Hourglassed Shaft

jimmyco

NRA4Life
Silver Member
Hello,

I am very new to pool and recently purchased a used custom cue with two shafts. One shaft appears unplayed and measures 13 mm at the ferrule to the taper. It also has a sealer on it from joint collar to ferrule.

The other shaft, the one I have been playing, is sealed at the bottom three inches or so and glides smoothly through my bridge. It measures 13 mm at the ferrule, drops significantly immediately below the ferrule and bottoms out around 12.5 mm for 10 inches before tapering back up through the length of the shaft.

Is this beyond acceptable spec? I am too inexperienced to know if it affects my play as being a novice, I improve a little every outing.

Should this shaft be turned to 12.5 mm all the way to the tip?

Thank you for any advice on this matter.

Ps. The cue maker has since retired.
 

captainjko

Kirk
Silver Member
The smaller area below the ferrule is most likely from someone using sand paper to "smooth" the shaft instead of having it cleaned, sealed, and waxed.... This will happen if you do not know what you are doing....It being smaller will not hurt anything if you don't mind it..... Me personally, I would have it the same size from ferrule to about 12" or so, then taper back up to joint.....
 

str8eight

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Sounds like the shaft was originally at 12.5 but left the ferrule at 13 either do to lack of giving a shit or the customer wanted a standard 13 mm. Either way it's a lack of effort on their part.

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tsp&b

Well-known member
Silver Member
The smaller area below the ferrule is most likely from someone using sand paper to "smooth" the shaft instead of having it cleaned, sealed, and waxed.... This will happen if you do not know what you are doing....It being smaller will not hurt anything if you don't mind it..... Me personally, I would have it the same size from ferrule to about 12" or so, then taper back up to joint.....

captainkjo is most likely 100% correct!! good advice and good post. :thumbup:
 

str8eight

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hard to believe someone sanded nearly .020 to clean a shaft.

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jimmyco

NRA4Life
Silver Member
Upper shaft in question.

REyXJb.jpg


http://imageshack.com/a/img923/4377/REyXJb.jpg
 
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BarenbruggeCues

Unregistered User
Silver Member
Hello,

I am very new to pool and recently purchased a used custom cue with two shafts. One shaft appears unplayed and measures 13 mm at the ferrule to the taper. It also has a sealer on it from joint collar to ferrule.
Did you know this when you purchased the cue? If not, you have learned a lesson. If you did know this then it's a mute point.

The other shaft, the one I have been playing, is sealed at the bottom three inches or so and glides smoothly through my bridge. It measures 13 mm at the ferrule, drops significantly immediately below the ferrule and bottoms out around 12.5 mm for 10 inches before tapering back up through the length of the shaft.
Let me take a wild guess as to what may have happened.....someone who owned the cue previous to you had an "accident" with the shaft and because they didn't want to spend anymore $ on it than they had to, went to their own repair shop. They retrieved some varying degrees of grit and proceeded themselves to "repair" the dent (ding) , broken fibers of shaft wood until it was smooth again. Think about it......why else would the ferrule tip be 13 and then only 12.5 a few inches back. No cuemaker (that I know of and converse with) would ever design such an oddball.

Is this beyond acceptable spec? I am too inexperienced to know if it affects my play as being a novice, I improve a little every outing.
The spec is only acceptable to anyone who would accept it.

Should this shaft be turned to 12.5 mm all the way to the tip?
It's your shaft....you can certainly do what ever you prefer. Do you want a thinner than 13mm shaft to play with?

Thank you for any advice on this matter.

Ps. The cue maker has since retired.
Retired or not....the cuemaker IMO should not even be brought into this conversation because I very highly doubt he had anything to do with it's current condition.
JMO tho.....

I would suggest to you....Do some research, Find a qualified and trusted cue mechanic close to you. If you want anything done to your cue, talk to them about how to proceed.
Good luck and enjoy your game.
 
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Chopdoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hard to believe someone sanded nearly .020 to clean a shaft.

