Cue Care

arnhem44

Hi guys,just wondering if anyone had any idea how to clean a cue or if there was any product on the market for doing so without obviously damageing it.I've bought various cues over the years,heavy,light,stiff flexible and so on but I still tend to use the first cue I ever bought,over time the top section has become a little discoloured from chalk even though the cue was regulary cleaned with a soft cloth whenever used.Any help would be great.

zack01

That is a very common occurance with cues and has happened mine, even have a look at the house cues in your local snooker club and you will notice this, basically this is down to the accumulation of grime and dirt over the course of time.
When you buy a new cue these days you will find that the cue is varnished, this certainly does not help when you are playing and like me if your hand sweats a bit,this leads to the cue sticking in your bridge hand,i remember Ken Doherty called to our club a while back,he knows the owner pretty well so calls in from time to time, i asked him about this, he gave me some very fine sandpaper and had me sand the top of the cue where it runs in my bridge, this removed the varnish, now this helps so much because the top of the cue now runs very smoothly in my bridge, now this is were the discolouration comes in becuase the varnish is gone and the wood is open to the elements, basically to clean this is get a small towel just like you see the pros using, wet the corner of it and wrap the wet part around the top of the cue and clean, after this wrap the dry part and clean,not only will this clean your cue it will also help the cue run smoothly in your bridge.
Hope this helps it certainly sorted my cue.

celticfc

A cold damp towel does the job for me too, just make sure to only dampen below the furrule. Your tip wont like being wet.

There are also some special "linseed oil" type of products out there that you can rub into the timber to protect it and retain a smooth easy-to-glide surface, I've never used them myself though.

mickdw

A good cue shouldnt really have the same thick varnish finish on the bridge area as it would have on the rest of the cue.
Many cues ive bought have this thinner/smoother finish from the factory. In one case though I found a nice cue but it was varnished all the way up so I sanded it off, rubbed a couple of coats of sand&seal onto it and resanded it smooth. This gave it a nice slippy finish and is relatively easy to keep clean. It will get sticky from time to time but a quick rub up and down with a dry cloth will leave it perfect again. It actually gets better the more its used

arnhem44

cheers for the replies guys,I will give some of ye're advice a go and see how it goes,the cue was only semi varnished as mickdw mentioned,even though the cue was rubbed down on a regular basis the chalk residue still got into it.A damp cloth may do the trick.Thanks for the help.

Gumble01

http://dragoncues.co.uk/01-Mainpages/05-1-Tips.htm