Definitely not a mistake.

My first pool table was a Schmidt I bought for $250 off FB marketplace.

I immediately started emailing Stephanie Schmidt asking questions about the table as if I had just acquired the third table ever built by her great grandfather. Instead of the 1994 Gatsby that was built under the watchful eye of her dad.

Yet they answered every question and offered up helpful suggestions and in the end converted me to a lifelong fan of the brand.

I would have purchased the cue if it had been made more to looks like a cue from 20's/30's than just a modern banger.

I have Cody Cash doing the exact same thing but using a set of 1930's Brunswick 26.5's as the forearm.

The goal was to build a set of identical Father/Son cues that could continue to be passed down over time.

I love Josh, he is truly one of the nicest makers I have ever met, and one of the center piece cues in my collection is from him. The one thing I miss the most about moving out of KC is no longer getting to see Josh, Cody and Brian Parks on the weekends at tournaments or just dropping by their shops to shoot the shit.

But on the positive side I get to hang out with Scott Gilmore with occasional trips to Richard Blacks house to "kiss the ring" of the GOAT!

Excellent post as always, Mr B.

Thank you!

u12armresl said:

Gee I've never had the problem of someone asking where I am going to pocket it, that is what you mark the pocket for.

Click to expand...

Not just talking about the 8 ball.

Any and all object balls.

Fore Rail said:

At a certain level slopping the 8 in just doesn't / will not happen.

I only saw an object ball go in a non designated pocket twice while I was in Denver playing.

I like the rules, I want my opponent quiet in his / her chair not asking me what ball and pocket I'm shooting / calling.

Click to expand...

Gee I've never had the problem of someone asking where I am going to pocket it, that is what you mark the pocket for.

Rubik's Cube said:

Secretive Collectors.

Good afternoon, gentlemen. I trust you are all in rude health and fine spirits. I’ve opened the whiskey.

As I grow older and with rather too much time to ponder such things, the subject of secretive pool ball hoarders often crosses my mind. Through this wonderful thread, my role at the Billiard Ball Museum, and one or two personal acquaintances in the United Kingdom, I am in sporadic contact with about seventy like-minded collectors across the globe.

These esteemed fellows, for they are all men, harbour varying degrees of obsession… from the occasional buyer of billiard-related tchotchkes at local yard sales, to passionate fanatics who voraciously haunt obscure corners of cyberspace in mortal fear of missing out on a pristine Romanique or unknown Raschig. We are a broad church.

But, dear reader, what about elusive pool ball collectors… those clandestine magpies who furtively gather the rarest of spherical gems but never share anything with the wider world? How many shadowy figures like that exist and, moreover, what are they hiding?

Click to expand...

I think you have more examples of "Secretive Ball Collector" in the antique world than us modern types.

There hobby is almost entirely relationship driven with very few if any of the desirable sets coming up at auction or showing up on an online site.

They tend to hide their collections like a Tolkien dragon hording gold. And will out right lie about what they have when directly questioned.

I guess this is both a reaction to the fact that a majority of the sets are ivory. But for the most part it's driven from some strange fear of identifying what's in your collection without knowing fully what's in the other person's.

Personally I find it all dreadfully boring and as a direct result of this behavior have completely shunned the antique billiards collectors as pariahs for the most part.

While I admit this is a broad generalization and I am very good friends with ONE antique collector. I have found their community more often than not is exactly as described above.

As for modern collectors it's kind of hard to lie about what we have when we spend so much time actually playing with them!

canadiancreed said:

From how the story goes, my grandfather got it off a guy back in the 50's. Considering it's Canada, the odds of snooker pockets would be a bit higher back then if one had been replaced. I wonder if it'd be worth looking into replacing them, or if they were sold like that in Canada, or if the Brunswick model that this is was even sold in Canada originally?

Click to expand...

I think where snooker is played that is how they sometimes do their pockets. Playing around Europe I saw a number of pool tables with with rounded pockets. In italy I played on a table with pockets so small the ball hardly fit.

Here is two pictures of that kind of table I italy

At a certain level slopping the 8 in just doesn't / will not happen.

I only saw an object ball go in a non designated pocket twice while I was in Denver playing.

I like the rules, I want my opponent quiet in his / her chair not asking me what ball and pocket I'm shooting / calling.