Purpleheart shaft

W

weegee3

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
First attempt at a purpleheart shaft and everything going as normal until I decided to seal the shaft with a couple of coats of thin cyno.
Now I'm sanding it down and find a gazillion little white straks in the wood.
Try the air hose on it and additional sanding but they are still there.
Before I continue sanding and blowint dust around further, I thought I'd ask if this is familiar to everybody or anybody?
Did I screw up with the sealing? Do I keep sanding?
Your council would be apprciated
Weegee
 
are you finishing the shaft or trying to seal it?

I would get some of hightowers shaft sealer. It works great, much easier to use than CA

Possibly try a very lightly dampened paper towel to see if the white specks come off. If they do its just CA dust thats in the pores. you can even sand with like 2000 grit and then use carnubba wax and see if that helps.

If those dont work just sand further unless you are at final size already
 
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If you want to fill the pores with super glue that is fine. What probably went wrong is you did not completely fill the pores before sanding. Half filling the pores and sanding the surface super glue down into the pores just filled them the rest of the up with dust instead of clear superglue. In the future put enough on it to fill them completely up before sanding.
 
Bingo!
As usual, you guys make my complex problems go away with simple solutions.
Yes, a quick rubdown with some mineral spirits cleaned it up nicely.
It's the dark wood that threw me off, Maple does not show the pores that are unfilled.
It looks good now and I'm leaving it alone. A little wax and it will be ready to show off.
Thanks
 
Hi,

I just did a PH shaft for a friend and here is what works for me:

Taper

Seal with heavy coat of Shellack so it sucks in 100%

Sand on lathe with a full sheet 220 non clog paper until 90 percent of shinny spots go away.

Put cue in your lap and sand with 320 non clog north and south blowing with 100 psi air to get the 10% shinny spot that are left.

Then step sand up to 1500 with air on the lathe.

Keep your paper clean by blowing it off with air a lot.

Burnish with leather then wax or seal the way you wish to finish. No white spot in the grain.


JMO,

Rick
 
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Finishing ph shafts

Finishing PH shafts is a little different than finishing maple ones. I sell a
fair amount of cues with PH shafts and over the years this is the procedure I have settled on:
1. Sand shaft with 220/320 longwise. Clean with compressed air.
2. WIPE on a coat of thin CA applying longwise. Use blue paper shop towels and cut into 2" wide strips. Apply a few drops of CA to the towel and just wipe the shaft with the lathe OFF. 3 or 4 drops will do for the entire shaft.
3. Sand longwise with 320 and blow off with air. Repeat step 2
4. Repeat step 3. Sand longwise with 320/400. Blow off with comp air.
Shaft should now be smooth. If not repeat step 4. Once shaft is perfectly
smooth finish off as you would a maple shaft. Final result will be a glass smooth shaft.
 
scdiveteam said:
Hi,

I just did a PH shaft for a friend and here is what works for me:

Taper

Seal with heavy coat of Shellack so it sucks in 100%

Sand on lathe with a full sheet 220 non clog paper until 90 percent of shinny spots go away.

Put cue in your lap and sand with 320 non clog north and south blowing with 100 psi air to get the 10% shinny spot that are left.

Then step sand up to 1500 with air on the lathe.

Keep your paper clean by blowing it off with air a lot.

Burnish with leather then wax or seal the way you wish to finish. No white spot in the grain.


JMO,

Rick
Click to expand...

I always used a few coats of Deft lacquer based sanding sealer and got a smooth finish.

I recently tried the clear bulls eye shellac and it finishes shafts like silk....

Thanks Rick

Kim
 
I'm glad I looked at this post. I have yet to use PH for a shaft, but the finishing options were eye opening. I just used Wood Juice. I'll have to try the Bullseye Shellac on a shaft. :)
 
I have some ash shafts that I was going to use for break cue shafts. Since this is also a porous wood should I use the same processes listed above for sealing and finishing? Thx The Driz
 
TheDriz said:
I have some ash shafts that I was going to use for break cue shafts. Since this is also a porous wood should I use the same processes listed above for sealing and finishing? Thx The Driz
Click to expand...

I haven't made an ash shaft but there is no reason shellack should not work the same as it does on maple or PH. Try it.

Kim
 
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