For sweaty palms, which cue wrap style?

Pete

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Please read the thread?

Should anyone bother to reply, given the fact you are showing you aren't reading?

"I know leather isn't for me since it will mush and look like a dead snake in a few weeks.

So either it's linen wrap or wrapless, but I can't determine which one will be the best option for a guy who sweats in the palm a lot.

My style of playing is that I hold the cue butt firm, kind of tightly when I shoot.

I am going to order a meucci and it got the option to have it coated = wrapless. Or just request a linen wrap instead, so I need help."

I'm sorry that I somehow offended you by my adding a question to this.

I did read this but was asking about an option not mentioned, figuring some of the experts (perhaps like you sir) might know about it (I believe Cork is also a "type" or wrap for cues I'd heard).

Your response reminds me of one by Mr. Lufrigno (or whatever his name screenname is)...
 

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
"I know leather isn't for me since it will mush and look like a dead snake in a few weeks.

So either it's linen wrap or wrapless, but I can't determine which one will be the best option for a guy who sweats in the palm a lot.

My style of playing is that I hold the cue butt firm, kind of tightly when I shoot.

I am going to order a meucci and it got the option to have it coated = wrapless. Or just request a linen wrap instead, so I need help."

I'm sorry that I somehow offended you by my adding a question to this.

I did read this but was asking about an option not mentioned, figuring some of the experts (perhaps like you sir) might know about it (I believe Cork is also a "type" or wrap for cues I'd heard).

Your response reminds me of one by Mr. Lufrigno (or whatever his name screenname is)...

Cork was mentioned more than once though, prior to your question about it.

No worries though. Not like any animals were harmed in the making...

But you did liken me to Lou F. (Life could be worse, there too).
 

Matt_24

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Whatever cue you like....wrap a layer of blue painter's (masking) tape over the wrap. Seriously.

You'll thank me later. You're welcome.
 

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
"I know leather isn't for me since it will mush and look like a dead snake in a few weeks.

So either it's linen wrap or wrapless, but I can't determine which one will be the best option for a guy who sweats in the palm a lot.

My style of playing is that I hold the cue butt firm, kind of tightly when I shoot.

I am going to order a meucci and it got the option to have it coated = wrapless. Or just request a linen wrap instead, so I need help."

I'm sorry that I somehow offended you by my adding a question to this.

I did read this but was asking about an option not mentioned, figuring some of the experts (perhaps like you sir) might know about it (I believe Cork is also a "type" or wrap for cues I'd heard).

Your response reminds me of one by Mr. Lufrigno (or whatever his name screenname is)...


Often imitated, never duplicated.

Lou Figueroa
burp
 

asbani

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Whatever cue you like....wrap a layer of blue painter's (masking) tape over the wrap. Seriously.



You'll thank me later. You're welcome.



Funny you say that, I know a friend of mine who uses a Meucci too. He uses a black tape on the wrap area and just tapes round and round for the whole wrap section, he likes it a lot.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Ghosst

Broom Handle Mafia
Silver Member
Earl is a fan of tennis grip tape. Electrical too.

In fact, I think I recall Shane having an electrical tape grip...
 

slide13

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have fairly sweaty hands and always thought I was a linen wrap only guy on my playing cue. But, I came across a cue I couldn't pass up and it had a pebble texture leather wrap on it and I've been shocked at how good it is for me. It's been my main playing cue for a couple years now and the leather wrap has held up perfectly and I've grown to love it. I had tried smooth leather previously and wasn't a fan, but the textured leather feels much better and doesn't get the clammy feeling I had with smooth leather.

If not leather, then it's still linen for me. I like wrapless for a break cue but I prefer a wrap of some sort on my playing cue.
 

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Elephant ear wrap is the nuts -- and I have it on both my playing cues.

Ernie told me," It wears like iron."

Lou Figueroa
 

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So, since the guy is interested in a Meucci, here's a story from the past, some will remember it but the newcomers will not.

#####
A recent thread about Meucci cues got me thinking about my Meucci, as well as a couple of other special cues I’ve had pass through my hands over the years. Somehow, it all seems like just yesterday…

(insert flashback music)

I was living in San Francisco, my home town, in the late 70’s, graduating from college by the thinnest of margins (having majored in pool), and killing time waiting for the USAF to finally put me on active duty. I’d been commission a 2nd Lieutenant, but there were so many guys in the pipeline they told me to get lost for a couple of years until the backlog cleared and I could come on active duty.

So, I was working the swing shift at Wells Fargo headquarters in downtown SF and playing a lot of pool when all of us at the pool hall started to notice the sporadic appearances of these funny looking pool cues everywhere. They all had a lot of plastic inlays and skinny shafts. BUT the thing that really got us all salivating were the countless reports of how much spin you could get on the ball with a Meucci. (Pool room scholars of the time would spend endless hours in Talmudic-like debates about the proper pronunciation. “It’s ‘May-oo-chee;’” “No, ‘Mew-chee;’” “”I think it’s ‘Moo-key.’” And so it went.) Regardless, we all recognized that no matter what you called them, these pool cues really spun the rock in a way no other pool cue of the era could.

