Russian billiard cues

interesting stuff..

There sure are a lot of cue balls on the table the girl is playing on... that would be confusing! :grin-square:

Worminator said:

There sure are a lot of cue balls on the table the girl is playing on... that would be confusing! :grin-square:

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there's numbers on those cue balls.

I shall try to give some explanations concerning differences of Russian billiards (RB) from Pool. Beforehand I ask to excuse me for my bad English.

First, table. RB-table has the size of 12 foots, as a rule. There are also small tables 11 and 10 foots, but the basic, full is considered 12 foots. The size as a table for snooker.

Second, balls. Balls for Russian billiards is big. Diameter 68 mm and weight about 270-280 gramme (9.54-9.89 ounces).

Thirdly, pockets. Pockets at Russian table is small, little more than diameter of the ball. Corner about 72-73 mm, central about 82-83 mm.

It is possible to read in addition about Russian billiards here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_pyramid

Very much different cues for Pool and Russian billiards. Cues for RB more longer and thin than poolcue. Weight of RBcues from 650 up to 750 gramme (23-27 ounces), more often about 700 gramme (24.74 ounces). Length of RBcues from 1550-1700 mm (61 "-67 "), more often about 1590-1610 mm (62.9"-63.1"). Diameter of the handle at bamper from 25 up to 29 mm (0.99"-1.15"), more often about 26-27 mm (1.02"-1.06"), on a joint of 17-20 mm (0.67"-0.79"), more often about 18-19.5 mm (0.7"-0.77). Diameter of tip is 11-13 mm. Balance of Russian cue is 39-45 sm from bamper (15.3"-17.7").

The quotient of weight of Russian cue to weight of RB ball is about 2.4-2.7, as against a pool 2.9-3.3. There were heavier RBcues earlier, I made few times cues with weight 900 gramme, but it was very much extreme order, as a rule about 700 gramme. It is caused by human physiology. It is difficult for him to operate heavier cue to shot.

The length of RB cue is more because for its acceleration the greater distance is necessary. Therefore basic hand put further from cue-ball and for comfortable holding and moving cue the big length is necessary.

RB cue is thin, plays all its length as though it was one long shaft. It allows to make english easier with heavier balls . At moment of shot it is bent a little like letter "S" and transfers energy of acceleration to cue-ball. Except for that if RB cue would be thicker that comfortable balance would be difficult to make, is especial on heavy wood.

The most widespread design of RB cues is the butterfly design. Even it is a lot of butterflies. Sometimes on RB cues about 40 butterflies and even more are possible to count. But in my opinion the most optimum are 7-9 butterflies on the butt and 4-6 butterflies on the shaft. Application of such design makes RB cue more rigid and springy , and allows to play with heavy balls.

Here is picture of Russian billiards cue and Pool cue for comparison.



These are the general reasonings and very short explanations. If there are concrete questions, I shall try to answer.

Thanks.
Dmitry.

spliced said:

I find these cues to be extremely interesting. This site talks about the whole reasoning and theory behind the butterfly point designs in the butt and shaft, as a method of properly distributing weight in the cue. Apparently this method was discovered in the 19th century to provide a properly balanced and distributed cue. They have a method to determine the proper length of cue for each individual person, and there is also a section about how they determine the nodal or pivot points of each cue using a confusing array of equations. Anywayz, pretty cool stuff...take a look!

Hopefully DBK can chime in on Russian billiard cues and maybe better explain their theories and methods.

Thanks!

http://www.gladiators-usa.com/RBC.htm

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Thanks for the reference. Very interesting stuff, Lu.

I am not confident, that very thin cue will be better for pool game. Eugeny's cue only looks as Russian cue, actually it is the true pool cue, but with butterflies design. Here is picture of approximately same cue for pool. It has the sizes habitual for pool player, but is made with butterflies design, the length is little bit more than usual pool cues, about 59-59.5 inches.




By the way, the cue is for sale:wink:. PM or е-mail me if it is interesting.

What material is the ferrule of the RB cue made of?
It'd be interesting to know how such a short ferrule can withstand such huge balls on power shots.

It should be brass.
In majority of cases there is no ferrule at all, afaik.

Now basically applys plastics such as LBM or similar. Sometimes put brass and others metal ferrule. But I think that to put metal ferrules is incorrectly. The RB ball is heavy also is danger to damage it at a strong shot. Cue becomes obvious more rigid on sensations. Except for that metal gradually takes seat at an end face of shaft and the equal end face disappears, and also cases when metal ferrules flies away from wooden shaft are frequent.

Short plastic ferrule not bad protects an end face of shaft from cracks and practically does not deform sensation from a shot. However it is necessary to be accurate and in time to change tip when it become too thin. In this case it is possible to split plastic ferrul too.

Sometimes do not put a ferrul absolutely. Only fiber under tip. There are such players who does not put even a fiber, preferring full sensation of wood of cue. But it is very pedantic people and constantly keep up tip. And cue of such player has no cracks at an end face very long. Thus the main ferrule in player's head - keep up the tip and in time change it. Any problems will not be.