Leather Wrap Leaching Dye

[Ron F]

A buddy of mine who I've been playing with lately picked up a new custom cue recently. Dark stains kept appearing on his shaft while playing. Even after cleaning it they would appear within an hour or so. Tonight we finally traced it to the black leather elephant ear-textured wrap. The dye in it was so fluid that it was coming off on his hands and being transferred onto his shaft. With a moist (not wet, not damp, moist) towel we rubbed the shaft down and the part of the white towel that came in contact with the wrap ended up completely black.

My buddy then asked the room owner to throw the shaft on his shaft lathe to clean it up and while gently touching the shaft with sand paper while it was turning the sand paper became loaded up with what looked like powder. Instead of wood fibers going off into the air they collected on the paper and in his hand until he had enough "powder" to fill about a thimble.

Any ideas why a leather wrap would give off so much dye? Is there a fix other than replacing the wrap?
Any idea why a maple shaft would give off what looks like baby powder while sanding it lightly?

Thanks,
Ron F

 

[Dave38]

A buddy of mine who I've been playing with lately picked up a new custom cue recently. Dark stains kept appearing on his shaft while playing. Even after cleaning it they would appear within an hour or so. Tonight we finally traced it to the black leather elephant ear-textured wrap. The dye in it was so fluid that it was coming off on his hands and being transferred onto his shaft. With a moist (not wet, not damp, moist) towel we rubbed the shaft down and the part of the white towel that came in contact with the wrap ended up completely black.

My buddy then asked the room owner to throw the shaft on his shaft lathe to clean it up and while gently touching the shaft with sand paper while it was turning the sand paper became loaded up with what looked like powder. Instead of wood fibers going off into the air they collected on the paper and in his hand until he had enough "powder" to fill about a thimble.

Any ideas why a leather wrap would give off so much dye? Is there a fix other than replacing the wrap?
Any idea why a maple shaft would give off what looks like baby powder while sanding it lightly?

Thanks,
Ron F

here is my opinion of what MAY be the issues...
The wrap may have been dyed after install to correct imperfections that occurred during the install of the wrap. If the wrap channel wasn't deep enough, he may have had to sand the wrap and re-dye to make it work. Depending on the dye used, like a waterbased one..., it can be a problem as any moisture can re-activate it. Sweat will do that, even just a little bit. Your friend should be happy that the builder evidently applied a good enough sealer to the shaft and therefore the dye used didn't get into the pores of the maple, as that could be really a b$#%H to remove. When you sand a maple shaft and get white dust, it just means a heavy coat of sealer usually was used. As long as the shaft feels fine to the owner... no problem, IMO. The wrap issue, you should ask your cuemaker what that is about, and a solution should happen. A wrap shouldn't leach dye.... no matter what.
Dave