jbart65 said:

As for Chua, I've watched him more than anyone the past two years. I've never noticed anything unusual or heard commentators refer to weird bounces when he was playing. I'd be shocked, shocked if he were doing anything illegal. Very surprised to see insinuations against him.

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Just jump at the videos at the end, with the sound. JJ and Karl are making comments about it.

Burns said:

This is my second King, after I sold my first one shortly after getting it when i thought i was done with the game due to health. Anyways, it worked out, as I love this one. Al completed it a few months ago. Nice black suede body and lizard inlays. The best feature is the full-zip pockets, so im not trying to dig for chalk with my fingertips.
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That's really nice! I LOVE my King case but I am a little jealous of that new pocket design, I would love having the full zip pockets on mine

Paul_#_ said:

Notes from listening to Robocop's Facebook video 5:20 to end:
He recalls incident in about year 2000 where a tournament had balls cleaned and the polishing included waxing the balls.
Europeans many years ago dominated pool and used wax a lot. Asian and especially Phillipino players did not but have catched up to the Europeans. Now he heard that everyone uses waxes. Players put it on their gloves or hand or palm.
He made it sound like balls are being waxed and it will continue unless tournament organizers set rules to stop it such as player can hold ball-in-hand only with three fingers. Referee touches balls at other times and not players.
.

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i started listening but it was a lot to fade. make a post next time dennis

Sir Scratchalot said:

I expressed no concern about damaging my joint. Quite the opposite as I clearly stated the joint is brass and the cue is built like a tank. As for what I did intend with my post, I feel like it's one of those things I should have just kept to myself. It seems like a natural question to me, but I can sense a few cocked eyebrows or "huh's?" bouncing around. It wouldn't be the first time that things that bounce around in MY head cause such reactions.

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You’re not alone - lots of players think the butt plays a much bigger role than it does.

pj
chgo

Patrick Johnson said:

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Your loss buddy!

Bavafongoul said:

Well, I recalled that BCA prohibited the use of waxed or polished pool balls in a sanctioned tournament. Apparently, WPA is the governing body because BCA now references WPA’s rules which strictly forbid using polished balls or waxed cue ball in a sanctioned tournament. The pool balls can only be cleaned using soap and water. Any polished or waxed pool balls must be cleaned and dewaxed using a clean damp cloth moistened with diluted alcohol before play. Pool balls cannot be contaminated with any slippery substance for use in a tournament or otherwise it’s commonly referred to as cheating.

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There's a local bar that is kind of a hotspot for tournaments. 3 Valley tables, but enough competition, Calcutta, and sometimes added pots for them to fill up. It gets players from about a hundred mile radius.

I was warming up a bit and confused as the balls were acting all sorts of weird. They weren't throwing and the CB just kind of glanced off, also it spun weird. Come to find out, the owner cleaned the balls in a bucket cleaner and then sprayed them with Armor All!

I don't know if anyone was "in the know" about this, but what a weird tournament that was. Good players just butchering shape and missing normal shots.

Dropping to $1100
I’ve got lots of Messages on this and a lot of people have it in their sights but no trigger pull! First come first serve who’s gonna get this killer package deal?

I think it is rich that Mezz USA says it limits sales to "2 cues per household per month" when they don't have a single cue in stock for sale on their website-

-dj

Overlays.....The coloring is unlike many cues. The stripes are nice on both Rhino cues but the items on the German cue are hokey:

After reading this thread, I am still not sure how waxing a ball could: benefit the player doing it; hurt his opponent; and not backfire on the player doing the waxing.

Whatever the case, I have to think there might be something to it if Gorst, Kaci, Yapp and Shaw are all talking about.

Should they have said nothing at all? Just bring it to the attention of organizers behind the scenes?

Hard call. Going public will certainly intensify the spotlight. If some players are really waxing balls, going public will serve as a good deterrent.

Still ... accusing someone by name publicly without evidence is bad. Kaci's comments about 30 Filipinos was certainly inappropriate. Painting with a broad brush all right.

As for Chua, I've watched him more than anyone the past two years. I've never noticed anything unusual or heard commentators refer to weird bounces when he was playing. I'd be shocked, shocked if he were doing anything illegal. Very surprised to see insinuations against him.

Strange amount of controversy in pro pool the past year or so.

after Johnny scratched shooting the 5 ball, why did the 1 ball get spotted up at the 1:13:05 mark?

