great advice there. . i really appreciate you spending the time to give it. i couldn't agree more. im a feel player and i want to make cues that have that magic feel to them and hit. hopefully one day i can achieve that. lol
question about cutting handle tenons for A JOINT and butt sleeve
- Thread starter mrkdenton
- Start date
great advice there. . i really appreciate you spending the time to give it. i couldn't agree more. im a feel player and i want to make cues that have that magic feel to them and hit. hopefully one day i can achieve that. lol
f I'm doing handles, I do a lot, 100+. True between centers, Cutt the A tenon a few thousandths short and ..050" fat, cut the tail tenon a .100 over and a 1/4 inch short. Taper the handle, leaving excess at the bottom, hang them up and come back next year.
Btw, get yourself a 7" reach boring bar.
That way you can true up holes and create bigger holes if needed .
You don't have to have a straight dowel going up the forearm and handle .
Having a "stepped" dowel works great. You can glue dowels to the sleeves with the bigger part bottoming out in the sleeve. Make sure you have a few rubber tourniquets . I go through them quite a bit. Pull the dowels towards the bottomed hole and let it dry.
IMO they are more durable that way.
That way you can true up holes and create bigger holes if needed .
You don't have to have a straight dowel going up the forearm and handle .
Having a "stepped" dowel works great. You can glue dowels to the sleeves with the bigger part bottoming out in the sleeve. Make sure you have a few rubber tourniquets . I go through them quite a bit. Pull the dowels towards the bottomed hole and let it dry.
IMO they are more durable that way.
Obviously many ways to get the job done.
Slow and steady wins the race.
I will share this...Out of the several different ways I've built under wrap handles over the years, I've noticed considerably less to no movement during the build which in my mind equates to considerably less to no movement after the completed build when I started coring them.
I'm not going say that is the only reason but it's been a good choice for me.
When you change anything in your procedures it's best to only change one thing at a time and let that one thing make the decision for you if it was a good or bad one.
Unfortunately, some changes you make or don't make might not show up as a bad one till some years down the road.
Slow and steady wins the race.
I will share this...Out of the several different ways I've built under wrap handles over the years, I've noticed considerably less to no movement during the build which in my mind equates to considerably less to no movement after the completed build when I started coring them.
I'm not going say that is the only reason but it's been a good choice for me.
When you change anything in your procedures it's best to only change one thing at a time and let that one thing make the decision for you if it was a good or bad one.
Unfortunately, some changes you make or don't make might not show up as a bad one till some years down the road.
climate controlled vs not
I do not store any of my wood in a climate controlled room. In fact, I move shafts & cores from a warm place to a cold place constantly. From a cool, damp basement to a hot, dry attic and back. From a warm, moist shop to a freezing breezeway. And back.
Why store & process wood in a perfect environment when it will spend the rest of its active life in the real world? If my shafts or cores have any hidden tendency to warp, I want to FORCE them to warp. I would rather have them move in my shop than in a customer's home or case. Yes, I might cull a higher percentage of my wood but I have very few problems with warping farther down the road.
This flies in the face of the solid advice offered earlier but I've been doing it this way for years and am happy with my results. Keep in mind that I live in an area that has 4 seasons and no really extreme conditions. Your mileage may vary.
With that said, I treat my cores & handles exactly like I treat my shaft wood: rough it down to within a few mm of finish size, then take smaller, regular cuts while alternating the storage location between cuts. It's very satisfying & encouraging to find wood that remains straight despite the outside-the-box treatment.
I do not store any of my wood in a climate controlled room. In fact, I move shafts & cores from a warm place to a cold place constantly. From a cool, damp basement to a hot, dry attic and back. From a warm, moist shop to a freezing breezeway. And back.
Why store & process wood in a perfect environment when it will spend the rest of its active life in the real world? If my shafts or cores have any hidden tendency to warp, I want to FORCE them to warp. I would rather have them move in my shop than in a customer's home or case. Yes, I might cull a higher percentage of my wood but I have very few problems with warping farther down the road.
This flies in the face of the solid advice offered earlier but I've been doing it this way for years and am happy with my results. Keep in mind that I live in an area that has 4 seasons and no really extreme conditions. Your mileage may vary.
With that said, I treat my cores & handles exactly like I treat my shaft wood: rough it down to within a few mm of finish size, then take smaller, regular cuts while alternating the storage location between cuts. It's very satisfying & encouraging to find wood that remains straight despite the outside-the-box treatment.
Hey Bob. I once compared daily relative humidity swings by month across the US. I discovered that the MOST STABLE MONTH in Louisiana is WORSE than the MOST UNSTABLE MONTH in Pennsylvania. You once sent me a kiln dried birdseye maple round that you had for years. After a short time in my shop, one end checked. In some aspects, just being in sub tropical Louisiana provides that natural back and forth exposure. I agree with your sentiment, and it's just like you said, YMMV due to specific climate conditions.
I don't climate control the shop when I'm not in there (which is very often...very often), but I do when needed when I'm in the shop so I can be comfortable. For me, my warpage went down when I added a mini-split heat pump and was able to get away from space heaters in the winter.
<hates the cold>
Same thinking here.
If your woods don't survive 100 dry degrees at oversized state, it won't survive the real world.
Your mileage might vary. You definitely need a dehumidifier if you are in Florida. A humidifier if you are in Nevada.
But, keeping your woods in a room that is always at 75* and 45% isn't much of a test for your woods.
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Bob and Joey, I couldn't agree more with you two who have a billion times more experience than me. I once had a shaft move a little that I cut out and sent to a customer, only to replace within a year. I don't climate control mine either, and if wood doesn't move in my shop it doesn't ever seem to move, given I cut my wood only a few times a year and it seems to take me a long time to build a cue, much longer now with 2 kids and a full time job that is not cue building.
Thanks for the much needed continued advice. Guys. I have installed a new high efficiency heating and cooling system in my shop. When I just remodeled it to build my cue shop. And I live around an hour north from Kansas City So we get all four seasons with extremes temps both ways. Lol.
Or 80 tooth carbide saw blade, also 5 inches per minute feed rate as not to shock the wood.
Handles
I do the handles and tenons 15-20 at a time in four cuts and leave them hanging oversize for a year or more. If there's movement I throw them out.
Shop is not temperature or humidity regulated it fluctuates from 75 to 90 degrees, 55 to 70 humidity. Here again I'm not producing a lot of cues so I can very selective and never under pressure to use things before they are ready.
All my wood is expose to the above conditions except anything freshly cut gets to air dry in the cold part of the shop for a year through all four seasons then another year minimum to acclimate in the shop. I'm usually using wood that's 5 or more years in the shop.
New York weather is easier to deal with than other places.
Mario
I do the handles and tenons 15-20 at a time in four cuts and leave them hanging oversize for a year or more. If there's movement I throw them out.
Shop is not temperature or humidity regulated it fluctuates from 75 to 90 degrees, 55 to 70 humidity. Here again I'm not producing a lot of cues so I can very selective and never under pressure to use things before they are ready.
All my wood is expose to the above conditions except anything freshly cut gets to air dry in the cold part of the shop for a year through all four seasons then another year minimum to acclimate in the shop. I'm usually using wood that's 5 or more years in the shop.
New York weather is easier to deal with than other places.
Mario
How do you turn down 5" long tenon of a handle when your saw blade is some 10-12" in diameter?
Do you stop at the 3" line b/c you'd hit the bottom of the handle ?
The handle not the tennon. Tennon and face cut between centers using HSS insert tool with slight radius end.
In the real meaning of between centers, that ( tenon cutting ) would have a lot of chatter.
You probably meant chucked up.