Then one day a pile of Meucci brochures appeared at the pool hall desk and we were all *really* hooked. They were 8x 10 color brochures that folded open. The cover was a heroic George Washington crossing the Delaware, standing in a row boat with, incredibly, a Meucci in hand.

I took a couple of brochures home and didn’t see anything that I really liked. Most of the cues where either too plain or too gaudy for my traditional sense of pool cue aesthetics. So I pulled out one of my X-Acto knives and actually glued together a ring here, a butt there, and a wrap from that one, until I had what was, in my mind, the perfect Meucci. I called the number on the brochure and, surprisingly, somewhere down in Olive Branch, Mississippi, Bob Meucci himself answered the phone. I told Bob what I wanted, asked for two shafts, and about $300 and a few weeks later, it was in my hands.

Right off the bat, I hated the shinny sealed wrap. The wrap itself was a traditional white-with-flecks, but coated with almost the same finish that was on the butt itself. Thinking that maybe, just maybe, it was some sort of “protective wax” I took a wet paper towel to it. Big mistake. The coating was indeed water soluble but my paper towel and hands immediately started turning purple. Why purple, I have no idea -- the wrap, after all, was white -- but purple it was and though it eventually came off, it was at the expense of raising the threads of the underlying wrap and a few stains that looked I’d been playing while eating jam (don’t go there).

The Air Force finally granted me asylum and off I went to Great Falls, Montana. Like I said, this was all late 70’s. At about the same time I was to own a Gina, a McDermott (made by Jim McDermott), a Richard Black, and a $25 Viking which played a memorable role when I entered my first Montana State 8Ball Tournament.

Back then I was lucky enough to win a qualifier for the National 8ball Championship, held that year in Dayton, OH. At that tournament, every player was given a free Viking cue. As I recall, it was a merry widow style cue and had a clear plastic sleeve in the butt underneath which said something like "National 8ball Tournament" in gold on black. I came home and threw it in my closet.

A few months later I'm playing in the State Tournament. This is a big deal up North because basically every bar up there has two million teams playing 8ball all winter and so there are several hundred players playing in a hotel in downtown Great Falls. My tip had come off my playing cue a few days before and I was concerned the re-glue job might not take, so, just as a back up, I pull the freebie cue out of the closet.

Right off the bat, my first match, I could tell I wasn't playing well. (Yes, the tip was glued on just fine.) After a few shots, out of pure desperation, I pull out the freebie cue.

Suddenly, everything was right with the world. I couldn't believe the difference. Everything looked right when I got down on the shot. Everything worked right when I pulled the trigger. A little while later, I switch back to my regular cue, a very nice, expensive job, to see how it felt by comparison and immediately, after just a couple of shots, I can tell that it's not right. So I go back to the $25 special. To make a long story short, I end up in the finals, go hill-hill, play a safe on Jack Larson’s last ball and lose on what may have been one of the greatest kick shots anyone has ever played on me. If not for that cue, I probably would have gone two and out.

So back to the Meucci: After my failed experiment with the wrap I played intermittently with the Meucci until on one visit to San Francisco to see family, I take it to Whitehead and Zimmerman, the main pool table and cue distributor in the city. It was a great old musty place down on Howard Street in the downtown area. I think it was Earl Whitehead that I showed the Meucci to and asked if he could re-wrap it with black Irish linen. He said, “I don’t have any black Irish linen in stock but I can do it in black nylon.” So I say, “OK” and a couple of days later it was ready and Meucci, wife, and I drive back to Montana.

At the time I was, pretty much like today: an aspiring player. As a 9ball player I was capable, with perfect alignment of the stars, of running a couple of racks. And so I entered a 9ball tournament at The Corner Pocket in Missoula, one weekend in 1981 -- the last year of my four year tour of the Northern Tier. And, for whatever reason, I decided that my newly nylon re-wrapped Meucci would be my weapon of choice.

It was a pretty big field, with guys like Mike Chewakin and Panama Ritchie leading the pack. I found out later that two of the guys from Great Falls, Parks and Tim Nelson -- part owner of TJ’s, my home room in Great Falls -- bought me, not too surprisingly, on the cheap in the Calcutta, all the big established names driving the total side purse up into several thousands of dollars.

And we began to play.

You know, we all talk about the Indian or the arrow thing, but I can honestly tell you that sometimes, without question, and with zero doubt: it is the arrow.

I am running out from everywhere with the Meucci. My safety play is stellar. I am thinning balls by the thinnest of margins, sending whitey to the end rail and gluing it to the other consistently leaving my opponents 9’ away. One after another they drop by significant margins. Mike “Chewy” Chewakin is so incensed at the beating he is taking at my hands that he makes a scene and Parks and Tim have to pull me away from the table, urging me, “Don’t let him get under your skin.” (As I continued to go deeper into the tournament, Parks and Tim were to get increasingly drunk, whooping it up as they calculated the exponential return on their $20 calcutta investment). Next, I demolish Panama Ritchie in the semi-finals. It was so ridiculous that at one point Ritchie turns to the crowd and disgustedly tells them, “I’ve beaten champions all over the country and here I am losing to this kid.”

