Kevin Varney Low Deflection Shaft

JMW

JMW

Seen Your Member
Silver Member
Over the years, I have played with a 314, 314-2, Z, OB-1, OB-2 and OB Classic. All of these shafts perform as advertised with regards to deflection. However, they seem to have a dead hit in my opinion and I just can't get past this. The reason I have tried so many LD shafts is that I am looking for that happy medium where I get high performance and a solid maple hit.

I am happy to say that I have finally found that combination. I have a solid maple Varney LD shaft and I could not be happier. I cant tell any difference in deflection between my OB Classic and the Varney. So I suffered no drop in my game when switching. But I have to tell you, the hit of the Varney LD is sooo much more solid than any of the LD shafts I have tried. Not sure how Kevin does it... the ferrule is shorter (but longer than the OB Classic), the size is 12.73mm and the taper feels very comfortable with an open and closed bridge. The tip is a soaked and pressed Triangle.

It is hard to post a review on somthing as subjective as hit. So I won't attempt it. But I can say that I just ordered another LD shaft from Kevin and I have never felt compelled to post a review on this forum in the 7 years that I have been a member... until now. Thanks for the excellent shaft Kevin!
 
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Varney Cues

Varney Cues

Handcrafted quality!
Silver Member
poolplayer2093 said:
What'd it set you back? it's not laminated right? is the front end cored with a lighter wood?
Click to expand...

To answer your questions Sam....
1- $150
2- not laminated...just a nice ugly honey color with some sugar & mineral spots...definately not for the "pure white" fans.
3- ferrule end is not cored. The joint end is partially cored but thats more for thread durability and adding a neat trick look...not so much a performance gain. :smile:
 
M

McChen

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
so if the ferrule end isn't cored, where is the weight reduction coming from that makes it low deflection? a smaller, lighter material ferrule? anything else?
 
Varney Cues

Varney Cues

Handcrafted quality!
Silver Member
McChen said:
so if the ferrule end isn't cored, where is the weight reduction coming from that makes it low deflection? a smaller, lighter material ferrule? anything else?
Click to expand...

Who says anything about a "weight reduction that makes it low deflection"? Those are your words...as well as the common claims from other LD shaft makers. Honestly...you are correct though...it is true that keeping a low front end mass will indeed help give a shaft LD properties. Thats why a short plastic ferrule actually performs better than a heavy capped 1" ivory ferrule. The ivory will have more solid feeling "hit" quality...but lesser LD performance. Thats just one LD concept...there are several more aspects of making a stellar LD performance shaft. In the past I often used a 314 & loved the performance but was less pleased with the hit & feel of the shaft. Years of trial & error making 100's of shafts has allowed me to be fortunate enough to stumble on a concept that works rather well. Clearly I'm not looking to come on here and just hand out my recipe. I'm really not looking to enter the LD shaft building market by any means either. I just developed a shaft that helps my cues hit & perform in a manner with which I'm pleased. JMW is a long time customer of mine that I've done work for in the past. He has another brand cue that he likes and just wanted to try my LD shafts. Thankfully he is just as pleased as myself with the LD performance. Thank you sir for the honest review...I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. :smile:
 
JoeyInCali

JoeyInCali

Maker of Joey Bautista Cues
Silver Member
McChen said:
so if the ferrule end isn't cored, where is the weight reduction coming from that makes it low deflection? a smaller, lighter material ferrule? anything else?
Click to expand...

Weight reduction helps a lot of course.
Making the shaft flex more in front of the bridge hand helps a lot too imo.
The more that front 6" or so deflect off the cueball, the less the cueball deflects off the tip.
Also, if you can make the cueball spin more, then you'll use less english.

Not that Varney needs my help.
KV, I have a ferrule material. Hit like a dream but unfortunately is yellow and loves chalk.
If you send me $100,000 we can talk to the manufacturer to alter the mix to make it white and less porous.
It's 20% lighter than Juma and Melamine.
Laughs at Robogrip if you try to break it.
Sadly, it's butterface.
 
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M

McChen

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i think in the end it still comes down to weight reduction. at least nothing else has been proven to provide LD performance. I think things like tapers and making the shaft flex more still boil down to weight reduction, with a taper that slims down the front end. so whether you want to say it's from the taper or from weight reduction, it's really both.

KV, I didn't mean for you to expose your complete secret recipe, but I thought perhaps there were some details you could share. most of the commercial LD shafts are pretty open about their design and I've studied them extensively and am always interested in seeing new designs and ideas.
 
conetip

conetip

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Nothing wrong with secrets.It is not just a light front end that makes it LD or a whippy shaft.There is something else.
Great thread by the way.
 
JMW

JMW

Seen Your Member
Silver Member
I just got my second LD Varney shaft and it is just like the first one... excellent!
I am very happy with it. Thanks again Kevin!!
 
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