Lighten Colour Of Ash Grain

[rdsalt]

Some ash cues have very light wood with dark grained chevrons. I've mainly used maple cues because I prefer the plain shaft as I find the ash chevrons more distracting than helpful. Is there a way to lighten the grain of the ash chevrons to blend into the shaft better and make the shaft more uniform to look at?

[vmax4steve]

The grain is dark because the makers use a dark grain filler to highlight the grain because that is what the customer wants. The grain is quite light in its raw state, you could ask a maker to make you one without using a dark filler, but the grain and the timber itself will naturally darken over time as it picks up dirt and oil from the atmosphere and the players hands. Even maple cues go brown after a number of years, especially so before the smoking ban.

[DeanH]

same here, for some time I have thought that is the cue makers don't add the ebony dust tot he grain-filler/sealer (or whatever it is called), the filler/sealer being clear(?) so a new shaft could be left quite light, only showing the natural differences.
how to remove existing dark filler I imagine would be require a refurb of the cue and may not light that much?
I did hear/read somewhere that American pool players use bleach on their maple shafts to brighten them up! not sure about this

[itsnoteasy]

I used a maple cue, loved the fact there was no arrows, didn't think I could go back to ash but J6 makes ash cues without darkening the arrows and it's great, I got my grand cue out the case the other day to have a wee hit with it, I couldn't play with it the dark arrows put me right off, and I really liked that cue,I don't know why it's done.

[jrc750]

I prefer them darker 😅

[rdsalt]

Yes that's what I would like just the natural ash finish with no grain enhancement to darken it, I take it that this would be a lot of work and quite difficult to do on an already finished cue? I like the golden aged ash look, some new cues I have seen the ash is really light so the grain enhancement stands out even more. As you say JRC we are all different