So let me just say this, because I don’t think I’ve adequately conveyed at what level I’m playing at that day in early 1981 with the Meucci: I am not only playing run out pool, I am in mortal dead punch. I am walking up to the table and casually drawing the ball back to the rail with reverse spin and popping back out two rails for perfect position; I am over spinning the cue ball off the end rail bending it to go cross table to slip under an object ball and come out perfect on my next target; I am playing caroms and tickies to make 9balls sitting near pockets disappear. There is not a cross-side bank that I am not drilling. It is completely and totally ridiculous and I lose in the finals to a fantastic black player whose name escapes me, and he wins, but just barely. Parks and Tim can barely stand. They are drunk as skunks and are hooting and hollering and laughing their asses off at the thousands they’ve won with their $20 dark horse bet.

After the tournament, a guy who was a local cue maker comes up to ask me about the Meucci. We talk and I tell him about the wrap and how Whitehead and Zimmerman only had black nylon in stock and he says, “Well, I can re-wrap it for you with black Irish linen if you want.” And I say, “Sure” and give him the cue. A week later it is my hands and, as advertised, is beautifully wrapped with black Irish linen.

And, I never play 9ball again as well as I did that weekend with the Meucci wrapped with nylon. Ever.

Nowadays, the Meucci sits at the bottom of my closet in its brown Fellini case. I haven’t played with it in years. But every once in a while, like now, I think about it and consider having it re-wrapped in black nylon.
#####

Lou Figueroa
 

ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I know leather isn't for me since it will mush and look like a dead snake in a few weeks.

So either it's linen wrap or wrapless, but I can't determine which one will be the best option for a guy who sweats in the palm a lot.

My style of playing is that I hold the cue butt firm, kind of tightly when I shoot.

I am going to order a meucci and it got the option to have it coated = wrapless. Or just request a linen wrap instead, so I need help.
Linen will provide you a far better grip for your sweaty hand issues, but will also break down quick and need to be re-wrapped regularly, depending on how much you play and how much you sweat. A wrapless will require no maintenance ever.
 

L I F D 1

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Rosin Bags are available at any sports store.
The spray is new to me, don't know anything about it.
 

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Chicken Feather

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Oil rubbed is my favorite too, but current lacquers are nice, given their refinement over the years. Thin, light and really pop the color changes under them

Do you treat the oil rubbed finish every so often? If so, with something like walnut oil or carnauba wax?
 

jimmyco

NRA4Life
Silver Member
A friend of mine got Drysol from the doctor and hasn't had sweaty hands since. Said its the greatest thing ever.

Drysol works very well for controlling perspiration. A 35ml bottle will last months or even years. It contains aluminum chloride 20%, if that is a concern.

Been using it for close to 50 years. About once every 3 months or so. No problems...yet.
 

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Do you treat the oil rubbed finish every so often? If so, with something like walnut oil or carnauba wax?

I'd think it does need to be redone occasionally and obviously, frequency would vary with use characteristics.

I believe it is tung oil that is used.

Sorry to not have more qualified input, but you are getting this from a user...Yuknow?
https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=296749
I have used tung oil successfully on many shafts. A quality tung oil will leave a clear finish that is slick and very resistant to dirt, chalk and moisture. Tung oil, as most know, is most commonly used to treat teak trim on sailboats.

As for applying, be sure to clean and smooth the shaft, but do not burnish. Apply a very thin coat of tung oil (be sure it's pure tung oil and not something that includes polymers, say, tung oil plus polyurethane). Be sure to apply a thin coat. Too thick a coat will be must more difficult to rub off.

Allow the coating to dry at least a couple of hours, or better, overnight. Next, take a cotton rag and start rubbing. Tung oil is difficult to remove, so plan on expending some elbow grease.

But once you get the excess rubbed off, and polish the resulting finish, the shaft will become remarkably slick and the finish is very hard, very durable. The worst thing is, for a week or so, is the surface will be so hard and smooth, it will be slightly tacky until it get microscopically roughed up. I found using talc solved that pretty well.

The shaft will require minimal maintenence. All I've ever done since applying the finish is dampen a rag, wipe down the shaft, burnish and play. The shaft will be resistant to bluing.

I still have 4-5 shafts I have treated 20+ years ago and I've never done anything else to them. There is some yellowing, probably more than natural aging, but it's pretty slight and looks fine. It is not a strong yellow like linseed oil.

Be aware, tung oil in its liquid state is poisonous. Once it dries, that's not an issue.

I'm currently using Mike Gulyassy's "Shaft Freeze" for my new shafts. Mike lives close by, so it's easy for me to get him to treat my shafts. I would say Shaft Freeze does what tung oil does (clean, slick surface and protects the wood). I don't see much advantage one way or the other. But given that I am a lazy sort, it's worth $30 to pay Mike to do it.
 
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