HELP:Small/Light Ding in Shaft!
- Thread starter CT06010
- Start date
I think that glass tube really spreads it out more than fix it.
I like covering a pot of water with foil poking a whole in the foil, and boiling the water. Fix the dent by directing the steam coming from the hole at the dent.
If you're in the pool room, just dampen your finger tipin your mouth and lay abit of saliva on the dent. Let it sit.
I like worn 600 wet dry sandpaper or finer, but lots of people dont like sandpaper at all and use a dollar bill.
I like covering a pot of water with foil poking a whole in the foil, and boiling the water. Fix the dent by directing the steam coming from the hole at the dent.
If you're in the pool room, just dampen your finger tipin your mouth and lay abit of saliva on the dent. Let it sit.
I like worn 600 wet dry sandpaper or finer, but lots of people dont like sandpaper at all and use a dollar bill.
Yup, don't need anything more than spit and a brown paper bag. (Or a dollar bill)
Piece of belt leather should do the same thing as the beer bottle without putting a flat spot on your shaft. I don't know about steaming the spot, some people wrap a damp paper towel around the spot and apply an iron to it. I would recommend against sanding your shaft.
Searching the forum is a great resource. Lots of info on this subject out there.
Searching the forum is a great resource. Lots of info on this subject out there.
I've used this method successfully three or four times:
Find the ding, clean area completely -
1.some kind of cleaner 99% alcohol is great,
2. paper bag or dollar bill to sand.
Put moisture on ding
1. Place shaft on stable surface, like a towel so it won't roll
2. With a wet Q-Tip place a bead (drop) of water right on the ding.
3. Leave the shaft alone till water disappears.
4. Repeat until ding is gone, or is now a slight bump.
5. If bump, use very very fine sandpaper to remove.
The water is absorbed into the wood and it swells back to it's normal position if done properly.
When finished make sure to re seal your shaft, wax or similar.
Find the ding, clean area completely -
1.some kind of cleaner 99% alcohol is great,
2. paper bag or dollar bill to sand.
Put moisture on ding
1. Place shaft on stable surface, like a towel so it won't roll
2. With a wet Q-Tip place a bead (drop) of water right on the ding.
3. Leave the shaft alone till water disappears.
4. Repeat until ding is gone, or is now a slight bump.
5. If bump, use very very fine sandpaper to remove.
The water is absorbed into the wood and it swells back to it's normal position if done properly.
When finished make sure to re seal your shaft, wax or similar.
You can also use a shot glass or the edge of a Bic lighter. But that is correct, it only spreads it out.
In the linked video, the person put a pretty healthy dent in the shaft. I doubt that any amount of rubbing would take that one out completely.
Some people have a Steam Gun in their home for other types of cleaning. If you have one, that works 100%.
If not, the improvised steam gum with tin foil works great.
I would suggest that you try a Wet Bandage first.
Take a paper towel, fold it several times until fairly thick. Cut a small square from one corner.
Wet the square and squeeze out a bit of excess water. You don't need it sopping wet but a little water is what you want.
Place wet bandage over the ding. Give it 20 minutes or so. Check and see if the ding is gone. If not, re wet and wait again.
If the fix evens out great. If the water has caused the wood grain to raise a bit, use a fine grit sand paper to sand to level.
Seal or wax and polish.
Depending on the depth or severity of the ding, the bandage and or steam will work pretty much 100% of the time.
If the ding is deep and severe, they can be filled in with a little CA Glue and sanded to match the shaft. Whether you want to try this yourself is up to you.
Easier to add a bit of glue, wait till it dries and add a bit more. Rather than put a huge dob on right away and find that you have more sanding to do than you need.
If you have a Laminated Shaft, do not use Steam on it.
Heat or in the form of Steam is Glues worst enemy.
And obviously, the splices in Laminated Shafts are glued.
I've also done the pot with foil method. The neater method is using a handheld pressurized steamer. Or if you can funnel down the steam coming out of a tea kettle, use that. The hot steam is supposed to make the wood expand, which will make the wood return to a reasonably normal state (pre dent era). I always use 1000 grit to smooth out the grain after my shafts get any kind of moisture. I then seal the wood's pores by generating heat with a decent piece of leather.
None, lightly wet a paper towel and hold it against the ding. Soon you will find that it's gone or almost gone. Then use a regular shaft cleaner cloth to smooth it. Or any towel or somethign. Just not sandpaper.
If you use sandpaper to get the ding out, you will just create a nice divot in the shaft where you sanded or if you try to sand the whole thing to evenly smooth it you will likely end up with an un-even taper and roundness.
Do as I used to do when I was a friendly neighborhood cue repair person, and you won't go wrong.
1. Sight down the shaft and find the dent. Lightly draw a circle around it with a pencil,
and lay the shaft flat on a counter top with the circle facing up.
2. Wet one corner of a washcloth with water and drape it directly over the marked dent.
3. Grab an ordinary iron (preset on linen and preheated) and touch the wet cloth with
the point of the iron.
4. Hold the iron on the wet cloth until you hear a "spit". or "hiss", then immediately remove the iron. Caution:
The amount of time you hold the point of the iron to the cloth is very short. Only
about a second, or so. If the dent is deep you may have to repeat the process.
5. When done, remove what's left of the pencil mark with an erasure and burnish the
shaft with a folded paper towel. No sand paper will be necessary.
I have done many, many shafts this way, and it works every time. :thumbup:
P.S. If you want to know how to fill a gouge in a shaft that you can't raise by the above process, let me know.
1. Sight down the shaft and find the dent. Lightly draw a circle around it with a pencil,
and lay the shaft flat on a counter top with the circle facing up.
2. Wet one corner of a washcloth with water and drape it directly over the marked dent.
3. Grab an ordinary iron (preset on linen and preheated) and touch the wet cloth with
the point of the iron.
4. Hold the iron on the wet cloth until you hear a "spit". or "hiss", then immediately remove the iron. Caution:
The amount of time you hold the point of the iron to the cloth is very short. Only
about a second, or so. If the dent is deep you may have to repeat the process.
5. When done, remove what's left of the pencil mark with an erasure and burnish the
shaft with a folded paper towel. No sand paper will be necessary.
I have done many, many shafts this way, and it works every time. :thumbup:
P.S. If you want to know how to fill a gouge in a shaft that you can't raise by the above process, let me know.
Tramp, I wouldn't have guessed that you know how to do that.
I figured that you were still working on getting Snot out of corduroy.
A never ending quest, Blue, my friend.
If anyone knows, give me a shout.
It works the same way as dents. If you read your prior post and replace the word dent with snot, you have your solution. It seems you have answered your own question.