JAM said:

The thing about champions, most need and have a strong self-confidence in their skills and capabilities. As such, they rise to the top because of it. Having thick skin and self-confidence, though, are two different animals.

Joshua Filler, when he was attacked viciously on social media, had thick skin along with his self-confidence. That debacle is now in pool's rearview mirror.

Johann Chua has a huge fan base in Philippines and around the world. I hope he can let this go and move on. Fickle pool people will make assumptions and debate the Waxgate ad nauseum.

Eklent Kaci is also being attacked on social media for bringing up the topic of wax, and quite frankly, I was surprised and elated to see Fedor Gorst address the topic so eloquently.

I hesitate to bring this up, but I seem to recall a well-known female pro using Pledge wax on her cue stick at a hot and humid pool room during a tournament. Nobody uttered a peep.

I'm sure Matchroom WNT is going to figure out a way to thwart waxing of balls as well as making sure all competitors know that the referee has to reply when a push or extension is asked for.

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The woman putting pledge furniture polish on her cue didn’t affect anyone but her unless she got some on the tip or rubbed it on the rails.

soyale said:

i’ve posted in this sub-forum a few times over the years, and for the MOST part have encountered friendly, helpful craftsmen that love what they do….

…. and a few gatekeeping assholes.

i’ve decided i’m going to make cues. eventually. i’ve been horsing around with what i have, which isnt much, and have had a tremendous amount of fun. i really love this stuff.

i’ve posted some of my exploits over on the Main Forum, and have decided to repost them here as a journal of sorts. i’m going to continue to post comments as i tackle new projects and learn.

hopefully this is welcome here. feel free to chime in if you like. just dont tell me i need a $2,000 lathe because that’s just not in the cards right now.

thank you all

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I can't say much as I've not made a cue yet. I'm getting into it. It takes a lot of money for equipment and materials.

I have a MidAmerican Professional ($1599) and while it's a great machine, if I knew more or really anything when starting out I would have saved up another $1000 for the Cuesmith Deluxe.

The reason being, the Cuesmith has a much more direct route for being able to do everything. You can get taper bars, live threading systems and such.

When I purchased mine I didn't know Sh##. The MidAmerican is definitely a very capable machine but I feel the upgrade path is a bit more limited. For example, I don't ever foresee being able to do live threading on my lathe.

Now again, if I knew anything, I think you could potentially get into the hobby much more cheaply but I knew zero about lathes other than they turn stuff. I didn't know a head stock from a tail stock. Research into lathes and machining in general would be really useful for you (and me) right now. Also don't discount going back through the Ask A Cuemaker old posts. I've worked about 200 pages in the old ones, going oldest to newest. There's a lot of stuff that doesn't relate to anything important, but there's also a ton of hidden gems in the topics. Lots of broken pictures and external links, but with archive.org you can sort of piece together some stuff.

Here is a good series about lathe work in general, it's metal work. She does a really good job of explaining stuff without treating her audience like idiots. Cuemaker's guild on youtube has some great videos about actually making cues on desktop and full size lathes. Everyone has different methods and they show different methods for doing similar tasks. It's a real gem of a channel for guys not able to shadow a cuemaker near them.

From one beginner to another, good luck in your journey! I'm looking forward to see what you make.

Certainly looks like 5/16-14. What's the O.D and minor diameter of the pin?

Wearing a single glove is a Tell.
When the competition is too lop sided....shoot with the other hand.
I was amazed at the quick progress. Teaching as learning is a skill. Some call it leadership.
My moto is, Lead, Follow or Get Ou of the Way!
Build a solid foundation every morning with the fitness program.
My best play has come at times when I felt the best about who I was and what I was doing.
The Feeling I had when I had reached the hill/hill game, after trailing significantly. .. ..was, uh "if I get to shoot, I will win." He snapped the 9. Oh I dis pissed the alternate break format. So I only got 4th in the A devision.

Good job, Soyale!

AtLarge said:

According to DigitalPool, the Rally's 64 entries include a dozen at FR 750+ -- Shuff, Vogel, Georgiev, Sanchez, Morra, Souto, Corteza, Fracasso-Verner, Neuhausen, Morris, Styer, and Pongers (and nearly as many below 600).

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Looks like a very nice warmup event for the Florida Open with some very fine cueists.