Mr. CueGuru:
My point about this forum being "Ask the Cuemaker" was that if experienced cuemakers answer the questions the reader can expect to get good information from those of us who have build hundreds or thousands of cues. The word CueGuru implys that you have much more knowledge and experience in cuemaking than you have shown to have.
As I stated last time you brought this up, the 'Cue Guru' name is the the name of my billiard products web site. There is a link to it at the bottom of every one of my posts. You have seen the site, so I know you know this is the case.
Lets look at another angle. Let's say there is an experienced cue maker out there having trouble with his or her finish. That person has built 100 or more cues and suddenly is having a problem, or perhaps has never been
truly satisfied with the finish they are achieving. Don't you think that person might appreciate the knowledge of an 'outsider' to possibly shed some light on their problem? I know I appreciate it when I have a problem, even if that information does not prove to be the ultimate solution to the problem. when you hit a wall, having a ray of hope is sometimes all you need to move forward.
As I understand it you have only
build one cue. I don't think that qualifies you to lend advise to someone
has more experience than you do. At this stage you should be asking
questions - not answering them.
That is correct. I have one
complete cue as of now, and a second is currently in-process. That second one is being shown step-by-step for anyone who cares to see how and why I do things the way I do them. When it is time to apply the finish, that will similarly be shown step by step, and the results will speak for themselves as they do now on my first cue.
While you have experience in finishing other objects it does not necessarily extend to finishing cues. I have found that finishing cues to be the most difficult part of cuemaking. It has taken me years to perfect my finish.
On the contrary, based on my 'unrelated' finishing experience, I have found the finishing of the cue to be the most simple of all the cue making tasks myself. Properly constructing a full splice is what I find to be the most challenging task currently... And yes, it takes years of experience to get a nice finish. Experience I already posses because finishing wood is finishing wood. Finishing non-porous surfaces is quite different, and if you are a good car painter, that does not make you a good wood finisher, regardless of the particular wooden object you wish to finish.
You stated quite strongly that water based finishes were no good. That simply is not true. I know this for a fact because I have used it for a number of years. A number of other cuemakers here in Florida have seen my finish and been quite impressed. If other cuemakers like it then I know it is OK.
This is exactly what I said (well,
typed actually):
"Uggh.. That water-based finish (well, the one I tried anyway) was HORRIBLE! Slower than Lacquers to dry; very soft, not a good enough gloss (not for a guitar anyway) that was a big waste of money for us, but we did try it."
That is the factual information from the particular product I used when I used it. (and thinking back the clarity was less than stellar as well) I relayed my personal experience with it, and backed that up with specific reasons WHY I did not care for it; not simply stating "It is not good", which would be of no use to anyone. As I said before, if the reader looks at your post, he (or she) sees that you
have had good luck with it. and when they read mine, they see that I did not have good luck with it. They make their own decision to use it or not from there. That is the point of an open forum for these discussions.
As to having once built only one or two cues you are correct. At that point in my career I was listening instead of offering advise.
You have no idea how much information I have collected by reading current and past posts on this forum, but suffice it to say, it is a great deal. I typically PM the person when I have a specific question, or need clarification. Occasionally, I will post a reply to dig for more information.
When I started my first cue blank, I didn't even own a computer, let alone have access to the Internet. I had to read what ever material I could get my hands on (which wasn't much) and talk with any cue maker and cue dealer who would talk with me to get that first blank (and eventual complete cue) completed. "the hard way" so to speak... Before I even started it, I made a lot of test scrap pieces and I listened- A LOT, and I
continue to do so. I was using one method to cut the forearm and then got a tiny piece of insight from a very famous cue maker who mentioned the radial arm saw and I ran with it. The Radial Arm saw is what I used to cut my forearm for my first blank. Once you shut your mind and stop learning, you might as well give it all up.
I also have current off-forum relationships with other cue makers to bounce ideas off of. I like to get a good spread of opinions, ideas and just plain crazy ideas to throw into the mix and decide from there which direction I want to go in (and I keep notes in my book). My shop is currently down (moving house VERY soon I hope...) but the first order of business (after the electrical up-grade) is to get my shop back up so I can try some of the ideas and concepts I have logged in my book and rattling around my brain. In the mean time, I can use the equipment at my disposal to turn the cues down, so I use pre-made full-splice blanks at the moment. I don't believe myself to be better than any other person on here, just contributing my experience where I can.
Off topic a bit but I wrote an invention disclosure (pre-patent document) for nozzle coatings of (something) in place of hard chromium plating. The idea struck me from a wrist watch perspective- totally left field for the purpose I wrote the disclosure for, but through additional research on my own I found (something) to be harder, slicker and have a better thermal transfer than Chrome, so it is a better choice for the purpose. The point is, I took information I gained from a completely unrelated source to come up with a new and unique idea. THAT is the spirit we need to foster here if we are to flourish as a community.
Again, the idea is to
share knowledge between people here. I feel that I do my very best to share the experiences I have gained to those who wish to hear it. Those who do not, can simply ignore my posts. I don't know why this is such a problem; however when I feel I have useful information to contribute, I do so. If I don't, I don't.
I wish you success in your endeavors.
Thank you. And I you.
Best regards.
PS By the way, the name is
Jim if you prefer.
