Cue Damage Caused by Cold Weather !!

KRJ

KRJ

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Ok, we get different opinions from many about leaving your cue in your car.

I will leave mine in my car (on league nights) if the temp is between 45 - 75 degrees. Otherwise I drag them into work. I park in a garage at work, so the sun is not an issue for me. I can also crack the windows, cause theft is NOT an issue as well.

So, I've decided to sacrifice a Players Sneaky Pete in hope of find out what really happens.

I've put the cue in an Instroke case, and put it in my trunk. I live 35 miles west of Chicago so you know the weather. I will keep it there for a month in the Chicago winter. (put it there yesterday) I was gonna use a crappy case, but figured most folks with decent cues probably have something half way decent for their cues, and I think Instroke is a popular brand with known cue "protection"......

My garage is NOT heated, but it never gets much below 45 in my garage, and I drive to work, and that garage is an open structure and gets cold. I also drive to leagues, stores, bars, kids actvities, etc.... and once a week, I will take it out and let it warm up in my basebent like it is going to "league" once a week to be played with.

Then I will shov it back in the trunk and continue to do it for a month.

After one month, I'm going roll it apart and together and see what happened to it.

So far the temp outside now is below 30 degrees.

The Players cue is about 5 years old, and is one of 4 that are used as house cues at my home. It was straight before she got put away. It did not warp sitting in my basement rack for 5 years, but basement is temp and humidity controlled.....

Maybe a Chinese cue is not the best cue for this test, but if a Players can pass the test, I"m guessing your custom should do just as well :)

Anyone wanna guess at the results ??

1. No warp
2. shaft warp
3. butt warp
4. both warp
5. Major Friggin Warp (cue is a total loss)
 
Anecdotal evidence. Sorry, but it is of little value whether it passes or not.


Now, if you would like to invest in a very fancy Gus or Gina or something of that nature and put it to the same test I think it might get attention.










.
 
ChicagoRJ said:
Ok, we get different opinions from many about leaving your cue in your car.

I will leave mine in my car (on league nights) if the temp is between 45 - 75 degrees. Otherwise I drag them into work. I park in a garage at work, so the sun is not an issue for me. I can also crack the windows, cause theft is NOT an issue as well.

So, I've decided to sacrifice a Players Sneaky Pete in hope of find out what really happens.

I've put the cue in an Instroke case, and put it in my trunk. I live 35 miles west of Chicago so you know the weather. I will keep it there for a month in the Chicago winter. (put it there yesterday) I was gonna use a crappy case, but figured most folks with decent cues probably have something half way decent for their cues, and I think Instroke is a popular brand with known cue "protection"......

My garage is NOT heated, but it never gets much below 45 in my garage, and I drive to work, and that garage is an open structure and gets cold. I also drive to leagues, stores, bars, kids actvities, etc.... and once a week, I will take it out and let it warm up in my basebent like it is going to "league" once a week to be played with.

Then I will shov it back in the trunk and continue to do it for a month.

After one month, I'm going roll it apart and together and see what happened to it.

So far the temp outside now is below 30 degrees.

The Players cue is about 5 years old, and is one of 4 that are used as house cues at my home. It was straight before she got put away. It did not warp sitting in my basement rack for 5 years, but basement is temp and humidity controlled.....

Maybe a Chinese cue is not the best cue for this test, but if a Players can pass the test, I"m guessing your custom should do just as well :)

Anyone wanna guess at the results ??

1. No warp
2. shaft warp
3. butt warp
4. both warp
5. Major Friggin Warp (cue is a total loss)
Click to expand...

Very good Thread Chicago, I left my cue in the cold all the time, now the heat is different i believe, i always thought that if you left your cue in the car for some time (90-100 degrees) it had a good chance of warping the shaft, iam betting that your cue will be just fine!
 
Well Im going to guess 4. Both Warp. My first cue I had was a Players Rosewood Sneaky I had about 6 years ago. I kept it in a 1x2 Action hard case. I was a broke college kid back then and bought something cheap to play with. Here in Baltimore it never really gets too cold or hot but sometimes it could get there. While I never left the cue in my car for extended periods, I would leave it in there sometimes by accident. Not exactly sure when it warped but I first noticed the butt warped when I bought a new Z2 shaft for the cue. The butt wasn't too bad but you could tell when you rolled it. It's funny though because the shaft never warped and you figured the thinner piece of wood would move first. Oh well, but I'm pretty sure if I kept leaving it in my car even further the shaft would warp as well. Interested in hearing the results as 1 year after I bought my sneaky, Player's then came out with their lifetime warranty that includes warpage.
 