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I have a cue like that. Bought it dirt cheap. Had a 3M abrassive pad in the case. I think the guy rubbed it down with that every time he used it. I replaced the shaft but kept the old one as a novelty. I haven't measured it, but it is more extreme than .020 I am sure.


.
 

Chopdoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I would suggest to you....Do some research, Find a qualified and trusted cue mechanic close to you. If you want anything done to your cue, talk to them about how to proceed.
Good luck and enjoy your game.

I agree. Get it in their hands so they can do some measuring and figuring to see if it is salvageable.

.
 

jimmyco

NRA4Life
Silver Member
I would suggest to you....Do some research, Find a qualified and trusted cue mechanic close to you. If you want anything done to your cue, talk to them about how to proceed.
Good luck and enjoy your game.


Thank you for this advice.

No, I did not ask the pertinent questions before purchase.
Yes, I have learned a lesson.

I believe the home workshop scenario to be the most probable explanation, either repairing a ding or periodic "cleaning".

I assume to prefer a 12.5 mm shaft than what I have now.

The only reason mentioning the cue maker's retirement was to avoid recommendation of having him perform the repair. I am certain this shaft did not leave his shop in anything but absolute perfect condition.

Thanks again to all for taking time to respond.
 
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qbilder

slower than snails
Silver Member
I believe the home workshop scenario to be the most probable explanation, either repairing a ding or periodic "cleaning".

That's what the pic and your description shows. It's pretty common for guys to sand on their shafts. He may have been trying to make it thinner but found the ferrule to be much harder than the wood.
 

HawaiianEye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have seen many shafts like that where they have became hour-glassed over the years from constant use of the green scouring pad.

One of my favorite shafts was shaped that way a bit. When I had the cue refinished, I had them reduce it to get rid of the hour-glass and it didn't play as well, to me.
 

eihi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I would guess it was probably sanded as well, but I know my grandpa had a cue like that which wasn't sanded at all. He said it was a double taper. I looked on the ole internet and found this

"Besides a "gradual taper", our first kind of taper, or our second, delayed for a foot from the front of the cuestick, a third type of shaft has a "double" taper. These shafts narrow at first, starting a few inches behind the tip, then widen again, making the shaft thinnest near its middle.

The expert, who often uses a double taper, has the touch required for the most demanding shots. A light, thin shaft is helpful for delicate moves through the stroke. The actual weight of the shaft is changed.

The additional lathe work needed for a second taper may raise a cue's price. Novices should have no concerns about this type of ​shaft, if they choose to spend the extra money to buy one."


https://www.thoughtco.com/top-pool-cue-shaft-tapers-369052
 

whammo57

Kim Walker
Silver Member
I have seen several players that have a habit of rubbing their shaft with a scotch brite or a steel wool pad after every turn at the table............. their shafts do get "hourglassed" after a time............... they also get out of round............ I have made new shafts for 2 of these people and made them stop that habit.............. the rest are incouragable ........ LOL


Kim
 

captainjko

Kirk
Silver Member
Hard to believe someone sanded nearly .020 to clean a shaft.

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I was not saying "someone sanded .020 off to clean the shaft" in one cleaning.... I was saying that this happened over time.... Scotch pad is usually the culprit in this situation... Shaft feels a little sticky...... Whip out out the scotch pad.... Sand sand sand.... Now its better... Until next time....... Over several months or years, this is what you are left with....
 

scottjen26

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Completely agree with captainjko. I used to use a green scotch brite pad before I knew any better, thinking it was better than sandpaper. Usually very lightly, but if sticky sometimes firmer. Over a year or two I created a hourglass shape in my shaft about the same - 12.4 at the tip, 12.2 a little farther down, then back to normal and okay from there. Shaft still played fine but could cause some wall thinness issues with certain types of hollow LD shafts. But you'll know when that happens.

Can avoid this by sanding on one direction only and not double dipping when you change direction by the ferrule / tip. Or better yet, do what I do now and not use anything abrasive on the shaft... :)

Scott
 
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