enhancing the wood grain on the butt of a cue

T

Travis Niklich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So the recent thread about linseed oil made me think about what to use to enhance the grain of wood namely birds eye and curly maple. I was wandering if anyone has tried linseed oil or tung oil as a way to enhance the look of the wood in a butt of the cue before putting on the auto clear coat that most of us use. Don't laugh but I heard from one old timer that they used to smear peanut butter on birds eye to make it pop I have never tried this but I guess it was for the peanut oil
 
I'm not a builder so take this with a grain of salt. I used to turn fancy reel seats for custom fishing rods and a coat or 2 of birchwood casey's truoil gunstock finish would make the wood pop. Not sure how/if it would react with your auto clear. I'm pretty sure truoil is derived from lineseed oil as a base. The truoil will darken a light colored wood a shade or 2...

Hope this helps.

Danny
 
Danny Ross said:
I'm not a builder so take this with a grain of salt. I used to turn fancy reel seats for custom fishing rods and a coat or 2 of birchwood casey's truoil gunstock finish would make the wood pop. Not sure how/if it would react with your auto clear. I'm pretty sure truoil is derived from lineseed oil as a base. The truoil will darken a light colored wood a shade or 2...

Hope this helps.

Danny
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Look up Sam Maloof's finish.

Kim
 
Travis Niklich said:
So the recent thread about linseed oil made me think about what to use to enhance the grain of wood namely birds eye and curly maple. I was wandering if anyone has tried linseed oil or tung oil as a way to enhance the look of the wood in a butt of the cue before putting on the auto clear coat that most of us use. Don't laugh but I heard from one old timer that they used to smear peanut butter on birds eye to make it pop I have never tried this but I guess it was for the peanut oil
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There is a chemical made just for making birdseye look a mile deep and I cannot remember the name of it. I was told Richard Black used it. Good luck geting him to tell you what it was.
 
I have tried it....doesn't work. I can't even get epoxy to grip to it right. I noticed it made cocobolo darker and brought out the red in it....well that led to a refinish on a cocobolo and maple cue. And it wrecks havoc on clear from what I saw. Maybe someone else has had better luck...I am a new cue maker and haven't been around as long as most of these guys. And I would love to know what chris hightower is talking about. That would be great to have around.
 
A wood cabinet/furniture/mantel/toy/whatever maker friend of mine layers his stains light to dark repeatedly to get serious depth. I can't remember if he uses water or oil based stains, but the results are very nice.
 
Travis Niklich said:
So the recent thread about linseed oil made me think about what to use to enhance the grain of wood namely birds eye and curly maple. I was wandering if anyone has tried linseed oil or tung oil as a way to enhance the look of the wood in a butt of the cue before putting on the auto clear coat that most of us use. Don't laugh but I heard from one old timer that they used to smear peanut butter on birds eye to make it pop I have never tried this but I guess it was for the peanut oil
Click to expand...



I have never used Linseed oil, but I do use an oil based product. I Watco Danish Oil Finish to enhance the wood grain in every cue I build. The danish oil comes in many different colors including neutral almost like a stain. I really like the way it enhances the woods grain, and I also like the way it will high light any sanding imperfections before finish is applied.

I doubt I will ever switch from using it, it will do anything and everything a cue maker would want it to do.

Take care
 
Potassiim dichromate will darken thew qwood but it won't do anything for increasing chatoyance. Using an oil first will enhance the
 
I have searched for the name of the chemical that gives birdseye a deep look, but cannot find it. If you want to stain your maple you can rub a coat of darker stain on and wipe it off pretty fast. The eyes and curl take more stain so they will take the dark color faster. Then go back with your lighter color stain. But for non stained we really need to figure out what that chemical is. One of the woodworking suppliers sold it for a short time in the late 80s.
 
I would love to give credit to the original poster of this post below, but I don't have who posted this originally.

"Potassium Permanganate (KMnO4) dissolved in water will "antique" maple beautifully. It is an oxidant that does to the maple sugars what cutting an apple does to the sugars in the apple -- only much, much faster (seconds). Don't be concerned with the vivid purple color of the solution -- it is NOT a dye, it is an oxidant. It will only leave carmel tones behind. You get the beautiful, natural colors of the wood, and it REALLY brings the grain out (particularly birdseyes), without clogging the figuration with dye. "

I have yet to try this myself, so proceed at your own risk.
 
Watco oil

I've used Watco Oil for 35 years or so, ever since my GF (an excellent woodworker) turned me on to it. I like it a lot. It really makes grain pop, dries faster than other oil based products I've tried, and it's bozo-proof. I've never tried the tinted varieties, but the neutral type has looked great on every type of wood I've tried it on.
One other thing I've tried on birds eye is applying stain, then sanding it off. The stain stays in the wood's figure after sanding. I got the idea from a 25 year old Richard Black PJ I own which looks like black or charcoal stain was used, then sanded. I don't know whether Mr. Black used the technique (I'll guess he did) but whatever he did, it looks great, and I've had good success with it.
 
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The biggest problem with any stain, is that when you spray the clear over it & the sand, you will have a white spot, if you sand through the finish. The white spot will resist taking stain a second time, because the wood's pores are now filled with the clearcoat...JER
 
Linseed

I use linseed oil thinned at like 4:1. It darkens the maple a little bit but really makes birdseye and curly pop. I wipe it on and off relatively quick. Then I wipe it down with thinner to get any excess oil off. I haven't had any problems finishing.
 
BLACKHEARTCUES said:
The biggest problem with any stain, is that when you spray the clear over it & the sand, you will have a white spot, if you sand through the finish. The white spot will resist taking stain a second time, because the wood's pores are now filled with the clearcoat...JER
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Jer, I know exactly what you talking about. However, I have never had this problem with the Watco Danish oil finish. When using it if you sand through the finish it can be reapplied and it blends in like it never happened.

JIMO
 
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Hi,

This thread has become very bountiful with good info from respected names.

Cue Makers who share good info and experience make this forum a community of people who have the same goals.

Thanks,

Rick Geschrey
 
I used to use potassium permanganate on antiques and it does darken the wood but it has a tendency to fade. I have tried everything I read about and in the end my best suggestion for making figured maple grain stand out is Min-wax natural oil. Sand the cue perfectly and oil the maple generously. Wipe off the excess aftera few minutes then put the cue away for a few days. When it is dry, you can apply your topcoat including automotive urethanes. It has to be truly dry which you can tell with your nose. If you can't smell the Min-wax with your nose on the cue, it is dry.

Make sure to use the natural color, it is colorless and should you sand through the clear coat, it won't show.

Watco is good too but I prefer the min-wax.

If you have veneers or rings in the cue, you might want to test things first.
 
Some of the3 classic gun makers...those guys that make those beautiful Flint Lock Muzzle Loaders...us a chamical called Aquapherous (sp). It is a form of watered down acid that reacts slightly differently to the grains of the curly and birdseye maple. In the curly maple, the curl comes from the different desities in the grain. The acid (or stains for that matter) absorb more in the more opened grain. I believe they apply a little heat to make a better contrast between the two grains too. After they have reached the appearance they desire, they need to neutralize the acid with something else...maybe baking soda.

Some of those guns looks great and this might be a great process for cues as well I think. Just a thought.

L8R...Ken
 
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