Nothing disapointing about it, Your missing My point Mike, I Prefer not to do things that way. Though probably misleading, and probably should have been left out, That statement is kind of taken out of context, and if you read farther you would see I did recomend only wet sanding, and I prefer not to fill.

. the 320 i mentioned is also a wet variety, and is fine, just cuts a hair better. I don't do them like that, and don't suggest anyone else do it either. Have I ever filled a ferrule? The answer is quite simple- No I have not. I do however have people come to me that for what ever reason can't afford to have jobs done correctly, In most of those cases I have done stuff for free. Most of the time the costly and correct way. Their cues are probably worth a Wopping $9.99

, and sometimes they even just simply don't want to pay what it costs, because It's not worth It to them. To be honest, it probably would'nt to me either if I was them, because they may could buy a better cue for what the work would cost, so My point Is It depends on how He feels about it, because it is do-able as you & I well know. I don't know what Fred's sitution is, just trying to answer his question, without ribbing Him about it, because I'm sure he already knows where our ethics are on this by now. You know One day that guy with that $10 cue may step into a nicer one, Might even buy one from you, and apprietiate they fact that you went out of your to help them for free, even though you did'nt feel good about it, and they may apprietiate how you felt about not wanting to go with it the way you did as a favor, enough so, to trust you when done correctly on their good cue. I've learned the hard way, to charge correctly for the job, So I can do it correctly, garantee any issues that may come up, and make sure the customer gets the best work done on their cue, so to be honest it's just not in by best interest to do things Like that, regardless of the ethics involed, so I usually don't, but I have a soft side for people on ocassion, so Who am I to say what Fred's sitution is.
Would I do it, probably not. I'm sure if I did things that way, I would'nt have all the people trying to shove jobs My way, even though I'm not comfortable with them, and overly voice My concerns. If you only knew the amount of work I could be doing If I thought like that, and people I'm holding off, because I'm not ready to take some of them on, until I have certain things I still need to do it correctly. If You think that You and I are in disagreement here, then you would probably be the one that's incorrect, or sadly mistaken, but that's alright, I understand, and know You have to rib people alittle on such issues, so don't hold it against you

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I don't like putting anything out, that's not done the way I think it should be, was talked into once with alot of persistence, and would'nt ever do it again, Knowing what I know now, so believe Me, You & I feel the same on this issue. Lately I've been getting alot in, and have been replacing almost as many ferrules as tips. All on word of mouth from people I've done work for. The more of them I do, the more new people come seeking me out, or are introduced to me, and told to talk to me about they're cue work, instead of taking it to the others, so I like to think there's a good reason for that, because I've been hearing things are not going so good for everyone accross the country with the economy the way it is.
Now that you know where I stand, and made me explain myself LOL, I have'nt seen the ferrule in question, so have no idea how bad off it is, just trying to help answer the man's question. If he has to replace the ferrule anyhow, what's the harm in him learning the material, and how to work with it, before doing so? Many ferrules sand at different rates, and have their own pitfalls, best way to learn them is on what's basically scrap anyway. Just a thought.