Opinions wanted on clear finishes.

[67fastback]

I'm looking for opinions (workability) on using these cue finishes. 1)cyanoacrylate (super glue). 2)automotive urethane clear coat. 3)Solarez UV cured resin. 4)Crystalac Bright Tone water base clear. I have always used automotive urethane clear, but have been looking at other options. give me your pros & cons based on your experience with any or all of these products. And hey, if you have any other options besides there 4 I have list that you feel are better, then I would like to hear about those too. Thanks for any & all input. J. Neilson

 

[Duane Remick]

I'm looking for opinions (workability) on using these cue finishes. 1)cyanoacrylate (super glue). 2)automotive urethane clear coat. 3)Solarez UV cured resin. 4)Crystalec Bright Tone water base clear. I have always used automotive urethane clear, but have been looking at other options. give me your pros & cons based on your experience with any or all of these products. And hey, if you have any other options besides there 4 I have list that you feel are better, then I would like to hear about those too. Thanks for any & all input. J. Neilson

I like automotive clear coat,
" Providing you have enough time"
Super glue does pretty nice-and FAST

 

[Paul Dayton]

In the end most guys compare the finish they use to automotive clear coat. Given the ability to safely and properly use any of the finishes, pick the clear coat

 

[KJ Cues]

I shoot auto-clear (about 20 yrs now) and have stopped looking for anything else.
When talking total-cue finish, you won't find anything better or faster except for maybe UV.
I can't recommend Solarez. We tried it but weren't satisfied. You want the good stuff ? Spend big money.
CA is usable for a chip. It has it's own level of gloss that makes it a tough match.
You couldn't pay me enough money to use CA for a total-cue finish + there is no time savings whatsoever.
Ex: I shot A/C last evening. I'll be delivering those shafts this morning.
A quick wet-sand, buff/polish and deliver. I can do it, start to finish in 3 hrs.
I've heard of people laying down 20+ coats of CA to get a decent finish and coverage.
You won't do that in 3 hrs, maybe not even in 3 days. I'll finish 6 shafts today, another 6 tomorrow.
The speed of CA is a myth.

I'm going to lump epoxy in with CA because of the application method; it's messy and time consuming.
Epoxy however, may have merit as a sealer or seal-coat prior to an A/C topcoat.
I won't make any claims until I'm done with R&D but I do know that others are using the system successfully.
The use of epoxy as a sealer will lengthen the process but perceived advantages may be worth it.
I'm not wild about epoxy as a stand-alone finish. First day outta the shop the gloss is fine. It dulls quickly.

 

[scdiveteam]

I'm looking for opinions (workability) on using these cue finishes. 1)cyanoacrylate (super glue). 2)automotive urethane clear coat. 3)Solarez UV cured resin. 4)Crystalac Bright Tone water base clear. I have always used automotive urethane clear, but have been looking at other options. give me your pros & cons based on your experience with any or all of these products. And hey, if you have any other options besides there 4 I have list that you feel are better, then I would like to hear about those too. Thanks for any & all input. J. Neilson

Whatever finish or adheasion coats are applied, make sure it is completely cured before you wet sand and buff.

Most eproxies are 7 days for full cure.

Some automotive finishes are 30 days.

Set times and cure times are two different animals. Do the product research.

There are many reasons for rings popping. This detail is a major factor but is not exclusive.

If you are in a hurry to finish your cues, there are and will be consequences.

JMO,

Rick

 

[qbilder]

The speed of CA finish is no myth, nor is it messy. If anything at all, CA finish is misunderstood and bastardized by the ignorant. It takes 30 minutes from bare wood to polished for a butt, and 5-10 minutes for the few inches of a shaft joint. It makes no mess and is no danger to myself or anybody around me. No fumes, no atomized liquids, no mixing, no spraying, no solvents, none of that. Many people, including other makers, have seen it & can attest to everything I say. And the proof is in the pudding, my completed cues. The following pics are all CA finish, none taking more than an hour from bare wood to polished cue.

