Bob Flynn who I bought several cues from prior to getting interested in building them myself used a tung oil finish and it looks pretty good hot off the press but is softer and ages less well than some others. One cue I have played lightly with over the years and the finish is getting milky looking. Another one I have played with a lot and it's beat to hell with what I consider normal use.
Bob is in his 80s now and as far as I know cancer free so did he make the right choice? HIs cues play really well BTW, he's the one who ultimately inspired me to build full core cues. Every time I shot with the cues he made I thought yes, this is the hit I like. Thanks Bob if you read this.
JC
That's cool. Thanks for sharing. I've wondered about a Tung oil finish for cues. Theoretically you can build it up pretty nicely and have it cure completely. Would be a great green product, although the thinner that's used is pretty important. It would probably take a long time though to build up a finish for cues comparable to others out there, although there isn't any real need to have a thicker clear coat finish on cues. Seems to be the standard for quality, though.
I wonder if the issues he had over time might be related to using a tung oil product that's not actually 100% tung oil (often it's blends to cure much faster, but only pure tung oil should polymerize 100%) or if some of the issues relate to the thinner used or if it hadn't dried long enough between coats or if the storage of the oil isn't perfect. If you don't do a good job keeping the air out, you'll get a film of partially polymerized oil and it will ruin the whole batch. I've only ever used it for boxes and never tried to build up a coat like would be typical on cues. May try it one day if I ever actually get into building cues of my own.