If you assume a high qulity maple shaft,only maintained by occasional cleaning with damp cloth,drying vigorously,then burnishing with leather(never sanding),after say 25 yrs of playing with that shaft for 20 hrs per week would there be a noticable decrease in diameter?M.S.
Shaft wear
- Thread starter whiteoak
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Richie Ambrose, a road player from years ago, once told me that his shaft had gone from 13 mm to 11.5 mm strictly from playing. No sandpaper or abrasives. That's over several years of playing, I don't recall how many, but surely way less than 25. Now Richie wasn't known for his scholarship, but I imagine he was pretty knowledgeable about his own cue shaft.
Richie Ambrose, a road player from years ago, once told me that his shaft had gone from 13 mm to 11.5 mm strictly from playing. No sandpaper or abrasives. That's over several years of playing, I don't recall how many, but surely way less than 25. Now Richie wasn't known for his scholarship, but I imagine he was pretty knowledgeable about his own cue shaft.
BillPorter said:
I don't play every day now, and sometimes I go a couple of weeks without playing given work and travel, but I am going on around 14 years on exclusively 2 shafts. There were times I was shooting nearly every day quite a few hours, 20 hours + a week easily. I have lost nowhere near 1.5 mm. I am not saying it doesn't happen, just not my experience. When I was young and more stupid than I am now I would take one of those green pads to it that was way too abrasive. What change has happened over the years I attribute to that mostly.
25 years @ 20 hours a week is a long time. I bet there would be a measureable difference from start to finish, and in the end it might be noticeable playing with it, but it would be so gradual it would be hard to detect without sort of keeping tabs on it.
I have heard that it happens though, long time players with the same shaft for multiple decades that end up with a small diameter and have a patina who pretty much don't let anyone do anything to them other than change tip.
Kelly
kokopuffs said:
When wood becomes dry and stable and suitable for pool cues, it isn't really "dry". It has a moisture content that has reached an equilibrium with the environment. If the cue isn't sealed properly and exposed to some elements, or its environment changes (a cue shipping from one part of the world to another) and that equilibrium point in its new home is significantly different from the moisture content, the wood will shrink or expand. In a butt with different woods and phenolics and metal rings and whatever else is in the cue, you could have a real problem fast. A good quality shaft to start with, perhaps less of a problem if it doesn't outright warp.
Over the long term if a shafts existence in terms of its environment it is in and is played with doesn't change (or doesn't change much), there is little it can do regarding shrinking or expanding due to moisture change. Over the long haul it could actually expand if the owner moved several times and each time he moved he went to a "wetter" climate.
Edwin Reyes/Bandido is the expert on this subject I would think.
Kelly
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ShaneT58 said:
Potentially. If you have the shaft cleaned every time the tip is replaced by the guy replacing it, it would certainly wear down faster.
If the person replacing the tip stays off of the ferrule as much as possible, and ferrules aren't changed often (the two shafts I mentioned both have original ferrules) then there would not be much sanding of the end of the shaft.
There was a post some time back where this topic was discussed, and I think repairman might do things differently enough to have different results on a shaft over a long period of time.
Kelly
Dont forget chalk
Chalk is made of silicate - and works its way into the shaft - friction from this over years is like sandpaper. Will decrease the shaft.
Chris
Chalk is made of silicate - and works its way into the shaft - friction from this over years is like sandpaper. Will decrease the shaft.
Chris