The below cues belong to the same owner, Joe Rogan. One is a daily player & the other mostly sits in a collection. The daily player has a CA finish. It's better than a decade old, gets played hours almost daily, and travels with him as he works around the globe. It may be in Brazil today & Las Vegas tomorrow, enduring every climatic swing imaginable. The cue doesn't get abused, but does suffer a lot more than most cues. The pic is pretty recent, and shows the cue still shines & holds up just fine. Without being obvious which cue is mine, who could look at those cues & know which finish was used? Point being, not only is it not a myth that CA finish is fast, it's also pretty darn durable & lasting.

 

[KJ Cues]

You've found what works for you and so have I.
Lets hope that the OP finds what works for him.
Who doesn't want to be happy with their cue finish ?
I'm not pushing any particular system.
I'm sharing my opinions based on my experience.
I believe that's what was asked for. YMMV
My opinions haven't changed.

 

[whammo57]

CA is nice an shinny ....... lacquer won't hold up... water based urethane will yellow........ automotive is a great finish... but it's toxic an need to be sprayed........... I use solarez UV finish.............. easy and fast.......... best I have used........


PM me for instructions

Kim

 

[Mcues]

finishes

I've done all three finishes at one time or another, and yes Clear is at the top of the pyramid but have not found any of the others to be messy. As a matter of fact, I can apply epoxy without getting it on my hands CA was fine but never was I able to do it in an hour(must plan trip to see that guy in TENN

If you're trying a new finish you have to stay with it until you perfect the application, otherwise, you walk away with all sorts of false insurmountable problems. I'm never going to be happy until I get the epoxy finish to shine as close to Clear as I can, why, because I don't want to spray Clear.

Mario

 

[Bumlak]

The speed of CA finish is no myth, nor is it messy. If anything at all, CA finish is misunderstood and bastardized by the ignorant. It takes 30 minutes from bare wood to polished for a butt, and 5-10 minutes for the few inches of a shaft joint. It makes no mess and is no danger to myself or anybody around me. No fumes, no atomized liquids, no mixing, no spraying, no solvents, none of that. Many people, including other makers, have seen it & can attest to everything I say. And the proof is in the pudding, my completed cues. The following pics are all CA finish, none taking more than an hour from bare wood to polished cue.

The below cues belong to the same owner, Joe Rogan. One is a daily player & the other mostly sits in a collection. The daily player has a CA finish. It's better than a decade old, gets played hours almost daily, and travels with him as he works around the globe. It may be in Brazil today & Las Vegas tomorrow, enduring every climatic swing imaginable. The cue doesn't get abused, but does suffer a lot more than most cues. The pic is pretty recent, and shows the cue still shines & holds up just fine. Without being obvious which cue is mine, who could look at those cues & know which finish was used? Point being, not only is it not a myth that CA finish is fast, it's also pretty darn durable & lasting.

All true. I would agree that you have to do what works best for you. The CA method that Eric uses takes some practice to be sure, but if I can manage to pull it off, anyone can.

 

[bstroud]

I was the first cuemaker to use automotive finish on a pool cue.

I was helping a friend spray his AC Ace. It was a British sports car with an aluminum body.

He wanted to use DuPont Imron, a new finish developed for aluminum airplanes.

I tried it on my cues and used it for 10 years.

I only switched when I found a better auto finish. Spies Hecker, made in Germany.

Bill S.

 

[KJ Cues]

I've done all three finishes at one time or another, and yes Clear is at the top of the pyramid but have not found any of the others to be messy. As a matter of fact, I can apply epoxy without getting on my hands.

Mario

For those who think that getting a little epoxy on your hands is no big deal, you may want to reconsider.
It's not the epoxy itself that's going to cause you problems, it's the method you use to remove it.
Most who use epoxy know that acetone is a great thinner and will quickly remove epoxy that hasn't yet set.
Knowing that might cause one to grab an acetone soaked rag to wipe your hands clean.
It cleans your hands so well of epoxy that you might be tempted to continue using it for that purpose.
Do it often enough and you'll 'burn' your skin to the point that it turns black. That can't be good.
The acetone not only removes the epoxy but the oils that reside in the skin that protect it.
The result is by no means pretty. This condition is not limited solely to acetone but any solvent
you have in the shop that's stronger than water. Protect your hands, they are what you use to create.

