Is it possible to clean all of the dirt off of a shaft without sanding it?

J

justinb386

Banned
Does anyone know of a cheap way to make a well used shaft (that has that very dirty grain down into the shaft) look new again, without sanding it?

A cue maker in Nashville told me (years ago) that it is not possible to get all of the built in dirt removed, but I think there must be a way to do it.

I have a Universal Smart Shaft (by the way), and I think it is 11.75mm, so I do not want the mm to get any smaller by trying to sand the dirt out of it.

Thanks for any help.
 
justinb386 said:
Does anyone know of a cheap way to make a well used shaft (that has that very dirty grain down into the shaft) look new again, without sanding it?

A cue maker in Nashville told me (years ago) that it is not possible to get all of the built in dirt removed, but I think there must be a way to do it.

I have a Universal Smart Shaft (by the way), and I think it is 11.75mm, so I do not want the mm to get any smaller by trying to sand the dirt out of it.

Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

I use a mr. clean pad and alcohol thats atleast 80%. I also have a adapter so I can use a drill to really clean them.
 
justinb386 said:
Does anyone know of a cheap way to make a well used shaft (that has that very dirty grain down into the shaft) look new again, without sanding it?
Click to expand...

Magic Eraser and either 90% alcohol or acetone.

Should do the trick. But i would be very careful not to get it on any glued areas.
 
Thanks for your reply. I do not want to warp the shaft by putting too much alcohol on it, so exactly how do I apply the alcohol? Do I just put a very little bit of it on the mr. clean pad? I warped a shaft a couple years ago after I used this shaft cleaning kit that required the shaft to be rubbed down with water. I later learned that the shaft needed to be sealed (and I have no idea how to do that) after using the shaft cleaning kit that I used. It was some kind of bleaching method to clean the shaft, and I warped my shaft because I did not know how to use it right. My Universal Smart Shaft is very dirty (deep down dirt into the entire shaft taper), and it feels horrible. I really want to get it looking new, and feeling smooth. I never understood how players get their shafts so dirty. I guess it must be do to hundreds of hours of play without cleaning it. Thanks.

backplaying said:
I use a mr. clean pad and alcohol thats atleast 80%. I also have a adapter so I can use a drill to really clean them.
Click to expand...
 
You won't have to worry about the alcohol. It will evaporate much quicker than water will.

Cut your Magic Eraser into little squares so you get many cleanings from one pad. Put it over the end of the bottle and tip the bottle up until the pad is soaked liberally.

You can also use ammonia. A big bottle is cheap but it can sting your nose and eyes.

Acetone for the dirtiest of the dirty. Never use on a laminated shaft. Acetone will melt CA glue and everything else it touches. I always have a can on hand to unglue my clumsy fingers when I glue them together.

If your shaft has a finish on it for the first few inches, tape off the finish well and don't come close to it with the Acetone.

Be very careful of the joint collars and ferrule material as the Acetone can and will melt many materials.

Finish off those areas, finish, joint collar and ferrule with alcohol and ME.

Other than that, it is great stuff is you're careful with it. I can make the dirtiest shaft look like you just bought it.

If you are going to use sandpaper, or any harsh cleaner like Acetone on your shaft and you bare the wood, it is recommended that you reseal the wood after with a sanding sealer or any of the shaft sealers that are available. Chris Hightower and Joe Baringer both sell great products for sealing a shaft. A bottle will last a person almost a lifetime unless you are a repairman.

After the sealer, use a cue wax or a good quality car wax with carnuba in it to wax the shaft. Burnish with a piece of leather.
 
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There are various methods as already mentioned. Magic eraser is an abrasive, so it does remove material. I tried one recently on a ferrule and although not extremely impressed with it I know I will use one again in certain cases.

Cue repair guys can get such shafts looking darn near new actually, because they have practice and many tricks. I am very adverse to sanding shafts myself, I have just seen too many great shaft jobs done with no sanding.

Alcohol is a great solvent for the types of things that are making the shaft dirty. There are others.

I have a small bottle of cleaner that was marketed by McDermott in the 1980's. It's still half full and I have cleaned many shafts with it. I don't know what's in it but I suspect there is some kind of bleaching agent. It takes very little of it to clean up a shaft. On an old cue, with non-modern finish like varnish, it will remove the finish at the joint end so I have to be careful about that.

Your shaft is an engineered shaft. Laminated. You could screw up the glues used in it. If it's really that dirty I wouldn't mess with it. A good shaft cleaning is fairly cheap, so why not have a pro do it? If they say they are going to sand it then say "no thanks" and fins somebody else. I have personally never done any work on a laminated shaft.


I will also add that there is a school of thought that says not to mess with that patina. The patina on my JOSS shafts took 30 years to get and cannot be imitated artificially. They feel silky smooth, like a cheerleader's ass. When stroking them it's hard to believe they are wood, much less very hard wood. They actually feel silky soft. Don't mess with my patina.

