Only Rock Maple Allowed?

Halfjack87

In Training
Silver Member
Why are all shafts Rock Maple?

Seems like a good variety of woods would be perfectly suitable for a shaft - I mean they need to be relatively hard, fine grained wood, but in a market saturated with beautiful exotic woods used for the butts, why is nobody using anything but Rock Maple for the shafts?

Just want to understand, thanks in advance! :smile:
 

carguy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Why are all shafts Rock Maple?

Seems like a good variety of woods would be perfectly suitable for a shaft - I mean they need to be relatively hard, fine grained wood, but in a market saturated with beautiful exotic woods used for the butts, why is nobody using anything but Rock Maple for the shafts?

Just want to understand, thanks in advance! :smile:

Consider how long pool cues have been made. 150 years more or less in their present form?
Do you think other woods might have been tried in the last 150 years?

Hmmmm.

Think about it.

With all those types of wood, why might they have settled on one?

Hmmmm. Hmmmm.

Perhaps it works best?

Hmmmm.

Robin Snyder
 

Halfjack87

In Training
Silver Member
Yeah, well Henry Ford discovered that Black worked best for cars too...
 

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Catamount

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Ash, hornbeam, purpleheart & oak are some other woods that have been used successfully for shafts. Maple is king, though. I'll let someone else explain why.
 
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jazznpool

Superior Cues--Unchalked!
Gold Member
Silver Member
Hard maple is relatively close pore wood (unlike ash) which means it more likely to be comfortable sliding though your fingers than padouk. It is also reasonably easy to acquire straight grained and properly dried maple that is stable and will stay straight for the long haul. Maple also possesses hardness, density and flexing characteristics that make it highly suitable for our use as compared to other woods. The supply/ price of maple also contributes to the equation although I have to admit if there was a better wood at 10x the price, I'd gladly pay. You could always give ramin a try for shaft wood. That was what I got on my first Sears brass jointed cue that I paid $9 for in 1968.
 

Mcues

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Because Sugar maple is sweet and Cuemakers love sugar. Just ask if anybody wants any Doodles :)
 

cueman

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
None of the other smooth grain woods play like maple.
Pretty simple answer, yet that says it all.
 

scdiveteam

Rick Geschrey
Silver Member
Maple is very Resilient.

The ability to recoil or spring back to shape after bending, stretching or being compressed.

No other species seems to compare.

JMO,

Rick
 

pdcue

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I think so.
B/c those balls are lighter, ash works better with them.

And here I thought it was the rock hard brass ferules and the mushy soft, flat as a pancake,
mushroomed to 2mm bigger than the shaft, tips

Dale+
 

M.G.

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Dear poster,

please don't get turned down by the usual answer you'll get here.
The question about maple needs to be asked and there are quite a few different woods that work well and better, in some regards.

Hornbeam seems to be a very very good candidate and also ash shafts have been made (for pool) with excellent results.
Longoni makes maple/hornbeam-combined shafts (the S3); also a few European cue makers do that and they have a very unique following and I'd love to get my hands on one.

Its maple because (only excuses here):
- it's dirt cheap
- it has no noticeable grain or discolorations, is whiteish and looks innocuous
- it's always been done that way (which is a very very bad excuse)
- people dont like change

Cheers and do look around!
M
 

JoeyInCali

Maker of Joey Bautista Cues
Silver Member
Dear poster,

please don't get turned down by the usual answer you'll get here.
The question about maple needs to be asked and there are quite a few different woods that work well and better, in some regards.

Hornbeam seems to be a very very good candidate and also ash shafts have been made (for pool) with excellent results.
Longoni makes maple/hornbeam-combined shafts (the S3); also a few European cue makers do that and they have a very unique following and I'd love to get my hands on one.

Its maple because (only excuses here):
- it's dirt cheap
- it has no noticeable grain or discolorations, is whiteish and looks innocuous
- it's always been done that way (which is a very very bad excuse)
- people dont like change

Cheers and do look around!
M
Or there is no reason a good maple isn't good enough for world class pool.
 

carguy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Dear poster
please don't get turned down by the usual answer you'll get here.
The question about maple needs to be asked and there are quite a few different woods that work well and better, in some regards.

Hornbeam seems to be a very very good candidate and also ash shafts have been made (for pool) with excellent results.
Longoni makes maple/hornbeam-combined shafts (the S3); also a few European cue makers do that and they have a very unique following and I'd love to get my hands on one.

Its maple because (only excuses here):
- it's dirt cheap
- it has no noticeable grain or discolorations, is whiteish and looks innocuous
- it's always been done that way (which is a very very bad excuse)
- people dont like change

Cheers and do look around!
M

M.G.- I think you are way off base. As I mentioned in a previous post, cuemakers have had hundreds of years to experiment. Do you really think they have not done this?

Maple is dirt cheap? Now that's really pretty funny. SOME maple is dirt cheap. Top notch maple for shafts is nothing like cheap, when you can even get it!

As Martin mentioned earlier, cuemakers would LOVE to be able to pay much more for a fairly small increment of improvement.

Pool is a competitive environment; cuemakers are striving for excellence.
If a better wood for shafts was out there, everyone would adopt it over night.

Robin Snyder
 

JoeyInCali

Maker of Joey Bautista Cues
Silver Member
M.G.- I think you are way off base. As I mentioned in a previous post, cuemakers have had hundreds of years to experiment. Do you really think they have not done this?

Maple is dirt cheap? Now that's really pretty funny. SOME maple is dirt cheap. Top notch maple for shafts is nothing like cheap, when you can even get it!

As Martin mentioned earlier, cuemakers would LOVE to be able to pay much more for a fairly small increment of improvement.

Pool is a competitive environment; cuemakers are striving for excellence.
If a better wood for shafts was out there, everyone would adopt it over night.

Robin Snyder
Maybe we should ask him for his source and what his cull rate is . :rolleyes:
 

carguy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
And here I thought it was the rock hard brass ferules and the mushy soft, flat as a pancake,
mushroomed to 2mm bigger than the shaft, tips

Dale+


Like little hats or..., something.

Never mind.

Robin Snyder
 
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