How do I reasonably refinish old house cues?

J

JoeW

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I live in an active retirement community near Leesburg, Fl. We have about 30 house cues that need to be refinished. Some of them are 20+ years old. I bought the Amer. Cowboy portable drill based turning system and figure I can clean up shafts and put tips on.

Most of the cues currently have slip on tips and I am going to replace with LePro tips. I have been putting tips on by hand for several years so I don’t see a problem here unless I need to replace a ferrule. I know this little machine isn’t good enough to do ferrule replacements and we do have a wood lathe in our community shop if I need to use it. When a ferrule is replaced what type of glue is used?

I have never refinished a cue before and could use a set of instructions or some ideas about the general procedures that are usually followed. I have made my own cabinets and furniture in the past so I know a little about wood working.

I assume I could use wood stripper to remove the old finish. I have learned that water will remove most of the dents. I am thinking that 220 to 600 sandpaper can be used to clean them up. I don’t know what to use to replace the finish. Should I use lacquer or would a good marine grade polyurethane be sufficient? I am thinking that 7 or 8 coats of paint should do it with buffing between coats.

Any help would be appreciated. We don’t have any money in the kitty right now so I am buying whatever I need from my own pocket. Our billiards room has four GC IIIs and they are in good shape. The room itself needs a little updating so I have taken it on as a kind of hobby / project
 
When a ferrule is replaced what type of glue is used?QUOTE]


if i had that job i would use a good 5 minute epoxy,but if you have a threaded tenon you can use wood glue or even melamine glue by titebond.

as far as the finish i am sure someone here can recommend what to do.i use dupont car paint to refinish and finish cues.
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JoeW said:
I live in an active retirement community near Leesburg, Fl. We have about 30 house cues that need to be refinished. Some of them are 20+ years old. I bought the Amer. Cowboy portable drill based turning system and figure I can clean up shafts and put tips on.

Most of the cues currently have slip on tips and I am going to replace with LePro tips. I have been putting tips on by hand for several years so I don’t see a problem here unless I need to replace a ferrule. I know this little machine isn’t good enough to do ferrule replacements and we do have a wood lathe in our community shop if I need to use it. When a ferrule is replaced what type of glue is used?

I have never refinished a cue before and could use a set of instructions or some ideas about the general procedures that are usually followed. I have made my own cabinets and furniture in the past so I know a little about wood working.

I assume I could use wood stripper to remove the old finish. I have learned that water will remove most of the dents. I am thinking that 220 to 600 sandpaper can be used to clean them up. I don’t know what to use to replace the finish. Should I use lacquer or would a good marine grade polyurethane be sufficient? I am thinking that 7 or 8 coats of paint should do it with buffing between coats.

Any help would be appreciated. We don’t have any money in the kitty right now so I am buying whatever I need from my own pocket. Our billiards room has four GC IIIs and they are in good shape. The room itself needs a little updating so I have taken it on as a kind of hobby / project
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For house cue I would recommend once you get the finish off you can give the butts a wipe down with a few coats of tung oil and they will be fine. (Google it and read a little about it. ) Follow that with some past wax like a Butchers wax and they will look great. If you start spraying a bunch of stuff on them you could end up with a mess. No matter what you do someone in the place will knock you anyway and it's not going to be appreciated no matter what you do. As you can tell I have owned a few condos.
 
Thank you. I have used tung oil before. That is a nice idea that would save a great deal of time.
 
Strip the old finish & clean the cue up with alcohol. Then use some Minwax Polycrylic & a sponge brush to apply it. The stuff dries pretty quick & makes for an ok finish. Should be just fine for house cues and is easy to touch up at any time. The oil & wax finish is also good for house cues, but be careful as the wax attracts dirt & chalk residue.
 
A water based poly urethane. Used for baseboard etc.
For touch up jobs I apply it with a soft paper towel while spinning on a lathe.
You can use a sponge brush as well.

One of the easiest and also provides a very classy finish is the tung oil that was mentioned.
You can polish it with cue wax, or a good carnuba car wax after and you'd be amazed at how pretty it polishes up.
 
I bought out an old pool hall and the house cues were pretty dried up looking. I just went to the hardware store and bought some boiled linseed oil, got a couple of rags, spun them on top of an old table while applying the oil from where a joint would be on a two piece cue to the bumper. It brought the wood back to life and made the cues look much better.

You might try doing it outside with plenty of ventilation, and they dry pretty quickly.
 
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