Did either of you actually read Dick's post?
Linen is linen. Linen for wraps has always been 'unwaxed' linen. Waxed linen is used for sewing leather.
Linen is made from flax plants. Unless you are saying that we have seen a mutation in flax plants which cause it's fibers to be substantially different, then it is the same except for the dyeing (unlikely to affect feel) and the finish (highly likely to affect feel).
If you want to experiment, get some 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper and lightly sand your wrap. This will expose more of the unmolested fibers of the wrap.
dld
True enough, to a point. I pursued this matter last year and found out that different regions do in fact produce different flax. Saying that flax is flax is sort of like saying maple is maple if you get what I mean.
Then there is the matter of how the linen cord is produced. What we use on cues is a linen cord as opposed to a braid or a twine. How exactly it is wound/twisted etc does have something to do with how the texture of the material will be and how well it takes to things like polishing etc. As with many things the higher grade materials take more time and effort to produce and are hence more expensive. In addition, as with many things, the more expensive to produce varieties tend to fall off in favor of faster and easier to produce varieties in these modern times.
In the end, there is more to it than flax is flax, and it does seem that the no longer produced linens, especially the Cortland variety, have properties that are in general superior for use in wrapping pool cues.
Lastly, as we have heard, there are the great variety of ways that a cue maker can finish the linen.
Different people will prefer different feel/finish and there are many ways to finish the wrap apparently. Most often we the consumers do not know how it is done we just know whether or not we like the results.
I have numerous linen wrapped cues. The best that I have are my 70's JOSS with original wrap and my 1980 Huebler with original wrap. Of the modern cues I have and have tried my preference is for the JOSS finish, and I have no idea how they do it.
I did a lot of reading on this last year and basically got up to my ears in textiles and even textile industry economics. In the end what I came to understand is that the Cortland many of us love was indeed different and superior to what we have today and it will in all likelihood never be produced again. It's value will continue to increase.
It is in demand by both custom pool cue makers and model ship builders. Yes, that's right. They use it for "rope" rigging on high grade model ships. They use the exact same Cortland #9 27 pount test linen we love. I say we gather up all the model boat builders and have them shot. :wink:
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