I recently got a beautiful 1980 Huebler. Monster shooting cue. Great patina. I feel lucky that nobody tried to clean it up. The shaft feels like my old JOSS shafts. I actually thought of you when I got the Huebler. The price was almost a steal. The points are razor sharp and dead even. The cue is as original. After watching you try so many cues and hearing about what you are looking for I think this one would have made you stop dead in your tracks and say "holy shit!". But the shaft is dark with age and hand oils...not blue...dark. You might not like that. But I am 100% sure you would dig how it feels and shoots. I will never sell this cue.

Not everybody follows that kind of thinking and a lot of people want pristine nearly white shafts. They obsess over cleaning their shafts, sometimes weekly. Personally, I think a cue looks really nice like that...but to me that isn't a shooting cue...it's a cue for looking at.


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It will never look like a new cue, no matter what you do, but a played shaft has a bit of character to it anyway.
Take it to your friendly neighborhood cue repair person and have it professionally cleaned. They will use a specially formulated cue cleaner, and it will be lightly sanded while the shaft is turning on their lathe. What little change in the dimension of the shaft will not be seen, or noticed.
Chris Hightower, among others, sells a very good cleaner :smile:
 
To clean the shaft is fine but to get all the chalk out completely
defeats the purpose.The oils from your fingers plus some of the chalk acts as a sealant for the shaft and is actually good for the wood.

For alot of guys its about the visual appearance of the shaft being snow
white,but some of the best sealed shafts I've seen look real dirty but
smooth as a baby's butt.

The more somebody keeps cleaning and stripping the wood,the more
chances of moisture getting into the wood and causing damage is
much greater.
 
a towell damp with water is not enough? Always used this method.
Now I read people are worried about damaging the shaft. Can I damage the shaft using a towell damped with water?
 
What I have noticed using the damp, then using 1500 or higher sandpaper method is that over time the shaft diameter gets smaller.

I've used the magic eraser method also.

I had two maple shafts cleaned and sealed at the same time. One I used the two methods above and the other never been touched in terms of the two cleaning methods. Both had the same shaft diameter.

The one that has been cleaned is smaller and gets dirtier quicker than the one that's never been cleaned. The uncleaned one is as smooth as the cleaned one, maybe it's a little smoother. The uncleaned one I just wipe with a paper napkin now and then. I do use powder as needed.

The uncleaned one doesn't get the chalk color build up on it either. I'm also real careful about how I handle my cue.

Just my experiences, yours may vary
 
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Depends on what you call dirt. The chalk you put on your tip is silica and carborundum if it gets passed the finish you will never get it clean without turning. If you get “chalk” on your bridge hand or glove it acts as sandpaper and removes the finish near the joint.
 
Clean

PEROXIDE AND MR. CLEAN ERASER PEROXIDE CLEANS VERY GOOD AND EVAPORATES PRETTY FAST.:cool:
 
Magic clean pad damp with water. Or a rag damp with a little Qclean sprinkled on it:cool: I have used bob methods on 314 laminated shafts with great luck. Ps...I've gotten my 314 shaft extremely wet, washed with soap on a wet towel, and wiped it off and let it air dry...had no problems...wouldn't recommend tho, LOL
 
I will give this method a try. I also wish that the ferrule on my shaft was not a little bigger than the rest of the shaft. That is kind of annoying. Someone must have sanded the shaft in the past, so now the ferrule is a little bigger than the rest of the shaft (but just very slightly bigger). I mainly just want the shaft to feel smooth, and it feels very rough in its current condition. Thanks everyone for your replies.

Rico said:
PEROXIDE AND MR. CLEAN ERASER PEROXIDE CLEANS VERY GOOD AND EVAPORATES PRETTY FAST.:cool:
Click to expand...
 
The Qclean is what I used around 3 years ago on a Mike Durbin sneaky pete that I had, and I warped the hell out of that shaft after using the Qclean. I did not know that the shaft needed to be sealed (which I never knew how to do) after using the Qclean. I am not too bright, so I would really like to learn in very simple steps how to seal a shaft after using something like Qclean. Thanks for your help.

8onthebreak said:
Magic clean pad damp with water. Or a rag damp with a little Qclean sprinkled on it:cool: I have used bob methods on 314 laminated shafts with great luck. Ps...I've gotten my 314 shaft extremely wet, washed with soap on a wet towel, and wiped it off and let it air dry...had no problems...wouldn't recommend tho, LOL
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I have tried the wintergreen alcohol and it worked about like the regular, smells pretty good though. Everyone has their own way and the way they like their shaft to look and feel and personally, I like the well used version. A well used highly played shaft will get just as smooth if not more so than a newly cleaned one.
 
justinb386 said:
I will give this method a try. I also wish that the ferrule on my shaft was not a little bigger than the rest of the shaft. That is kind of annoying. Someone must have sanded the shaft in the past, so now the ferrule is a little bigger than the rest of the shaft (but just very slightly bigger). I mainly just want the shaft to feel smooth, and it feels very rough in its current condition. Thanks everyone for your replies.
Click to expand...

Have you burnished the shaft lately? If smooth is what you want burnishing may help achieve that.
 
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