Stubble snagging

[Georgeseccombe]

A couple of days ago I received my new 1 piece ash GBL cue, an absolute beauty to look at, but unfortunately when I took it down the club I was disappointed to find out that a few areas of the grain snagged my chin hairs, in fact even pulling a couple of them out as I was cueing! I thought that generally this only happened with cheap poorly finished cues, not something which I really expected from a £300 plus cue.

My question is, are some cues just doomed to do this because they have a soft/more open grain than others? The gentleman from greenbaize explained to me on the phone that ash cues have a tendency to do this due to this very reason.

[Zelig]

Welcome to the club, I started shaving more frequently due to this: basically, every morning I plan to play snooker later in the day... I recently thought that maybe those "fillers" that some put on their cues before oiling / waxing them could be a partial solution but this is just my speculation, I never tried: did any forum member try this as a possible remedy?

[Nifty50]

Thats one reason some players prefer maple.

[Georgeseccombe]

I switched to maple a couple of years back which solved the problem, however now I’ve gone back to ash and my playing cue is a Phoenix which is lovely, with no chin issues whatsoever. I just can’t work out why some ash cues have more of a tendency to do this than others. I’ve had many cheap ash cues, some of which snagged and some of which didn’t! It seems that paying a premium for a top cue doesn’t seem to eliminate this issue... unless I’ve just been really unlucky with this particular cue.

[qc2]

It will be down to the grain being ever so slightly exposed enough to snag. A re-finish ought to help as you'd be filling and smoothing over the problem area but would need to be a) thin/runny enough to get in AND b) hard wearing enough cling, to stay in and not not fall out again.

It's one of those strange problems whereby it's not necessarily down to a bad finish to expect a refinish at the cue makers cost (as to the hand and eye the finish may well look and feel perfect) but for some would be problem enough for them to want to take action.

[Georgeseccombe]

Since posting, I got a can of black thixotropic grain filler and worked it into the problem areas with a cotton bud, removed excess with 0000 steel wool and it’s worked a treat! No more hair loss

[narl]

Maguire uses maple because of this reason, he's went back to ash a few times but doesn't stick with it long.

[balkend]

I have a GBL ash cue and a full beard , never had this problem !

[Georgeseccombe]

I have a GBL ash cue and a full beard , never had this problem !

I’m sure you haven’t, I’ve had a £60 brittania cue that never gave me this problem either. Seems that no matter how good the cue maker, it doesn’t necessarily mean the cue they make will have a tight closed grain!

[hunter101]

I have this issue with my Grand Cue. Going to get it refinished to see if it solves the issue

[sanman]

simple grain filling guys. Problem solved. Of course depends who does the job as well but I have never had an issue with beards and I have used many ash cues

[judith97]

I had a similar issue with my ash cue, and it turned out to be the grain being a bit more open than usual. I sanded it down lightly with some fine grit sandpaper and it really helped. It’s frustrating for sure, especially with an expensive cue, but a little touch-up might fix it!