My casual relationship with solvents began as a shade-tree mechanic when working on my first car.
It was common practice at the time to clean the oil off your hands with a gasoline soaked shop rag.
Later, when I was a mech at the dealership, some guys were still cleaning their hands the same way.
Go-Jo started getting real popular, real quick. Don't take this lightly. I'm sharing personal experience.
You can cause yourself some serious damage, possibly long-term. Gloves can be combersome, I know.
Useless stubs, even more so. I don't think I can say it enough. PROTECT YOUR HANDS !

 

[CuesDirectly]

For those who think that getting a little epoxy on your hands is no big deal, you may want to reconsider.
It's not the epoxy itself that's going to cause you problems, it's the method you use to remove it.
Most who use epoxy know that acetone is a great thinner and will quickly remove epoxy that hasn't yet set.
Knowing that might cause one to grab an acetone soaked rag to wipe your hands clean.
It cleans your hands so well of epoxy that you might be tempted to continue using it for that purpose.
Do it often enough and you'll 'burn' your skin to the point that it turns black. That can't be good.
The acetone not only removes the epoxy but the oils that reside in the skin that protect it.
The result is by no means pretty. This condition is not limited solely to acetone but any solvent
you have in the shop that's stronger than water. Protect your hands, they are what you use to create.

My casual relationship with solvents began as a shade-tree mechanic when working on my first car.
It was common practice at the time to clean the oil off your hands with a gasoline soaked shop rag.
Later, when I was a mech at the dealership, some guys were still cleaning their hands the same way.
Go-Jo started getting real popular, real quick. Don't take this lightly. I'm sharing personal experience.
You can cause yourself some serious damage, possibly long-term. Gloves can be combersome, I know.
Useless stubs, even more so. I don't think I can say it enough. PROTECT YOUR HANDS !

Fantastic points, if I may further extend your thoughts.

SEALERS, don't get them on your hands or fingers, sealing the ends of your fingers will cause problems up the arm to the shoulder joint. Fingers sweat, blocking their ability to do so will cause the sweat to back up and not be released, best to let a DR explain it if anyone wants to argue this point, I see KJ understands these things and I am sure many other do as well.

Gloves are our friends.

 

[Canadian cue]

I was the first cuemaker to use automotive finish on a pool cue.

I was helping a friend spray his AC Ace. It was a British sports car with an aluminum body.

He wanted to use DuPont Imron, a new finish developed for aluminum airplanes.

I tried it on my cues and used it for 10 years.

I only switched when I found a better auto finish. Spies Hecker, made in Germany.

Bill S.

If you don't mind sharing, what were you using as a sealer under the clear?

 

[Mcues]

I was the first cuemaker to use automotive finish on a pool cue.

I was helping a friend spray his AC Ace. It was a British sports car with an aluminum body.

He wanted to use DuPont Imron, a new finish developed for aluminum airplanes.

I tried it on my cues and used it for 10 years.

I only switched when I found a better auto finish. Spies Hecker, made in Germany.

Bill S.

I remember Dupont Imron well....nasty toxic stuff.

Mario

 

[qbilder]

Harbor Freight often has sales on their nitrile gloves. Like $7 for a box of 100. I don't work without them.

 

[Floyd_M]

Anyone have a SHORT & QUICK rundown of these different clear finishes?

__MATERIAL__COST__FINISH TIME__LUSTER__DURABILITY__OTHER__
__
__
__

.

 

[BarenbruggeCues]

Well...here it goes.......

Disclaimer: the following info is only from my experience and not meant to piss anyone off or suggest that their way of doing things sucks.

