Winter cue storage(In the trunk)

[chicagomike]

I'm ready to take the heat for this one, but here goes. Winter in Chicago can be brutal, but I insist on keeping my cue in the trunk of my car. It goes against everything I have ever been told as there are so many bad things that can happen, ie. warping, swelling, and overall damage.

I keep it in there because I work od hours and always want to have it available to play with. I don't have regualar pool room I can keep it at and never know when I'm gonna have time to play. After taking it from the trunk and into the pool room of choice I wait for the condensation to dry while continuously wiping it down. Eventually it dries out and everything seems fine.

As a testement to Ed Young cues it is still very straight and plays very well after everal years of this abuse. I am wondering if anyone here has any ideas on ways to store a cue in cold trunk while reducing the risk of causing it damage.:sorry:

 

[cowboyup200560]

I live in iowa so I know where you are coming from. I take mine in to work with me. The office has a place where I can keep them and noone but me knows they are there. I lock them in my bosses room as he gave me a key while I am on the off shift. (thank god my boss plays also)

 

[sygfrid]

You may want to wrap the case with insulators for extra protection.

Perhaps you want to try putting a bottle of water in your trunk and see if crystalizes. If it does, then the trunk may not be a safe place to keep it

 

[JimS]

On a cold day in Illinois a bottle of water in the trunk would freeze solid and break the bottle in a couple of hours. The cue is frozen through by the time it comes out of the trunk.

 

[Sev]

I know people up here in the North East that do the same thing.
Heat and cold should not make wood warp. Its generally either the release of stress in the wood or uneven evaporation of moisture. However what you should be cautious of is glue failure. Continual expansion and contraction of cue could stress the glue over time. Remember the internal temperature of the cue is going to be substantially lower than the external temperature for quite a while as wood has good insulating properties.
Keep an eye on your points, inlays and ring work, ferrules and joints. If your cue suddenly feels and or sounds different chances are there has been a failure somewhere.

 

[axejunkie]

Hope it continues work for you. I would worry about putting an Ed Young cue in my trunk whether it's hot or cold. Too many thieves out there. Keep that cue's profile low when you take it in the poolroom.

 

[mikepage]

I'm no cue expert, but I'll challenge anybody here on the cold thing ;-).

I live in Fargo, ND. I have on many many occasions walked into the pool hall with my cue that's been in my trunk all day at more than 10 below. And probably on at least a couple dozen occasions it's been colder than 20 below (Fahrenheit). I have never had a problem (though sometimes I wait a bit before screwing the cue together).

My real problem is the pool hall allowed smoking (until this year), and I have NEVER taken a jacket or coat in there. So it was a little rough when I didn't get a close parking space ;-).

Again I'm no cue expert, but my guess the risk is not so much warping as it is different materials contracting to different degrees putting strain on glue, etc. I suspect the real culprit is not temperature in either direction but uneven temperature, like if one side of the cue faces a heat source.

I think they're pretty resilient to uniform temperature changes.

I'm ready to take the heat for this one, but here goes. Winter in Chicago can be brutal, but I insist on keeping my cue in the trunk of my car. It goes against everything I have ever been told as there are so many bad things that can happen, ie. warping, swelling, and overall damage.

I keep it in there because I work od hours and always want to have it available to play with. I don't have regualar pool room I can keep it at and never know when I'm gonna have time to play. After taking it from the trunk and into the pool room of choice I wait for the condensation to dry while continuously wiping it down. Eventually it dries out and everything seems fine.

As a testement to Ed Young cues it is still very straight and plays very well after everal years of this abuse. I am wondering if anyone here has any ideas on ways to store a cue in cold trunk while reducing the risk of causing it damage.:sorry: