Recently I have come across a few very nice cues that suffered at the hands of inexperienced cue refinishers.
They exhibited some common problems:
Oversanding leaving depressions in inlays or plastic rings in the butt section,
Gluing together of parts that were never glued during original manufacturing, and glue oozing into areas it was not intended,
Substitution of non-original parts for originals.
This is just speculation on my part, but I suppose refinishers new to the trade don't get to practice on no name house cues or department store cues from the 1960's so they learn on cues with some value. Maybe some are just sloppy and don't see the errors in their methods.
It is my advice that owners learn the characteristics and nuances of the cue they are about to hand over for any kind of work, so they can ask questions about the refinisher's process and experience. What lines of cues have they refinished? What manufacturers cues do they have experience restoring? With whom did they apprentice? The money spent on improper work can easily devalue the cue more than the cost of the refinish job.
My area of interest is early Palmer cues and it is disappointing to hold what would be a nice cue that exhibits and beautiful finish and underneath is full of problems. If anyone out there has an inclination to glue the plastic butt sections together, please rethink this. You are creating a nightmare if that ever has to be taken apart in the future, not to mention the difficulty in sourcing vintage parts.
If you have a cue that has a definable market value, do you homework and only trust it in the hands of an experienced cuemaker. The best of the best refinishers are not expensive.
And before you even start asking who should refinish your cue, ask yourself this: "Does this cue NEED to be refinished?"
(I attached one picture of what was a Palmer Model L on which someone replaced the forearm.)
Jay
They exhibited some common problems:
Oversanding leaving depressions in inlays or plastic rings in the butt section,
Gluing together of parts that were never glued during original manufacturing, and glue oozing into areas it was not intended,
Substitution of non-original parts for originals.
This is just speculation on my part, but I suppose refinishers new to the trade don't get to practice on no name house cues or department store cues from the 1960's so they learn on cues with some value. Maybe some are just sloppy and don't see the errors in their methods.
It is my advice that owners learn the characteristics and nuances of the cue they are about to hand over for any kind of work, so they can ask questions about the refinisher's process and experience. What lines of cues have they refinished? What manufacturers cues do they have experience restoring? With whom did they apprentice? The money spent on improper work can easily devalue the cue more than the cost of the refinish job.
My area of interest is early Palmer cues and it is disappointing to hold what would be a nice cue that exhibits and beautiful finish and underneath is full of problems. If anyone out there has an inclination to glue the plastic butt sections together, please rethink this. You are creating a nightmare if that ever has to be taken apart in the future, not to mention the difficulty in sourcing vintage parts.
If you have a cue that has a definable market value, do you homework and only trust it in the hands of an experienced cuemaker. The best of the best refinishers are not expensive.
And before you even start asking who should refinish your cue, ask yourself this: "Does this cue NEED to be refinished?"
(I attached one picture of what was a Palmer Model L on which someone replaced the forearm.)
Jay
