Vintage cue grief

Cuebuddy

Cuebuddy

Mini cues
Silver Member
Hi Guys I don,t post here often but I thought this question belonged over here. I collect cues, and have about 100 in my collection. Most of these are junk and a few are production cues. My pride and joy are my vintage cues and they number about 25 total. I am always on the hunt for old cues and this last Wednesday I scored on a old double butterfly spliced cue. It has a Ivory joint and and I believe a Bakelite joint, The cue is straight and in great condition, it even has a very playable Birdseye shaft. I have built about 6 cues and although I don't excel in the art I love making them. My problem is I can't get this cue to unscrew, I have tried for 3 days off and on with just my hands and it won't budge. I know it has a joint and most likely the pin is in the shaft and not the butt as many turn of last century cues were. I could have one of my sons who are bigger then I help with me but I don't want to crack or twist it to much. The cue is very sound but you never know. I have got the joint hot by laying it in the sun, I also tried grabbing the handle area and popped the joint area a few times. I have even tried playing the cue for a few hours hoping that it might loosen up but nothing has worked. I would like to clean this cue up and it wouldn't take much but it would be nice to do it on my lathe. Do you guys have any suggestions before I break out the vise grips and the WD40:eek:;). By the way I found a nearly exact match of this cue on a website the only difference is the color of the veneers is switched on mine (blue @ the joint and red in the handle) everything else is exact even the bumper. I will include a link to the match I found and can even take pictures to post of mine later. I got this cue in northern Colorado for 15 dollars so I am not out much but any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Jim.
The cue is # 838

http://www.classiccues.com/cues/cue_sale.htm
 
I live in Denver and i know there are several shops that do repairs and also a couple of custom cue makers here. I would think your best bet would let a pro take a look at it.
 
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Sometimes when I'm dry fitting the A Joint on my cues, I have a hard time getting it apart. All I do is put grip it with a couple of latex gloves and it helps.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys. If I were to give it to a real cue maker I would have to swallow my pride and that would be more difficult then getting this cue apart;):D. I know a few cue makers in Colorado and had dealt with Clay Etheridge before they shut their doors so I am not totally with out a few contacts but I thought I would hit up you guys up first. I do have latex gloves and I might give that a try.
 
If the inside of the shaft has an insert in it i couldn't tell from the photo but fyi brass on brass galls, meaning it is soft enough to bite into itself so can be a major problem if it was bad enough the cue could break with enough torque so if your honestly scared of that i would take the others advice and call proficient of some top name and find the best solution after weighing the options cuz last thing you wanna do is beak the joint just cuz the stupid pin is stuck....I mean for real what a odd thing i always figured it could definately happen because i have seen it in other things but not a cue first time for everything
 
greyghost said:
If the inside of the shaft has an insert in it i couldn't tell from the photo but fyi brass on brass galls, meaning it is soft enough to bite into itself so can be a major problem if it was bad enough the cue could break with enough torque so if your honestly scared of that i would take the others advice and call proficient of some top name and find the best solution after weighing the options cuz last thing you wanna do is beak the joint just cuz the stupid pin is stuck....I mean for real what a odd thing i always figured it could definately happen because i have seen it in other things but not a cue first time for everything
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I know what your saying I have read about cues that could not be taken apart and always kind of snickered.:mad:
 
The latex glove suggestion is a great one. my mom always used her rubber gloves to help open jars that were hard to grip.
You will probably have better luck rotating it under a hair dryer until it has gotten pretty darn warm (enough to soak in good and deep) then not only try to loosen it, but work the pressure in both directions. If ya need a hand give a holler. I'm in Wheat Ridge.

Good luck,
Jayman.
 
jayman said:
The latex glove suggestion is a great one. my mom always used her rubber gloves to help open jars that were hard to grip.
You will probably have better luck rotating it under a hair dryer until it has gotten pretty darn warm (enough to soak in good and deep) then not only try to loosen it, but work the pressure in both directions. If ya need a hand give a holler. I'm in Wheat Ridge.

Good luck,
Jayman.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jayman, the hair dryer trick got it:grin:. I hope to show it to you some time.
 
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