Sanding left a bunch of white sawdust embedded in cue. What do I do? What happened?
- Thread starter Paul Bell
- Start date
boogieman
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping.
Definitely wait til someone more experienced gives their thoughts. I think this white dust happens when you go too fine a grit of sandpaper. It gets super fine (like talc consistency) in the pores of the wood.
I've read about it before and had similar on some purple heart I was messing with. I used a brass wire brush to clean it out.
SSDiver2112
Esscot Custom Cues
Compressed air and magic eraser works for me.
I'm a woodworker, not an cuemaker, but that's what I thought too.
If so, I'd expect to be able to continue sanding and remove it.
From that pic it doesn't look like he's past about 220 grit yet...
Paul Bell
Well-known member
I presume ExpoxyPop means to shellac what is in the picture? Anyway, I can try a small area.
I have gone beyond 220 grit and it is still there. I used 1000 grit today and it is very smooth but still a lot of white specks. I may continue with the sanding on a section and see what happens. I used a magic eraser near the butt end and it seemed to remove some specks. Nearer the tip, however, sanding didn't seem to do much except make it smoother and shinier.
Try shellac on a small area see if it works if you keep sanding you may end up with a tooth pick, so to say Your white specks are what was used to seal the wood. Experiment on a small section; let it dry buff it will something really fine. paper bag, dollar bill or 1200 to 1500 or 0000 steel wool. Usually when you finish you need a few coats, sanding with really fine paper , or very fine steel wool between coats to bond another coat and get a nice sheen,
Also, you might be being too careful jumping too far to a finer paper, sometimes you have to be rough . If you sand that forever with 1000 grit paper you will get no where. But be careful not to go too far and end up with a skinny cue
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I agree, do a small sample spot. If you keep sanding you will end up with a cue quite a bit smaller than what you started out with and depending on the consistency of your sanding you might not have continuous straight piece of wood anymore.
Did you try with a lint free cloth and isopropyl after first blowing the cue clean with compressed air? What grit are you using now?
Tee hee.
I've seen it happen in PH, BRW, ebony and few other woods on occasion. You can sand till the piece is 1/4" in diameter and it may still show up.
I'm not 100% sure myself why it's there but I have been told by some older experts that it has to do with the type of mineralization in the soil that the tree has grown in. It has nothing to do with improper sanding as it can show up right after you've taken a taper cut to downsize the diameter.
The only thing I've ever been able to do is dye the wood to hide it (brown or black woods) or use a needle and painstakingly sit down and pick it all out on PH, bocote, or cocobolo if it's not to badly infested. I've actually scraped a couple cues because of it being so bad hoping that the next cut won't reveal as much.
Just looked this up....
Exotic wood often has white specks due to natural minerals trapped inside the wood, leftover trapped moisture, or mildew. Depending on whether the piece is furniture, raw lumber, or in an aquarium, the cause and fix will differ. [1, 2, 3]
1. Natural Mineral Deposits
Many exotic species (like Purpleheart or Mahogany) pull minerals and silica from the soil while growing. These fill the wood's tiny pores, leaving bright white dots.
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I use a narrow attachment on my air compressor and blow this stuff out. Then wipe it with mineral spirits and blow it out again. I used a modified basketball needle with the end snipped off until someone walked off with it. Been meaning to make another one but a tiny cone attachment works well.
I agree, Dave. I thought the same thing, and have gone thru it too. Especially Purpleheart. In the picture, some of it looks like dust but most of it looks embedded, like strands, in the wood itself. No hiding that easily.
