Predator ferrule cleaning

Dave38

theemperorhasnoclotheson
Silver Member
Ok, any ideas as to how to clean this one? It's about 5 months old on a 314-3 shaft. I have tried: denatured alcohol with magic eraser, soft scrub, and toothpaste, using small brushes, and good cloths. It seems to be pitted, and the chalk dirt is in the pits. Customer wants me to make it white, then seal it as he doesn't like dirty ferrules. It is at 12.74mm, and he wants it to stay there, so sanding it down to smaller size is out.
Any help is appreciated.
Dave

20190110_144928.jpg
 

Kim Bye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Good luck on that one, I've tried everything you listed up and more, tach clotch, brushes, polishes, blasting in with compressed air etc, I think nothing will get that ferrule white again...
 

Scratchy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Just a thought, maybe you could coat it with a silicone type molding material, and when the coating is firmed up and peeled off it would pull the particles out?
Another approach - maybe chlorine bleach or hydrogen peroxide would at least take out the color?

Good luck with it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Kimmo H.

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have tried cleaning one like that myself and nothing seemed to work, the pits are too deep and the material literally seems to suck the dirt deep in it. The weird thing is that not all 314'3 shafts have had ferrules like this that can't be cleaned even though they are the same lbm type material. The good ones have a lot less pitting in them and have cleaned up like any other material would.

I ended up changing the ferrule to Tomahawk on the shaft that I couldn't clean properly to make it stay clean. I can't stand dirty ferrules either :rolleyes:
 

Cocoa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Ok, any ideas as to how to clean this one? It's about 5 months old on a 314-3 shaft. I have tried: denatured alcohol with magic eraser, soft scrub, and toothpaste, using small brushes, and good cloths. It seems to be pitted, and the chalk dirt is in the pits. Customer wants me to make it white, then seal it as he doesn't like dirty ferrules. It is at 12.74mm, and he wants it to stay there, so sanding it down to smaller size is out.
Any help is appreciated.
Dave

View attachment 509613
Dave, what magnification is the picture you posted.

If you look closely similar porosity is in the black pad and also look at the grain of the maple?
 

RickLafayette

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Get some white material used for ferrules and sand it down real good with sandpaper until you have a nice little pile of fine, white dust. Mix it with thin, clear super glue (cyanoacrylate) and then wipe it onto the ferrule, filling in the holes. When dry / hard, just sand down and polish to proper diameter.

This is an old luthier's trick for filling in the slots on the nut of a guitar when the string slot is too deep.
 

j2pac

Marital Slow Learner.
Staff member
Moderator
Gold Member
Silver Member
Ok, any ideas as to how to clean this one? It's about 5 months old on a 314-3 shaft. I have tried: denatured alcohol with magic eraser, soft scrub, and toothpaste, using small brushes, and good cloths. It seems to be pitted, and the chalk dirt is in the pits. Customer wants me to make it white, then seal it as he doesn't like dirty ferrules. It is at 12.74mm, and he wants it to stay there, so sanding it down to smaller size is out.
Any help is appreciated.
Dave

View attachment 509613

Dave, I am not a cuemaker, but I do know that there are versions of DEVCON, that are "mixable" with coloring. There are also the options mentioned above, regarding ferrule replacement with more resistant material/s. Hope this helps.
 

Dave38

theemperorhasnoclotheson
Silver Member
Thanks for the tips guys. I showed the customer and he was satisfied, and didn't want to go further. I sealed it and cleaned the rest of the shaft. The white superglue sounds very promising for future issues, thanks Mario.
I am a firm believer in not changing a predator ferrule until there is an actual physical problem, and if under warrantee, I have them send it back. But, when I do replace them, I use isoplast
Dave
 

j2pac

Marital Slow Learner.
Staff member
Moderator
Gold Member
Silver Member
On 314/3 too?

I was under the impression that the 314-3 ferrule material was some kind of LBM. It would lead me to believe that Saber-T would be a very good replacement material, if that were the case. I think it (Saber T) would probably be more acoustically appropriate. I do know from speaking with some repair persons that the Tomahawk material will work as well, but I am not sure about the exact change in the hit/feel/sound, once that is done.
 

Rimfirejunkie

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Get some white material used for ferrules and sand it down real good with sandpaper until you have a nice little pile of fine, white dust. Mix it with thin, clear super glue (cyanoacrylate) and then wipe it onto the ferrule, filling in the holes. When dry / hard, just sand down and polish to proper diameter.

This is an old luthier's trick for filling in the slots on the nut of a guitar when the string slot is too deep.

You can add cremora to age it.
 

Kim Bye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was under the impression that the 314-3 ferrule material was some kind of LBM. It would lead me to believe that Saber-T would be a very good replacement material, if that were the case. I think it (Saber T) would probably be more acoustically appropriate. I do know from speaking with some repair persons that the Tomahawk material will work as well, but I am not sure about the exact change in the hit/feel/sound, once that is done.

I use Sabre-T for 314³ and Z3 and Tomahawk for 314, 314² and Z2
 
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Dave38

theemperorhasnoclotheson
Silver Member
On 314/3 too?

Have not had to do a 314-3 yet. Just the pre-cats, and cats, and the 2s. The material I use is one that, I have been told, predator used at one point...and as I have been told, they never had issues with it, like the other materials they have used with cracking/splitting. They like to buy the rights to everything they use in their cues, so it all comes under them, and the Isoplast brand is too large for that. It is an industrial level material that is used a lot in the medical field and is used in place of steel in a lot of cases for nozzles, etc. as it is that strong but doesn't cause static sparks. VERY light weight, but stronger than what predator uses now.
Dave
 

Kim Bye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Have not had to do a 314-3 yet. Just the pre-cats, and cats, and the 2s. The material I use is one that, I have been told, predator used at one point...and as I have been told, they never had issues with it, like the other materials they have used with cracking/splitting. They like to buy the rights to everything they use in their cues, so it all comes under them, and the Isoplast brand is too large for that. It is an industrial level material that is used a lot in the medical field and is used in place of steel in a lot of cases for nozzles, etc. as it is that strong but doesn't cause static sparks. VERY light weight, but stronger than what predator uses now.
Dave

Yeah Proprietary stuff is annoying...!
Isoplast is a family of materials, do you know wich one you have?
 
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