How easy is refinish work?

L

luv1pocket

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was talking to a room owner and he was trying to tell me a refinish was not that difficult. I said just send it back to Mueller because I've done that before worked out well every time.
He said just hang cue up spin it and spray after original finish was taken down. I said what about clean room, making sure there are no drips and good ventilation. I told him without a clean room the cue will probably collect dust and it will be able to seen. He said just lightly sand off.
Has anyone done a quick refinish in their garage without the best equipment.
I say just pay extra have someone well qualified doing the work.
 
"I say just pay extra have someone well qualified doing the work. "

That would be my vote. I have done a lot of table recoverings due to someone thinking that they can do it without any experience....It all sounds easy when you read how to do it on the internet:wink:
Dave
 
Hi,

Applying a finish to a new cue and getting a perfect result is IMO one of the most difficult things to do in cue making and takes a very long time to develop the proper equipment, selection of materials and skill set experience to be satisfied. Once you are satisfied there is always room for improvement in many ways for years before reaching "Finish Nirvana". Wet sanding, buffing and polishing is where the rubber meets the road, not the spraying part.

Refinishing is usually more difficult because you must repair problems first and when your are done you should not be able to see those problem areas when the jobs is done.

If you have a cue that is worth something paying the money to have Ryan at Mueller do it is well worth it. If you have a cheap cue sometimes it is better to forget about it because it is not worth it.

Rick
 
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I wish I had a dollar for every person that has told me "how hard can it be?"
 
It really isn't that hard, so to speak.

But then, it's easy to stand on a mountain top too. What's hard is the climb to get there.

If you ask any experienced cue maker, builder,repairman what was the most difficult to learn to do well, most would say the finish. Most things in cue building are somewhat objective. You need to take of .010", so you dial in .010" and make a pass. Finish, however, is just not that way. You develop a "feel" for how much finish is going on. You develop a "feel" for how much you sanded off. You develop a "feel" for when your sandpaper is shot and is putting in more scratches than it's taking out. You develop a "feel" for how hard to sand it, how hard to buff it, and how long to do either.

All these little "feel" things have to all come together in a smooth, flat, even, consistent thickness, water glossy coat that is exactly the right size at the joint.


If you like your cue, send it to Ryan. I promise you he will do job worth double what he will charge you.
 
Finish work

I would agree with Rick's comment. I am a fairly new cue maker, and I've learned that producing a quality finish is much harder than most people could ever imagine.


scdiveteam said:
Hi,

Applying a finish to a new cue and getting a perfect result is IMO one of the most difficult things to do in cue making and takes a very long time to develop the proper equipment, selection of materials and skill set experience to be satisfied. Once you are satisfied there is always room for improvement in many ways for years before reaching "Finish Nirvana".

Refinishing is usually more difficult because you must repair problems first and when your are done you should not be able to see those problem areas when the jobs is done.

If you have a cue that is worth something paying the money to have Ryan at Mueller do it is well worth it. If you have a cheap cue sometimes it is better to forget about it because it is not worth it.

Rick
Click to expand...
 
Re-finishing can be a hassle depending on how old or new the finish on the cue is, how easily is it to remove? Is there a signature to contend with? Ive taken the wrap off of a cue only to see the crap done to the handle to cover mistakes. I did a refinish not long ago, a month maybe, the cue maker had built up .45 thousandths of finish because the shaft was cut to small ! The butt section was not a problem, the shaft I wanted to throw at somebody lol.

Moral is let a qualified repair/ cue builder do it, its not a sand and spray operation only.
 
Other things most people do not take into consideration;

-the finish may look fabulous when you get done but how does it look in a month? a year? 10 years?

-you may be able to get a nice finish on your cue BUT will your finish work on other cues? different substrates? adhere to metal? flex with temp changes?

-are you willing to take responsibility if it doesn't work out? There is risk involved any time you touch a cue.
 
