Shaft warped.. ideas?

paksat

paksat

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So for the last 2 or so months I thought my eyes were going out on me. I would be doing warmup strokes and I would notice something was off in the stick.

At first I thought I just wasn't stroking it straight back and through.. but having dismissed that one I thought the lighting was creating some kind of illusion that I had just picked up on.

Well, I just discovered the problem a couple minutes ago. Putting the stick flat on the table and rolling it really slowly, i've noticed a hump developing. I never noticed it before because I was rolling it to fast to notice the warp.

So, is there anyway to get it out?
 
paksat said:
Well, I just discovered the problem a couple minutes ago. Putting the stick flat on the table and rolling it really slowly, i've noticed a hump developing. I never noticed it before because I was rolling it to fast to notice the warp.

So, is there anyway to get it out?
Click to expand...

You could take/send it to a cue maker who might be able to correct it. If it's begun to seriously bow already, I doubt there is anything that can be done. Probably time for a new shaft. What kind of cue is it?
 
warped shaft

Try cleaning your shaft real well with lighter fluid. That will leave it with no finish on it. then take a real hot wash rag and lay your shaft with the high side up. Fold the wash rag into a long narrow piece and lay it on the top of the shaft. This has worked for me on several occasions.
Percy
 
High side up...then wet the wood fibers on the high side? Wouldnt that cause the warp to increase? I would think better to wet the wood on the low side, but what do I know :-)

The wood boards on my deck cup up. Isnt that due to dry on top..wet on bottom? I would think same applies to cue shaft wood.
 
Some dude at the pool just suggested to me this and i'm trying it now.

I'm taking a clothes hanger and hanging it from the tip so all the weight is pulling it straight. He said that everytime you take a shower at night to go in there and let the steam/heat soak in. Then take it outside and let it hang in the cold and it should naturally straighten back out the same way it warped.

We'll see.. i'll report results in a week.
 
Wood has a memory and even if you get it to straighten out, chances of it staying that way for long are slim. If the tip isn't leaving the table and it doesn't affect play, don't fret too much. Go to Unique Products.
http://www.uniqueinc.com/inc/sdetail/855
Shaft fixture.
You could steam the shaft and do this to it. Even with this, its a crapshoot. If you don't measure properly, you might get it warp the other way.
But, its a neat little fixture and if it works let me know and I'll buy one too.
 
old threads

There have been some threads concerning straightening warped shafts and there were some links to a how-to or several how-tos. Seems like all techniques gave mixed results. What you need to be very careful about is not warping the stick again in a different direction. Once a stick has a compound warp it is indeed kindling in my opinion.

My first choice if the warp isn't bad is to simply put a tiny mark where you can see it but it isn't an irritation and index your cue so the bow is always up and down. One of the big secrets of playing with a house cue gambling in the seventies and eighties was indexing the cues since straight ones were rarer than hen's teeth.

There are two reasons that cues warp, stress and stress relief. Which causes your cue to warp is very important. If it was induced stress, left it in the car trunk or with the sun frying it in the car for hours or left it resting at an angle without support and it warped, then straightening it can be a long term, even permanent fix. However if the warp is due to stress relief, there were hidden stresses in the wood when the cue was made and these have pulled the wood into a more relaxed position, then the cue will have a tendency to want to rewarp every time you straighten it. A close examination, knowing what has been going on when the cue warped, and an educated guess are the only ways to decide what caused the warp.

I will look to see if I have anything bookmarked that might help you. I have hundreds of nested bookmarks so it may take awhile. This computer is fairly new but some bookmarks were moved so it is worth a look.

Hu
 
also check humidity in your room or the room you keep your cues in. Basements humidity gets quite low in the fall and winter seasons.

In my experience, if my room gets to a humidity of 20% to 25%. Then I notice shafts usually start to warp. I try to keep my humidity in my room anywhere from 37% to 45%. If your room is too low get a humidifier to bring it back up, and it might take a week or so, but the wobble might just come out.

I think you might be able to get a cue hanger from Muellers... they will aid in getting the warp out by using is own weight to staighten the shaft.
This and a humidifier should do the trick... over a week or so, depending on how back the warp is. If it's a decent shaft it should come out...

good luck and I hope this helps
 
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