Given that you are reading this guide on how to burnish a pool/snooker cue shaft in order to find a cheap way to burnish a cue shaft, I assume you are a pool enthusiast. You want to excel on table, therefore you want to make sure that your pool/snooker cue shaft remains in great shape.
So in this article, I’m going to share a brief guide on how you can do this in a neat way, without causing any damage to your cue shaft. I’ll also be sharing other relevant information regarding the burnishing of your shaft so that you know how much and when burnishing should be done, and why it’s used.
The process of burnishing a pool/snooker cue shaft I’m going to share is one of the best ways you can burnish/clean your cue shaft. I’m going to walk you through each step one by one, so you can burnish your shaft while reading these steps to avoid any inconvenience.
But make sure you have the required equipment that’d be required in this process.
Get these things before you are ready to go:
So, your first step is to sprinkle a little of the shaft cleaner/conditioner (liquid) on a damp cloth. Just a little bit of it, the cloth doesn’t need to be really wet with it. And then clean your shaft with this cloth.
Also clean up the ferrule with this cloth, and you can clean the tip with it as well – no problem at all.
Once you have cleaned it with the shaft cleaner, the shaft might feel a little rough.
So we’ll use Q SMOOTH Pool cue shaft Micro-Burnishing Film. They are an advanced system for smoothing and conditioning cue shaft.
They result in improved strokes, they give your shaft an incredibly smooth finish. The best bit is, they can fit in your wallet or even in your cue case.
You’ll see that there are four different colour grids available, green, yellow, blue and brown.
Now, we’ll clean the shaft with green, just like how you cleaned the shaft with damp cloth. Then do the same with the yellow, followed by blue and brown.
And once you are done, you’ll realize that your shaft is now slick and smooth.
Now, what’ll do is we’ll use the shaft conditioner, and this will seal the pour of the wood. You’ll put the conditioner on a dry cloth and then rub it over your shaft.
And now the last item we’ll use is the leather conditioning pad, rub it over your shaft and then we’re done.
This is arguably the most sophisticated and best way to make cue shaft more slick/slippery.
Giddy up, because we have some more ways to help you in burnishing your shaft, or in other words, making it more slick and slippery.
This trick is going to come handy if you are looking for a cheap way to burnish your shaft or wondering “how do I make my cue shaft smoother?”
Though this trick might sound amusing to you but it really works. Fold a hundred dollar bill in half and wrap it around your shaft. Then slide it (the bill) up and down. In this way, it’ll clean off the grime and give the shaft a slick and polished feel.
Another useful, but slightly risky way to do this is use brown paper for this purpose. But this should come at a last resort, if your shaft is particularly sticky and dirty. In a traditional way, you can rub it upside down on your shaft.
Stroke it gently, don’t go too hard with it. If you stroke hard you can reduce the diameter of your shaft.
Also, make sure that the paper does not touch the ivory ferrule that separates the wood shaft from cue tips because it can easily scratch it.
So, you may be asking what’s the difference between Dollar Bills vs. Brown Paper for Shaft Burnishing? Or which one is better?
The thing is, Dollar Bill technique is harmless. It doesn’t pose any threat to your shaft.
On the other hand, as mentioned above, Brown paper technique should come as a last resort. You can easily mess up the size of your diameter or leave scratches on your ferrule if you do anything wrong.
So our piece of advice is to use a proper cleaning kit, step by step guide is mentioned at the top – the very first method.
And if you want an alternative, go for dollar bill cleaning technique.
When your shaft requires burnishing, you’ll realize it by the feel of it. A shaft requires burnishing when oil and debris get trapped in the pores of a wooden shaft, they can make it sticky and thus, your play will be affected.
To prevent this stickiness, your shaft would require burnishing. By exposing your shaft to friction, in the methods mentioned above, the wood is exposed to friction and heats up and expands. Thus, the pores are closed.
A Common question asked by pool and snooker players frequently is “ is burnishing shafts bad?”
The answer is no. There is no problem with burnishing your shaft, in fact, you should do it to keep it clean and smooth.
However, as mentioned at the top, you must use an appropriate method to do it, and be gentle throughout the process.