Just a little something for the post

I just started building cues about a year ago. I have had some great Master builders help me out. But the only way your going to learn is really to mess up a few finishes and burn up some wood. My 1st cue took me 7 times to get the finish right and each time it got better and better. Dont worry about messing up and not getting it right at 1st every builder on here has made mistakes once or more times. But I would have to say if you have something you built and you are worried about messng it up? Send it out to someone who is the best it will cost you some money but at least you know that cue is safe.
But in the long run if you dont try you will never learn or get respect form other builders or your buyers when they find out you did not do all the work if you say you do.

Im a New build and I support this message!
 
This thread is not about finishing a cue you built but rather refinishing someone else's cue. There is a huge difference. :cool:
 
If you don't have a lathe and something to practice on you should never consider refinishing someones cue. Water based Urethane and Cue buff are fairly easy to use with minimal experience. But notice I said with minimal experience. In other words you need some experience to do any finish work. Finishing is one of the hardest things to master for most and refinishing is even harder. There are so many variables when refinishing. The materials you will be removing, was the cue stained, logo, decals etc... All of which can create a nightmare for you.
 
You have been given a lot of good advice.

I would simply sum it up as:

Finishing a newly made cue is difficult.

Refinishing any cue is more difficult than that and loaded with hidden gotchas!

My 2 cents,

Gary
 
GBCues said:
You have been given a lot of good advice.

I would simply sum it up as:

Finishing a newly made cue is difficult.

Refinishing any cue is more difficult than that and loaded with hidden gotchas!

My 2 cents,

Gary
Click to expand...

How true.....

I learned my lesson the hard way....

Now I turn down more than I do.

LOL

Kim
 
luv1pocket said:
I was talking to a room owner and he was trying to tell me a refinish was not that difficult.
.
Click to expand...

How many cues has the room owner refinished?

I spent many years refinishing cars and an OEM finisher for Peterbilt motors. I don't refinish cues. Just don't need the headache.

Not trying to talk you out of trying it for your self. I truly recommend trying out new things. Just use a junk cue to start with. I once had a production cue in my shop. It had a nice stained curly maple forearm. When I sanded of the finish the curly went with it. Just plain maple. The curly had been airbrushed on. That would have been hard to explain to a customer.

Larry
 
63Kcode said:
How many cues has the room owner refinished?

I spent many years refinishing cars and an OEM finisher for Peterbilt motors. I don't refinish cues. Just don't need the headache.

Not trying to talk you out of trying it for your self. I truly recommend trying out new things. Just use a junk cue to start with. I once had a production cue in my shop. It had a nice stained curly maple forearm. When I sanded of the finish the curly went with it. Just plain maple. The curly had been airbrushed on. That would have been hard to explain to a customer.

Larry
Click to expand...

I would have never thought about a trick like that. I cant think of anyway to tell either.

I have used 4 different methods so far before i settled on one that is a combination of a few. Getting finish flawless is not easy without lots of practice and to date i would say i'm still getting it down. I am currently happy with my results thanks to the help of other CMs.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2
 
He has been in the business of selling billiard supplies for about 30 years probably done some minor repairs and seen refinish work done several times. Don't think he ever did refinish work 100% himself.
I'm not giving a high end cue to anybody personally to refinish unless its the cue maker himself and someone who has been around at least 5+ years.
I would like to see him try a refinish and see how it comes out..on his own cues.


63Kcode said:
How many cues has the room owner refinished?

I spent many years refinishing cars and an OEM finisher for Peterbilt motors. I don't refinish cues. Just don't need the headache.

Not trying to talk you out of trying it for your self. I truly recommend trying out new things. Just use a junk cue to start with. I once had a production cue in my shop. It had a nice stained curly maple forearm. When I sanded of the finish the curly went with it. Just plain maple. The curly had been airbrushed on. That would have been hard to explain to a customer.

Larry
Click to expand...
 
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