine as much as anything else. It would not be done to "treat" the wood specifically in the way oils are mentioned with cues. The use of a dry cloth, as well as friction from hands, WILL over time, maintain the smooth feel of an initially well finished cue (or bannister rail.)

Oils are doing little, if anything at all once a cue has a good finish and in some instances if used too much, actually spoil a finish. Furthermore, it's a bit misleading to think of using oils to stop the wood "drying out" as some appear to think. The timber used in good quality cues (and probably even poor / average quality cues) is likely to be at its driest when it leaves the makers workshop, than it ever manages to become in normal use (unless the end user is living in a polar region). Decent dry timber is not going to suffer any adverse effects from just staying dry and clean. There is nothing to be worried about there at all.

[jonny1]

I have noticed with my new trevor white cue the finish was smoooooth to start with but every time I play I use my cloth ( John Parris cloth cause there are no Trevor white cloths ; ) YET ) it feels smoother each time . I have just bought a jack Daniels cloth from eBay cause it feels wrong using a Parris cloth on Trevor's

[DeanH]

Hi Trev
Thanks for the reply, I think my use of "untreated" was incorrect and was not saying that the bannister was plain "unfinished" wood as obviously it would have been treated with a finish of some kind at time of install, it was the inference was that if you leave the wood with no further extra "treatments" [oils, waxes, etc.], which I wanted to clarify.
Not that I have a bannister fetish but I have worked on many through the years and have seen differing conditions across various scenarios.
As has been said a few times now, if you have a quality cue of quality woods with quality finish, then further treatments of oil/wax are probabaly not required, only the occasional wipe down and buff.
If you dont have a quality cue of quality woods with a quality finish and treatment, then some steps may need to be undertaken. cheers

[eaoin11]

My point with the bannister analogy was.....

When a NEW cue is well finished, it SHOULD NOT require any oiling or treatment of any kind within the first year (probably far longer in truth) or so of ownership. ALL that SHOULD be required to keep it feeling great should be a dry cloth to polish it, apart from maybe the odd wipe over with a very slightly damp cloth to remove dust / dirt from hands and the cloth on the table. There should not no reason to use any further products on it, either to protect it or seal it.

There was no suggestion made that a bannister rail would have no finish applied from new, or that it would not have some treatment throughout its working lifetime. My use of that comparison is to show how the surface of wood (especially hardwoods used in cues) often improves with age and friction. Any "polishing" of bannister rails would really be done to keep cleanliness standard up, remove dust and provide a shine as much as anything else. It would not be done to "treat" the wood specifically in the way oils are mentioned with cues. The use of a dry cloth, as well as friction from hands, WILL over time, maintain the smooth feel of an initially well finished cue (or bannister rail.)

Oils are doing little, if anything at all once a cue has a good finish and in some instances if used too much, actually spoil a finish. Furthermore, it's a bit misleading to think of using oils to stop the wood "drying out" as some appear to think. The timber used in good quality cues (and probably even poor / average quality cues) is likely to be at its driest when it leaves the makers workshop, than it ever manages to become in normal use (unless the end user is living in a polar region). Decent dry timber is not going to suffer any adverse effects from just staying dry and clean. There is nothing to be worried about there at all.

I guess dryness relates to moisture content, but some people believe that linseed oil needs to be reapplied in order to keep the shaft soft. I recall one good Brisbane player who beleived that his failure to oil his cue led to it developing a crack near the ferrule. However, it sounds as though a cured oil finish would actually prevent fresh oil from penetrating the wood? And if you don't mind me asking, when oil dries and cures is water actually evaportating from it or is something else going on at the molecular level?

[trevs1]

The cue splitting at the ferrule end would be nothing to do with the lack of, or application of any oils.

Oils generally "cure" by oxidation.

I'd recommend reading up about it online somewhere, it's not tricky to find and is not difficult to understand. Most things aren't once you've researched them.

[eaoin11]

The cue splitting at the ferrule end would be nothing to do with the lack of, or application of any oils.

Oils generally "cure" by oxidation.

I'd recommend reading up about it online somewhere, it's not tricky to find and is not difficult to understand. Most things aren't once you've researched them.

A few interesting bits I found on wikipedia:

Drying oil

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A drying oil is an oil that hardens to a tough, solid film after a period of exposure to air. The oil hardens through a chemical reaction in which the components crosslink by the action of oxygen (not through the evaporation of water or other solvents). Drying oils are a key component of oil paint and some varnishes. Some commonly used drying oils include linseed (flax seed) oil, tung oil, poppy seed oil, perilla oil, and walnut oil. Their use has declined over the past several decades, as they have been replaced by alkyd resins and other binders.

As Trevor said...

The "drying", hardening, or, more properly, curing of oils is the result of autoxidation, the addition of oxygen to an organic compound and the subsequent crosslinking.

The early stages of the drying process can be monitored by weight changes in an oil film. The film becomes heavier as it absorbs oxygen. Linseed oil, for instance, increases in weight by 17 percent.

Comparison to waxes and resins

Non-"drying" waxes, such as hard-film carnauba or paste wax, and resins, such as dammar, copal, and shellac, consist of long, spaghetti-like strands of hydrocarbon molecules, which interlace and compact but do not form covalent bonds in the manner of drying oils. Thus, waxes and resins are re-dissoluble whereas a cured oil varnish or paint is not.