Rebirth of a Pool Cue

One of Louie’s pool league acquaintances had a pool cue that had previously belonged to a deceased family member. It was broken, and otherwise, not in good shape at all, but it was the only thing that he had from that family member. It meant the world to him. He had a dream that one day, he would have this cue repaired, and play with it in the State Pool Tournament this coming April.

He asked Louie if he would do the restoration for him. Unfortunately, I suggested taking photos of the process too late, and Louie did not get a ‘before’ picture of the cue with the original ‘wrap’ on it. A ‘wrap’ is usually linen cord wrapped around the shaft, and that is where your hand grips the shaft. The wrap can also be a made of leather, but in most cases, it is linen. (Genuine Irish Linen wrap is an industry standard. The cross-wound thread pattern assures consistent strength when wrapping cue handles.)

The shaft somehow, was missing three inches of itself next to the ‘butt’ piece.

The upper end had some pretty ring work on either end of where the wrap goes. As you can see, all the wood on this cue is bare. Louie took the finish off all of the stick.

Here is the piece that Louie fabricated to recreate and replace the ring work that was missing. He will ‘turn’ it in his lathe, and cut it the proper thickness.

He also needed to make the new piece fit inside the shaft and the butt. Looking good!

The cue is back together. Time for stain.

Once the cue is stained, Louie tapes it all up, then takes it to his friend at the body shop (car), and he will spray a clear coat on it.

It’s back from the body shop. (The darker colored cue also shown was NOT part of this project. It was just taking up bench space.)

Louie then ‘wet sands’ the clear coat to make sure it is smooth as glass, and all imperfections are removed.

With the tape removed, you can see where the linen wrap will go.

Louie could not duplicate the wrap colors, so he chose what he would like, and here the cue is with it’s new linen wrap…

…and here is the other end. I think it looks beautiful.

Good job Louie! The owner of the cue also loved it!

Below is a video I found on youtube. This is NOT Louie in the video. It is someone unknown to me, but I thought I would include the video so you can see how a linen wrap is applied to a pool cue. Louie does not do this exactly like this guy does, but it is very similar. It’s pretty interesting if you want to take the time to watch it.