So I bought myself a cheap Chinese cue back last year, along with a few others, trying to suss out what spec I wanted for when I spend some real money. So I am happy with the length, weight, tip size, which are 57.5" long, 18.2Oz and a 9.7mm tip.
What I did not like was the crappy look of the butt, I like the classic look, Ebony butt, no fancy splices or veneers, so I thought why not change it until I can order my own custom cue. If this had gone wrong I would have been out of pocket by £45.00 max, so no great shakes.
So I set about the cue with varying grades of sandpaper to get rid of all the paint on the butt, and to get the shaft back to bare wood. Started at 600 working my way down to 1800 and 0000 wire wool. The only bit i did not rub right down was the painted on splices on t5he main shaft, just enough to get rid of the original coating, but not enough to get rid of the completely.
The butt was then stained with Indian Ink, and the whole cue oiled with raw linseed oil, probably had about 6-8 coats, really light rub with the wire wool in between, took a couple of days for drying and stuff, and tonight I have buffed till my arms felt like they were going to drop off. Cue is silky smooth, the shaft has darkened considerably, and the butt feels great.
Full set of before and after can be seen in my Cheap LP cues album, heres a few to be going on with.
Before.
1.JPG
After.
IMG_0147.JPGIMG_0152.JPG
What I did not like was the crappy look of the butt, I like the classic look, Ebony butt, no fancy splices or veneers, so I thought why not change it until I can order my own custom cue. If this had gone wrong I would have been out of pocket by £45.00 max, so no great shakes.
So I set about the cue with varying grades of sandpaper to get rid of all the paint on the butt, and to get the shaft back to bare wood. Started at 600 working my way down to 1800 and 0000 wire wool. The only bit i did not rub right down was the painted on splices on t5he main shaft, just enough to get rid of the original coating, but not enough to get rid of the completely.
The butt was then stained with Indian Ink, and the whole cue oiled with raw linseed oil, probably had about 6-8 coats, really light rub with the wire wool in between, took a couple of days for drying and stuff, and tonight I have buffed till my arms felt like they were going to drop off. Cue is silky smooth, the shaft has darkened considerably, and the butt feels great.
Full set of before and after can be seen in my Cheap LP cues album, heres a few to be going on with.
Before.
1.JPG
After.
IMG_0147.JPGIMG_0152.JPG
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