I would guess no warp or maybe a small amount of shaft warp. This is mostly based on the fact that Players cuts their cues and shafts quickly (and tosses out the rejects) and you have already had it for years. Any movement that may happen, probably would have happened. The thing is, using one cue as a test doesn't really tell much, as wood is highly individual in character and just because one piece may be stable, another piece could turn into a banana.
 
Warping isn't the thing to be concerned about...cold temps, low humidity, shouldn't warp...hi temps, hi humidity, different story.

The biggest concern for me with changes in temp is the expanding and contracting of the parts...different materials expand and contract more or less depending on the material.

For example...the joint collar that's glued onto the wood...if the wood contracts more than the collar when drop in temp occurs, then the glue will be pulled from one of the surfaces...rendering the 2 parts no longer glued together, give it time like that, changing temps from 10 - 70 degrees and you'll have firewood in your case...tip may come loose, joint loose, ferrule gap at wood seem, inlays popping loose, ringwork lifting, finish lifting and separating...

I will never leave a cue in my car if I care about it...maybe a cheap replaceable production cue, yes, but never a good one.

...back on point....I vote no warpage :thumbup:
 
I've had my Mcdermott with a Z2 shaft for awhile now. When I was living in FL, I would always leave it in my trunk, and never had any issues even in the hottest months.

I moved to Aurora, Colorado over a month ago and have been keeping it in my trunk here as well. The temperature at it's highest has been about 70 or so, and below 0 a few times at night. So far, no damage done.

So
 
RJ, go to a thrift store...buy a wool blanket or a lined comforter...
...wrap your case all round....this works in heat or cold.
I never had a good cue warp on me.
What may happen if left unprotected is not only warpage, but loose ferrules
and metals parts expanding and contacting.
 
The only thing about this is that the case only protects against temperature changes to a degree by virtue of wrapping your cues with a couple layers of insulation. It doesn't keep the interior at any particular temperature but what it does is slow down the rate of change inside the case when the external temperature changes.

The case does provide a slight moisture barrier but it is not airtight. So at the end of it the things you want to protect against, extreme cold and moisture are still going to get to the cue due to the amount of time you intend to leave your case in the trunk.

However I am confident that the cue will suffer little to no damage because I have lived in Germany and Colorado and left my cues in the car through all seasons.

As a control however you might want to put another sneaky pete of the same brand in the car with no case and see what happens to it versus the one kept in the case.

Glad to see you doing this. I wish more people would put their products to the test.
 
The darndest thing

I tried the same experiment years back. My cue wasn't damaged but my car warped.
Keep it light. Alfie
 
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Chopdoc said:
Anecdotal evidence. Sorry, but it is of little value whether it passes or not.


Now, if you would like to invest in a very fancy Gus or Gina or something of that nature and put it to the same test I think it might get attention.



.
Click to expand...


Of course not, but it's still fun :) Plus, if a Players won't warp due to cold, I'm not guessing my Carmeli will not....

I might up the ante after this test and try something higher end ?? I do have a TNT SP I don't play with anymore..... good cue, good quality... maybe will see if she is up for the test.

Yeah, I've been sick for almost a week now, and I'm getting bored :)
 
ChicagoRJ said:
Of course not, but it's still fun :) Plus, if a Players won't warp due to cold, I'm not guessing my Carmeli will not....

I might up the ante after this test and try something higher end ?? I do have a TNT SP I don't play with anymore..... good cue, good quality... maybe will see if she is up for the test.

Yeah, I've been sick for almost a week now, and I'm getting bored :)
Click to expand...


Ah...boredom...breeds all sorts of antics, eh? :wink:


Yes, it should be a fun little experiment. But the fact that nobody seems to want to try something like this with a high end custom speaks volumes.

The certain answer: Many people have left cues in cars many times in extremes of temperature. In most cases nothing happened. But on occasion it does. Hence, there is increased risk. How much risk? I dunno. Try asking an actuary.

