Laminate shaft question.

M

Mensabum

Well-known member
14mm 8 piece Laminate Shafts. Has anyone ever seen small cracks developing on the laminate lines up near ferrule?? I'm hoping these are simply dirt ground in over time that darkened the glue line, but a magnifying glass tells me the shaft has a tiny seperation there. Will this make a noticeable sound when playing if indeed an actual crack?? Can I damage it further by playing w it, or are these things practically indestructible?? Lol.
Thank you in advance for any advice or tips.
Apologies. My first laminated shafts. Always used solid wood.
 
Mensabum said:
14mm 8 piece Laminate Shafts. Has anyone ever seen small cracks developing on the laminate lines up near ferrule?? I'm hoping these are simply dirt ground in over time that darkened the glue line, but a magnifying glass tells me the shaft has a tiny seperation there. Will this make a noticeable sound when playing if indeed an actual crack?? Can I damage it further by playing w it, or are these things practically indestructible?? Lol.
Thank you in advance for any advice or tips.
Apologies. My first laminated shafts. Always used solid wood.
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A lot depends on the glue used to glue the laminates with, and the method used to do it.
Not an easy question the have an answer for.
Did you do the lamination or buy a blank?
If you bought the blank, good luck defining what happened.
The questions can go on from there.
 
Delamination is a real thing and I've seen it countless times. The best strategy is to first clean the shaft as thoroughly as you can and without using solvents that can affect the glue used in laminating the shaft, then inspect it in detail. Carefully putting a bit of sideways preassure on the shaft is ok, in order to see if anything moves. If the shaft has started to delaminate, that's something will continue if you don't do something about it and it will eventually affect the hit and feel of the shaft.
 
Michael Webb said:
A lot depends on the glue used to glue the laminates with, and the method used to do it.
Not an easy question the have an answer for.
Did you do the lamination or buy a blank?
If you bought the blank, good luck defining what happened.
The questions can go on from there.
Click to expand...
Oh boy.
 
Kim Bye said:
Delamination is a real thing and I've seen it countless times. The best strategy is to first clean the shaft as thoroughly as you can and without using solvents that can affect the glue used in laminating the shaft, then inspect it in detail. Carefully putting a bit of sideways preassure on the shaft is ok, in order to see if anything moves. If the shaft has started to delaminate, that's something will continue if you don't do something about it and it will eventually affect the hit and feel of the shaft.
Click to expand...
Excellent info!! Exactly what I was looking for.
Never occured to me to put a little pressure on them to see if those laminate lines expand or not!! What steps would you take to refurbish these bad boys as they are paired w/an expensive butt??
 
Mensabum said:
Excellent info!! Exactly what I was looking for.
Never occured to me to put a little pressure on them to see if those laminate lines expand or not!! What steps would you take to refurbish these bad boys as they are paired w/an expensive butt??
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Without seeing the shaft, this is just a guess, it could be that a thin CA like starbond thin would do the trick as it seeps in to the crack better than epoxy. The other option would be a thin epoxy like West 105/207 heated up slightly in a microwave so it's almost water like in viscosity. Obviously you would have to mask off the are around the crack.
 
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Appreciate all the help on this!! Thank you.
Never worked w Starbound or any of those. Any special instructions or tips I should know about??
How fast does it set, what removes excess, if necessary, etc ...
 
Mensabum said:
Appreciate all the help on this!! Thank you.
Never worked w Starbound or any of those. Any special instructions or tips I should know about??
How fast does it set, what removes excess, if necessary, etc ...
Click to expand...
Starbond specialize in CA glues for wood workers, I have used their super thing glue many times, it dries as most ca glues fairly quick. Prep the area, mask off and apply glue. In the package there are several thin nozzles which helps with accurate aplication of the glue. Let it cure for an hour or so, so it's nice and hard, remove masking tape and sand off excess glue. I like to do this with a strip of 800 grit and I press my thumb over the area I want to sand and run the strip between the sanding area and my thumb, just do one swipe at the time and check for progress, you don't want to sand into the shaft itself. When you feel it's flush, sand with 1200 and 2000 grit lengthwise.
 
Kim Bye said:
Starbond specialize in CA glues for wood workers, I have used their super thing glue many times, it dries as most ca glues fairly quick. Prep the area, mask off and apply glue. In the package there are several thin nozzles which helps with accurate aplication of the glue. Let it cure for an hour or so, so it's nice and hard, remove masking tape and sand off excess glue. I like to do this with a strip of 800 grit and I press my thumb over the area I want to sand and run the strip between the sanding area and my thumb, just do one swipe at the time and check for progress, you don't want to sand into the shaft itself. When you feel it's flush, sand with 1200 and 2000 grit lengthwise.
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Ok. Solid!!
Do I need to clamp the shaft to close those areas that seem to be separating, or simply allow this to flow and fill in those tiny cracks??
They are tiny, 1mm, so I'm not sure clamping would make a difference, but don't want to exclude that if it might help.
 
Mensabum said:
Ok. Solid!!
Do I need to clamp the shaft to close those areas that seem to be separating, or simply allow this to flow and fill in those tiny cracks??
They are tiny, 1mm, so I'm not sure clamping would make a difference, but don't want to exclude that if it might help.
Click to expand...
Oh, and thanks for the description of your sanding procedure!!
I've always been hesitant in that area bcuz my hands are big, making it diff to sand small places. I never would've thot of that.👍🏼
 
Mensabum said:
Ok. Solid!!
Do I need to clamp the shaft to close those areas that seem to be separating, or simply allow this to flow and fill in those tiny cracks??
They are tiny, 1mm, so I'm not sure clamping would make a difference, but don't want to exclude that if it might help.
Click to expand...
I don't think you need to clamp the shaft if the crack is so small.
 
Mensabum said:
Thank you for all your help w this!!
I'll keep you posted on how this turns out. I should be ok now that I've got this info. Appreciate it.👍🏼
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Are you saying there is a 1mm or .1mm gap?
I'm not a cuemaker, just thinking .040 thousands is a fairly large gap.
 
triley41395 said:
Are you saying there is a 1mm or .1mm gap?
I'm not a cuemaker, just thinking .040 thousands is a fairly large gap.
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The 1 mm comment was an approximation. A guess. There are def signs of delamination happening. Small hairline separations along the seams. I didn't know these shafts did this. Common sense should tell me it can happen, but these are my first laminated shafts and I'm unfamiliar w any of the issues that come w them. Until I got out my glasses, I thot it was simply dirt or residue built up along the glue seam. Nope. Tad bigger than that. Getting a crash course in shaft repair and maintenance, thanks to the knowledgeable guys on this thread.
Perhaps I should've just stayed w solid wood shafts. Lol.
 
Mensabum said:
Oh
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Mensabum said:
The 1 mm comment was an approximation. A guess. There are def signs of delamination happening. Small hairline separations along the seams. I didn't know these shafts did this. Common sense should tell me it can happen, but these are my first laminated shafts and I'm unfamiliar w any of the issues that come w them. Until I got out my glasses, I thot it was simply dirt or residue built up along the glue seam. Nope. Tad bigger than that. Getting a crash course in shaft repair and maintenance, thanks to the knowledgeable guys on this thread.
Perhaps I should've just stayed w solid wood shafts. Lol.
Click to expand...
C'mon in, the waters fine.
Lol
 
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