Ebony

[Rivhardo]

I recently purchased a cue here on AZ with ebony points. I was looking at the ebony under a light and noticed what appeared to be permanent black marker within the points. Is it common to color in light spots or am I seeing something else? The outline of the marks were too atificial and inconsistant to be natural.

Thanks. By the way, the cue plays great and makes no difference to me, just curious.

 

[cuesmith]

Did Eddie Wheat make this cue? LOL, JK . He was known to do this regularly. I tried it once and it was so obvious that I sanded the marker off and ever tried that again. To answer your question, some cuemakers do this but most of us have long since figured out that it will cause more problems than it's worth. It won't hurt the playability of the cue, obviously, but it does say something about the maker. Unfortunately ebony often has some visible grain to it and often you can't even tell what you have until it's turned to the final size. This is why people try to darken the grain when their customer wants pure black ebony in their cue. They don't want to start over from scratch and often they've made a commitment to have the cue done by a certain date, so they try to make it look as good as possible and hope it's not noticeable but the fact of the matter is that if you can see it before you put the clear coat on it, it'll stand out like a sore thumb afterwards. The clear coat magnifies any imperfections ten fold! He would have been better off to use black aniline stain on a cue tip and very carefully blended it in. Markers are just so very obvious under clear coat.

 

[Rivhardo]

.

Thanks for you answer. It is my understanding he is relatively a new cue builder. In this case, it takes a certain angle to see it under the light, so it does not stick out really. Again, love the cue and it was a good deal.

Now I know what to look for.

 

[qbilder]

It's not necessarily a marker line. Many times a black line will form around a fine crack in the wood, while the tree is alive. It's not unlike a scab or scar. Lots of rosewoods & ebonies get these lines. I'm not saying this is what you got in your cue. I don't know. Just offering a possible alternative that is natural & means the builder didn't do anything shoddy. But like I said, I don't know what you have on your cue.

 

[Cue Crazy]

Yes I've seen the same thing in ebony and rosewoods. really stands out in some rosewoods. Maybe It's a result of the tree trying to heal Itself, I'm not really sure. It can also happen around pin holes that may be from some kind of wood eating insect, but point is I have seen what Eric mentioned.

We all strive to make the cleanest looking cue possible, but unfortunately not every cue comes out perfect, and at least for me, playability & solid construction are the most important things. I think a lot of us would be less then honest if we didn't admit to at least trying a marker or dyes to touch up a cue, so I can appreciate Sherm's honesty. Much like Him I once tried a marker to touch up a cue, and had the same results. No matter what I tried, It was obvious, and I was very dissatisfied with the results. Same as him I cut It out. Luckily I was able to do that because I tested It before final size. I think the result would have been worse then the original imperfection anyhow.

One thing I've noticed about a marker being used is often the spot can have a sort of purplish tint to It. Not all markers are pitch black, therefore It can stand out even in ebony.