Free Mason Pool Cue

Started another project no surprise there and if it is, get use to it, this happens a lot! I took this pool cue. (Warning if you are a diehard pool player and would never mess with a cue I suggest you don’t read any further. Know however I did not warp or damage the cue just changed the whole thing). I purchase my pool cues from Ozone Billiards. They have a website ozonebilliards.com and have a FANTASTIC customer service department.

This is a gift to my boyfriend (If you are reading this and you haven't received it yet STOP READING) whom is a Master Mason and talked to his fellow brothers to make sure I didn’t cross any symbolism or laws/rules. If you have an issue with Free Masons keep it to yourself this isn’t a debate or hate blog. This is simply a gift for someone I love.

Now I had to strip the finish off and unwrap the Irish linen wrap, continued sanding evenly to make sure the wood stain will set.  If you’ve never sanded before always sand with the grain never against it otherwise you will have a scratched finish look that you can’t fix without sanding deeper into the wood and would risk warping the cue. One of the easiest ways to strip the finish off of wood is by using paint thinner it takes the finish right off. Fair warning this has been one of the most difficult projects I have ever done. It was screw up after screw up making rookie mistakes but I am very happy with the end result. I did not take pictures of my mistakes do to the fact not only because I was ashamed of what it looked like but because I was in a slight scramble/panic to correct it.

I originally to painted the cue however after I did that, the cue no longer looked like wood but like a plastic cheap cue. I had to strip it a second time. Now when I originally painted it I let it dry for 12 hours without putting a primer on, so the wood absorbed some of the color even after I stripped it and some of the color remained even subdued. I wasn’t thinking clearly enough when I started because I knew I wanted the cue to be blue so my knee jerk reaction was to use paint because it’s my comfort zone but it wasn’t until I made my mistake did I remember there is a such thing as colored stain. The only problem is there wasn’t a blue stain that I liked. But I knew I could mix them. That’s what I ended up doing I mixed three stains YES THREE! Deep Ocean, Island Water and Onyx it was a 3:1 ratio of Island water to the others. The stains were water based. I painted details on top of the stain using oils and then a clear sealant on top of that. For the handgrip I used a bicycle handlebar grip. I painted the silver pinstripes and everything you see is hand done in one way or another. This involved a lot of masking to have straight lines and lots of freehand. Enough jabber here are the pics. Happy Anniversary Love November 11, 2012