First cues I finished back in the day I completed with a cyanoacrylate product. Learned the procedure fairly quick with the end result being a bright, very shiny top coat that was easily polished to a look good. My instincts told me that the reasoning for this is because it was a "hard" finish product. I saw some of those cues live and up close over 10 years later and the ones that were not played with on a daily/ weekly basis were still very bright, shiny and looked very similar to the day they left my hands. The ones that were used on a regular basis I did not like what I had seen. Mainly, that every spot on the cue that had been bumped against anything harder than the cue had the finish "lifted" from around the bumped area creating a spot that looked whitish and milky in the finish around it. Not a very appealing look to me and I was glad I had changed my finishing product and technique.
Fast forward to approx 2010 with the cyanoacrylate products. I was introduced to one that I keep in the shop and use for stuff that I need a quick connect with such as a short piece of ring billet attached to a dowel that allows me to utilize 100% of my billets for rings. (yea I just tossed you a bone) It seems "different" than the stuff that I was using back in the 1900's.
LOL...seems so long ago! So like everything else in the world they may have made advancements in the cyno dept that might be better for using it as an acceptable finish for pool cues. Chances are I will not revisit this for my purpose.

I recently (within the last few years) experimented with the solarez stuff. After several attempts and testing the finish on different examples of materials used in the pool cue building industry I was not convinced that it was any better for me than the cyno products. Even after several attempts with trying different bases and sealers I found the cured finish to be too hard for my liking of what I was looking for in my finished cues. The worst negative of this product is the smell. If used inside a shop or confined area the aroma ( a term used loosely) will permeate into the area it is used and you'll have an uncomfortable situation breathing or inhaling the fumes for a very long time before it dissipates.
In short.....it stinks to high heaven really bad. I discarded the idea of using this product quickly and put the bottles in triple ziplock baggies in my solvents cabinet.
It still smells like that nasty solarez smell in the cabinet even after doing that.
If you go this route, do it outside would be my suggestion, or your wife/GF will have you living outside.
I will never revisit this for any of my needs.

I've never used an epoxy finish as a top coat but have talked with some that are happy with their end results doing so. I don't have any experience doing this. I do however use an epoxy base sealer on 99.9% of my cues. It's not easy nor fast but after years of doing it I have just about figured out every nuance needed so I'm not redoing dumb mistakes over and over.

For me, auto clear is the product I've gravitated toward. After the initial learning curve (yes, there is one of those with this product also) I feel for me the end result for the finished product out ways all the negatives I experienced with the other finishes I experimented with. Like anything, it is a procedure. From start to finish you must do the same things (that work) over and over and not deviate from it. It is probably the most expensive finish to purchase and may be one of the most expensive to get set up for as far equipment needed to properly administer it to a finished product. I've tried several brand names and different types in the different brand names before settling on the one I use now.
It takes the longest to prep your product for before spraying and certainly has it's negative health affects if you're not set up for it.
The end result for me is the finish that fits my needs for the longevity and durability that I prefer for my cues. One of the more important aspects that I like is if you are properly preparing the cue sealer used, the top coat flexes with sealer when it takes a bang on the side of table or the rail of a pool table if a player should ever "accidentally" have a mishap.
Spraying auto clear surely isn't the easiest, fastest or less expensive way but for the end result of looks and durability that I prefer it fits for me.

In closing you are going to do what your budget allows you to, space allows you to, time constraints allow you to do and the overall end results you are looking for in your end product. None of them are easy till you get past the learning curve no matter which direction you choose. Like anything you what to be the best you are able to produce, you are going to have to learn the "how" for it to become easy and second nature.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[BarenbruggeCues]

Harbor Freight often has sales on their nitrile gloves. Like $7 for a box of 100. I don't work without them.

Can't beat em! 3 different thicknesses and sizes to fit about every hand.
Not only protects you from the mess and chemicals but a fit so soft and flexible you can pick up a dime!
Standard equipment at the farm here.
Your GF/wife will appreciate your oh so soft hands also.

 

[whammo57]

I have used about 6 or 8 different finishes................ I found only 2 that will not yellow...... Max 1618 epoxy and Solarez.

I have not use automotive clear coat......... nice finish but too toxic.

I only use Solarez and I have a 12 inch exhaust fan on the right in my shop ............ if I stand 1 foot to the left of the cue I am finishing I cannot smell it.

Solarez is the easiest to apply and sand and polish. Absolutely the best finish I have used............

If you want to know how to apply it and buff it........ send me a pm.


Kim