JC
Coos Cues
Scot Sherbine does exactly that and a damned fine job of it too.
Finishing the cue may be the end of me
- Thread starter JC
- Start date
JC
Coos Cues
We need someone here on the west coast. Calling Joey!!!
Frankly, electrostatic finish are crap. When you replace their linen, you have to apply wax before you tape cue because their finish easily lifts . it's true for McD too .
JC
Coos Cues
I would like to say thank you to all of you and especially to Canadian Cue who spent a good deal of his Saturday on the phone with me analyzing what I was doing and where I was going wrong. I turns out the vast majority of my problem was in prep.
Now I'm not pointing fingers but when I first started I bought some videos produced by a really smart guy from Florida and I have always been stuck on cradling my cues with sand paper because that's what I saw this guy do and he made it seem effortless. Hell he could even smoke while sanding a cue, right Bob?
As a result my cues have never been perfectly flat and no matter how much finish I put on it would often sand through. Sometimes not and eventually with enough tries they came out good. Never able to detect it with your hand but a straight edge doesn't lie.
Now I have been told to block sand before but it was never explained to my pea brain exactly how and why this makes all the difference. And exactly how to go about it. Again thank you Canadian Cue.
Maybe just luck but the very first one came out perfect on the very first try. I am extremely encouraged.
Now I'm not pointing fingers but when I first started I bought some videos produced by a really smart guy from Florida and I have always been stuck on cradling my cues with sand paper because that's what I saw this guy do and he made it seem effortless. Hell he could even smoke while sanding a cue, right Bob?
As a result my cues have never been perfectly flat and no matter how much finish I put on it would often sand through. Sometimes not and eventually with enough tries they came out good. Never able to detect it with your hand but a straight edge doesn't lie.
Now I have been told to block sand before but it was never explained to my pea brain exactly how and why this makes all the difference. And exactly how to go about it. Again thank you Canadian Cue.
Maybe just luck but the very first one came out perfect on the very first try. I am extremely encouraged.
I have been following and glad to hear that you are making forward progress. I have enjoyed your youtube videos as well. I will be looking forward to seeing one sharing what you have learned about the prep and finishing process 
I don’t know if this will help or not. On the rare occasion I finish a cue I make a pass, lightly sand then coat with epoxy. After a day or 2 I take another pass to cut away the excess epoxy then sand. Sometimes I need a second coat of epoxy but I found this gives me a very flat surface to spray over.
Damn, I thought that was a guarded secret .
If I remember correctly(which I doubt), I learned that from a Dieckman video...
Those are used on satin cues . Used on gun stock too. They do not shine like 2 coats of epoxy and 2 coats of auto clear .
I use either Aluminum angle section and round over the edges . I also have wooden ones made too. The wood ones I make to a wider than 90 deg, its around 115 deg or so . I just cut a 25 deg angle on the edge of the 16mm thick wood. Made from 30x16 for the piece with the angle and 40x16 the piece that the angle gets screwed to. The idea of the different angles is to make the handles round. It's kind of what a Sunnen external hone does. Either one can also be used with a flat top block. Some I stick the paper to them, when I am getting close to the finished size etc as the loose paper can cause some small waves etc if you are not careful with it. On my cork handle cues, they were all recut after the finish was placed onto them. And the finally sanded with the Vee bocks and in those days used the paper with the sticky back that I could get from a local hardware store. After the 1200 paper, I used cheese cloth and automotive polishes to get the nice gloss. Some where left with the 1200 paper in a 45 deg cross hatch finish, when a customer saw the pre finish and said I really like the look of that. It's different. I wet sand with a little bit of dish wash detergent to break the water surface tension. Makes a big difference in keeping the paper clean and than washes off the dust particles too. I did try a sponge in the bottom of the Vee, but that ended up being more of a pain than an advantage. Although I probable should have glued it into place. Hope this helps, Neil
