Professional Cue re-tipping

[csd1_uk]

Hey,

Sorry if i am repeating things for my first thread on here, but i need some advice from some more experienced people.

I recently worked on a snooker exhibition in pembrokeshire and the guy from texaco kindly donated me a cue that was signed by all the players (steve davis, willie thorn, joe swail, matthew stephens, domonic dale, john parrott and some others)

Well i wanted to get the cue re-tipped as the tip on was terrible even though the cue was brand new. Basically i took the cue into a snooker shop in cardiff to get a blue diamond tip put on. When i picked up the cue i had found they had shaped the tip in (albeit not rounded correctly at the surface) and made the tip flush to the ferrul (cant spell sorry) but to do this they sanded it and along with this sanded the ferrul and the last 4 inches or so of my cue.

Now i have half a waxed (i think) cue and the last piece is faded, grain ruined and there is a slight shape difference.

Can people confirm that this should not happen, as the shop tried to tell me this is standard practice!!! i didnt believe them and told them i would research.

Thanks in advance

[RaNeN]

Well if you mean he shaved off the excess part of the tip with the sand paper , its perfectly all right. But if the wooden part has got spoilt or you feel that it is spoilt , you could take it to your club and ask a player who knows , because we from here cant tell you anything until we see the cue.

Yes , a litle sandpaper over the cue near the ferrul is ok , a little only, but not excess.
As I said above ask somebody from your local club or where you play. They should be able to clear everything.

[Robert602]

I think the ferrule normally does get sanded a bit, certainly when I retip my cue I don't really bother about preserving the ferrule (it can be replaced if it gets worn down too much). But the shaft certainly should not see any sandpaper.

I don't know what to say, it sounds like they really didn't have a clue what they were doing. There's no excuse for it, it's easy to use a small piece of sandpaper and not go near the shaft, even covering the shaft while they sand would work. Four inches of damage is ridiculous. If pro's retipped their cues like that there'd be nothing left of them within a year or so (two weeks in Ronnie's case). Needless to say it isn't 'standard practice'.

A professional cue maker might be able to restore the cue, perhaps by shortening it slightly or thinning the shaft down to a smaller tip size, depending on how badly it's misshaped at the top. They should certainly be able to restore the finish. Cueman would probably be able to tell you more.

Perhaps you could get a letter or something from a knowledgeable cue smith that confirms they've damaged the cue and that they should be paying for the repairs.

[cueman]

You shouldn't really touch the ferrule or the shaft when shaping a tip. They have used an over sized tip I presume and possibly trimmed it and then used the sand paper to get it totally flush with the ferrule. You should be really careful when doing this as its easy to sand the ferrule but only an idiot would touch the shaft wood as well.
A little tip would be to cut a thin strip of paper and tape it around the ferrule and shaft, then you can sand the tip as much as you like but you won't be sanding the ferrule or more importantly the wood!

Depending on how badly they have touched the wood, is it deep i.e. does it feel like its thinner than the ferrule? If its just slightly scratched then just rub some oil in and buff it, but in future take it to someone you can trust.

[csd1_uk]

Thanks for all your really quick responses, i can see what you saying completely, i have been feeling it and looking at it all morning, you know what its like when you get something new, hehe.

Basically, its a diff colour as i guess they have sanded off the coating on the cue, it also feels there is not a constant decrease in size as the cue reaches the tip.

I hear about people removing the coating on the cue and using linseed oil etc? what would be the best way, as the damage isnt as bad as i first thought, and am getting used to it, think it was just the shock!!

The BD tip also feels really soft, will this bed in a fair amount? and alsohow long does it need bedding in for. as i dont want the tip to rip in 2 when playing a deep screw etc?

As an addition, what do you think a cue signed by all of the above would be worth? (its also signed by welsh ama champ n 2 other juniors)

[cueman]

I shouldn't worry too much about the shaft, I have seen plenty of cues like that where people haven't been careful when sanding the tip. So long as you avoid any further damage it will be OK.
If the cue is coated in varnish or lacquer then it would probably be better stripping it down and oiling with linseed or something similar. Might be better to take it to a cue doctor though, you really need to take it to someone professional who can use a fine sander on a lathe.

As for the tip, BD's do tend to be soft at first, again all depends, tips really vary from one to another. It should 'bed in' given a few hours of knocking a few balls around. If the tip feels like its going to rip with a screw shot then it sounds like it will anyway. Might be that the tip has been too harshly sanded on top and the fibres have been opened up. It might bed in or it might rip open, only time will tell, it might be better to have another tip fitted. There is usually someone in most snooker clubs who fit tips who will do a better job than you've had done recently

I doubt the cue is worth that much even with signatures on them. It maybe worth more in future when these players have all retired. If the cue is just a cheapo make then it won't fetch too much unfortunately.