A question to all cue makers and cue experts

I

ioCross

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I recently bought a used predator sneaky pete (3/14 shaft) for 150... after i hit a few balls i noticed that there was a click to it on some shots, and found a hairline crack extending about 3 inches from the butt.

my question is, aside from that annoying clack noise, does it effect the shot, aim or anything like that? I haven't felt anything that would change or hinder my shot but im sure a cuemaker would know more about this.

Also, will the crack keep getting worse with play?
I was thinking of taking a needle and putting crazy glue between the crack and then wrapping the handle in duct tape.... would that help hold the crack in place or would it just make my cue look ugly?

Any input, suggestions or a used uni-loc butt would be greatly appreciated.. Thanks.
 
Better yet, take the wieght bolt out put some epoxy on it and put it back in. Don't over tighten it, just bottom it out. You could put some small drops of super glue in the crack and put pressure on it until the glue drys if the crack bothers you. It could easily keep getting longer.

Andy
not a cue expert or cue maker
 
DawgAndy said:
Better yet, take the wieght bolt out put some epoxy on it and put it back in. Don't over tighten it, just bottom it out. You could put some small drops of super glue in the crack and put pressure on it until the glue drys if the crack bothers you. It could easily keep getting longer.

Andy
not a cue expert or cue maker
Click to expand...

Take it to a cue repair person and he should be able to properly fix it. This is a check which commonly occurs in the end grain of unprotected wood such as Sneaky Petes. I have a jig I made just for such repairs. I took a block of Delrin and bored a hole through it to fit a butt. I then drilled and tapped for a .250X20 bolt on each corner, I then sawed a small section out of the middle. This now gave me a jig that will clamp around the cue that glue won't stick to. A lot of trouble for one cue but a repairman can use it over and over as it doesn't wear out.

At any rate, you take this jig and clamp it tightly around the cue where the crack is compressing the crack closed. You the turn a maple dowel to .750 or 1" or whatever suits you. You then bore the cue to a depth just slightly deeper than the crack and the dowel is a very snug fit. It has to be a snug fit to work properly. The next step is to loosen your jig so that the crack will be able to open slightly, put in some epoxy, cover the dowel in epoxy and then, using the tail stock, push the dowel in as far as it will go. The dowel will act like a piston and force the epoxy out through the crack, fully filling it. Now that the crack is filled with epoxy good you can wipe off the excess from off the cue and then you tighten your clamp real tight. this closes the crack up and brings the cue back to it's original size and when dry, you seldom can detect where the crack was and it is stronger than original.

Sounds a little time consuming but once the jig has been made, it takes less than 10 minutes to make a 30.00 repair.

Dick
 
jigs

Sounds pretty slick. Pushing the glue out from the inside is way better than hoping you filled in the whole crack from the outside.

Andy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top