FYI: I have one Players shaft fitted to one of my cues (dumb luck that the ring work matched and it fit the joint exactly, so I got a second shaft for an old cue). I am actually somewhat unexpectedly impressed with that shaft. It's much better than I thought it would be.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, happens to yours.

I would think it will most likely be just fine. But regardless of the outcome, I won't be leaving any of my cues in my car. Why risk it?




.
 
I'll tell you folks one thing, if you've got a lacquer and epoxy finish cue, you definitely do not want to leave it out in the extreme cold. I had one that spider-webbed all throughout the cue once during a winter shipment. It was shipped overnight also.

One year a solid ivory butt sleeve Scruggs came inside after being out in the cold in a guy's car and the dramatic, quick temp change......eeeek, vertical crack straight down the butt sleeve and through inlays.

For me, it's simply not worth the chance, no matter what cue.
 
RJ:

I'm thinking nothing will happen to that cue. Here's why:

  1. Cold temperatures don't warp wood; heat does. When they form and bend wood (e.g. for chairs), they use high heat to do so, not cold. Add humidity -- i.e. steam -- and you can bend and bow wood into complete circles.
  2. Cold temperatures also mean dry temperatures. Any humidity in the air is already "condensed out" -- in the form of precipitation. That's why many (like myself) have sinus problems in cold weather, due to the extremely dry air causing sinus membranes to dry out and crack.
  3. The cue will be broken-down and evenly supported in a case. It's not like the shaft and butt will be supported only at the ends, with nothing supporting it in the middle, which after time would "encourage" a bow to creep into both.

Now if there were high temperatures involved instead, that might be a different matter.

For years when I was in the Navy, I kept a graphite cue in the trunk of my car, through the seasonal changes in the long-term parking lots on the Navy base in Norfolk, VA, when I was out to sea. It NEVER warped. Of course, 1.) the cue was a graphite composite cue, and 2.) the cue was in a case, laid flat on the floor of the trunk with towels wrapped around the case (to both absorb any moisture and sudden temperature changes, as well as "obfuscate" the fact it was a cue if someone outside the rear windows were to peer between the gap where the rear seats folded down and the trunk itself).

-Sean
 
sfleinen said:
RJ:

I'm thinking nothing will happen to that cue. Here's why:

  1. Cold temperatures don't warp wood; heat does. When they form and bend wood (e.g. for chairs), they use high heat to do so, not cold. Add humidity -- i.e. steam -- and you can bend and bow wood into complete circles.
  2. Cold temperatures also mean dry temperatures. Any humidity in the air is already "condensed out" -- in the form of precipitation. That's why many (like myself) have sinus problems in cold weather, due to the extremely dry air causing sinus membranes to dry out and crack.
  3. The cue will be broken-down and evenly supported in a case. It's not like the shaft and butt will be supported only at the ends, with nothing supporting it in the middle, which after time would "encourage" a bow to creep into both.

Now if there were high temperatures involved instead, that might be a different matter.

For years when I was in the Navy, I kept a graphite cue in the trunk of my car, through the seasonal changes in the long-term parking lots on the Navy base in Norfolk, VA, when I was out to sea. It NEVER warped. Of course, 1.) the cue was a graphite composite cue, and 2.) the cue was in a case, laid flat on the floor of the trunk with towels wrapped around the case (to both absorb any moisture and sudden temperature changes, as well as "obfuscate" the fact it was a cue if someone outside the rear windows were to peer between the gap where the rear seats folded down and the trunk itself).

-Sean
Click to expand...

I think you are right.... thus come summer time I'm gonna do the same thing and see how bad the heat damages a cue !!
 
i have always kept a cue in my car for 40 years from 110 degress to 40 below zero.

never had a well aged shaft warp. palmers, josh, balabuskas, etc.

but did break a few ivory joints or ferrels when hitting too soon after bringing in from the cold.
 
ChicagoRJ said:
Of course not, but it's still fun :) Plus, if a Players won't warp due to cold, I'm not guessing my Carmeli will not....

I might up the ante after this test and try something higher end ?? I do have a TNT SP I don't play with anymore..... good cue, good quality... maybe will see if she is up for the test.

Yeah, I've been sick for almost a week now, and I'm getting bored :)
Click to expand...

Your Carmeli won't warp...he cores all his cues, ...again, warping would be the least of my concerns.
 
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