Butt crack repair

runscott

runscott

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I apologize for the thread title, but...

I have a very nice playing, but inexpensive sneaky Pete that has a crack on either side of the butt, running up about 2 inches on one side and 4 on the other - noticeable but not effecting playability. Removing the butt-cap, I can see that the crack goes all the way through on each side. I plan to make a refinishing project out of it, but would like to repair the crack. Thoughts on this? Thanks.
 
heh heh heh .. he said butt crack... heh heh heh

seriously.... i've had some good luck with wood glue and some of those screw type radiator hose clamps on gun stocks. pry the crack open just a little and inject the glue with a syringe then clamp it up until the glue sets.
 
bigpocket said:
Love that thread title LMFAO:D :D Good luck with your butt crack lol
Click to expand...

Trappers are notorious for this. most moisture transfer occurs on end grain. Since most trappers do not have a butt cap the bare wood is left to the elements. I have had very good success repairing a number of these.

What I did was take a piece of Delrin about 3"wide, 4" long and 2" thick. I bored a hole a little bigger than 1.25" thru it length wise. I then drilled and tapped 4 1/4" holes at the 4 corners length wise. I then cut the Delrin in two length wise so that now I had two pieces with a semi-circle bored thru that I could loosen or tighten with the 4 bolts. I made this little jig about 15 years ago and still use it.

What i do is bore a hole about .750" in diameter and about 1" or 2" deeper than the length of the cracks. I then turn a piece of maple to the exact diameter of the hole I had bored in the butt. I use this maple plug as a piston. I make sure there is plenty of epoxy put into the hole in the butt and that the dowell is well covered. I then have the cue in the lathe and insert the dowell into the hole and slowly use the tailstock to push the dowell to the bottom of the hole. This builds up pressure and causes the cracks to expand a little so that all the extra epoxy comes oozing out of the cracks. I then wipe off all the excess glue and put my jig around the cracked area an tighten it down real good. this forces the cracks closed and back to their original position. Since the epoxy was in the cracks the cracks are all now glued back where they are supposed to be and the cue is solid from the maple dowell having been glued in. When dry just loosen the bolts and remove the jig and put back for next use.

Dick
 
Thanks for the responses - I don't have the tools to do the one with the maple 'piston' and Delrin jig, but that really sounds like it would work perfectly and I'll file that away for future use. Looks like I'm off to pharmaceutical supplies and the auto parts store.
 
try this

attachment.php
 
Last edited:
RobTN said:
heh heh heh .. he said butt crack... heh heh heh

seriously.... i've had some good luck with wood glue and some of those screw type radiator hose clamps on gun stocks. pry the crack open just a little and inject the glue with a syringe then clamp it up until the glue sets.
Click to expand...
I'm afraid the wood will split even worse if I pry it apart enough to get a syringe in. When I remove the plug, there is a 5/8" hole bored and you can see the crack running from the outside of the cue to the hole on both sides. What if I drilled a very small (diameter) hole directly into the middle of each crack from the end of the butt, injected epoxy and clamped?
 
I think whatever you do to get glue/expoy/whatever down inside the crack and then clamp it up will work. The plug idea sounds great if you have access to the tools involved, but it's doing basically the same thing... getting the adhesive inside the crack, then clamping.
 
RobTN said:
I think whatever you do to get glue/expoy/whatever down inside the crack and then clamp it up will work. The plug idea sounds great if you have access to the tools involved, but it's doing basically the same thing... getting the adhesive inside the crack, then clamping.
Click to expand...
I ended up taking it to my cuesmith today - he put a 1/2" phenolic collar at the end, and all is well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top