Yeah I avoid It too. I've seen shafts people have used It on. It also makes the wood look funny. Makes It blotchy with dark and lighter areas. That stuff that's used to smooth up wood surfaces that slide does It too. I forget what It's called, but people use It on chest of drawers, cabinets and stuff that has to wood surfaces that slide together. It smooths a shaft up at first, but doesn't last.
My best playing surface is when I do them this way-After cleaning the chalk and dirt from the pores of a shaft & prepping any surface problems, I use a clear shelac mixture that's thinned out quite a bit to seal the pores off. Afterwards I burnish to heat It up, then I fine sand It & burnish again, Then I put just a few drops of zippo fluid on a paper towel and clean the shaft while burning It in again, the amount I'm talking about is so minimal that It almost evaporates from the paper towel before you can get It on the shaft. At the same time I'm cleaning I'm also burnishing as It completely evaporates. You can really feel the difference from that, but I folow up with some slipstic. I try to move fast, kind of buffing when I apply the stuff, because If you look at the ferrule from a certain angle, You can see how smooth It is by the reflection, much like You would look at the finish on a cue to see imperfections, and It definatly goes on smoother that way, as opposed to just wiping on, by running the aplicator pad up and down the cue. Anyway after that, I let It dry for a few minutes and buff the shaft out really well for one last time.
What I like About the slipstic, is that although It may have that greasy feeling fresh off the lathe, It doesn't rely on that to keep the shaft playing smooth, the greasy feeling goes away quickly, but the shaft still slides through the bridge with ease. Other products I've used in the past required retreatment after a short period of time to keep them smooth, and some actually attracted grime over time.
There's probably more to what I do in the details not all mentioned, but that is the basics of My method, and what works for me. I probably get more compliments on the playing surface then anything else I do. I can't think of one person that complained to Me personally when I've used this method. Except for 1 guy I know that said I made the shaft too slick when I cleaned It & put a new tip on his cue for Him.
He said It took a few weeks to wear off enough to where He had the amount of friction in the bridge that He peferred. I have since cut out the sliptic for Him, but still used the fluid to clean while doing the final buff, and He hasn't complained since.
Greg
