During WWII brass was a limited commodity. Brunswick used some of the early linen phenolic for their joints. I got this beat up cue years ago and decided to restore it to as close to original as possible. It's a rare WWII Hoppe, made sometime between 1941 and 1945.
The handle had the thick, smooth, black leather used at the time. This leather is at least twice as thick as the current leather used for wraps, It was put on kind of lumpy lumpy and pressed down, so these handles are typically fat anyway, but over time the leather swells back out. Brunswick had used this leather for many years and was commonly seen on 26 1/2's. I wanted to keep this distinctive thick leather wrap look and the new wraps just aren't even close.
Scot Sherbine does most of my finish work. I didn't want to heap this pile of leather on him though and I wasn't sure if he could restore this or not. I'm still having Scot do the finish work because he's way better at painting than I am.
I tried to read up on leather restoration techniques with no luck. Best I could find was the commercial finishing process for leather. So I used that information and experimented on non-cues until I figured it out.
Here's how i did it:
1. Clean the leather with solvent to remove oil and any compounds that might interfere with the finish. I like lacquer thinner best but test an area first, you never know if there might be a lacquer based finish on the leather.
2. I used warm water to wet and raise the deep cracks, dents and gouges. I soaked the deepest gouges with water and let it penetrate, then used a hair dryer to steam the water, which raised 95% of the dents. This has to be done several times on the deepest dents. This will also raise the leather surface grain.
3. After the leather was fully dry, I used a drill with a cue chuck I got from Joe Picone years ago and 220 grit dry paper, and sanded it out. I didn't want to start with 220 but there was no choice. The leather was too messed up and the surface had to come off.
4. There were a few deep cracks that became visible with the sanding, so I repeated steps 2 and 3 with success.
5. Sanded with 400, 600, 1000, 1500 and 2000 dry. The leather became progressively smoother. 2000 gives a very nice polished smooth finish. You can stop with 1000 if you like a little grain. TIP - always do sanding work with leather dry. Even cutting compounds will raise leather grain, so sandpaper is the best. Make sure the leather is as dry as possible or it will not sand properly.
6. Dyed the leather with black dye. Dye is solvent based and quickly and deeply penetrates the leather. Best put on with a cotton applicator, use smooth movements and saturate the wrap. Let dry and repeat.
7. When dying, cut in the edges of the wrap like a painter. Dye will seep under masking tape. I used masking tape and cellophane but I still cut the edges in carefully and still got a little on the wood.
8. Let completely dry and polish out with the softest cloth you can find. You can then use a protectant like mink oil or shoe polish.
Pics are below.
Chirs
The handle had the thick, smooth, black leather used at the time. This leather is at least twice as thick as the current leather used for wraps, It was put on kind of lumpy lumpy and pressed down, so these handles are typically fat anyway, but over time the leather swells back out. Brunswick had used this leather for many years and was commonly seen on 26 1/2's. I wanted to keep this distinctive thick leather wrap look and the new wraps just aren't even close.
Scot Sherbine does most of my finish work. I didn't want to heap this pile of leather on him though and I wasn't sure if he could restore this or not. I'm still having Scot do the finish work because he's way better at painting than I am.
I tried to read up on leather restoration techniques with no luck. Best I could find was the commercial finishing process for leather. So I used that information and experimented on non-cues until I figured it out.
Here's how i did it:
1. Clean the leather with solvent to remove oil and any compounds that might interfere with the finish. I like lacquer thinner best but test an area first, you never know if there might be a lacquer based finish on the leather.
2. I used warm water to wet and raise the deep cracks, dents and gouges. I soaked the deepest gouges with water and let it penetrate, then used a hair dryer to steam the water, which raised 95% of the dents. This has to be done several times on the deepest dents. This will also raise the leather surface grain.
3. After the leather was fully dry, I used a drill with a cue chuck I got from Joe Picone years ago and 220 grit dry paper, and sanded it out. I didn't want to start with 220 but there was no choice. The leather was too messed up and the surface had to come off.
4. There were a few deep cracks that became visible with the sanding, so I repeated steps 2 and 3 with success.
5. Sanded with 400, 600, 1000, 1500 and 2000 dry. The leather became progressively smoother. 2000 gives a very nice polished smooth finish. You can stop with 1000 if you like a little grain. TIP - always do sanding work with leather dry. Even cutting compounds will raise leather grain, so sandpaper is the best. Make sure the leather is as dry as possible or it will not sand properly.
6. Dyed the leather with black dye. Dye is solvent based and quickly and deeply penetrates the leather. Best put on with a cotton applicator, use smooth movements and saturate the wrap. Let dry and repeat.
7. When dying, cut in the edges of the wrap like a painter. Dye will seep under masking tape. I used masking tape and cellophane but I still cut the edges in carefully and still got a little on the wood.
8. Let completely dry and polish out with the softest cloth you can find. You can then use a protectant like mink oil or shoe polish.
Pics are below.
Chirs
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