middleofnowhere said:

Billy Stroud showed me how he would finish the rounded point with a razor knife to create a sharp point. Pretty easy actually. Then put in the inlayed point. You could not tell when it was done that it was not a splice unless you look closely.

The way to tell is at the pointed end in the point. On a splice each venner is a little different as it comes to a point due to the taper.
On an inlayed point they are unchanged.and the same.
As the cue is tapered the spliced point gets shorter. Inlayed points stay the same length as the cue is tapered. That is why they line up so perfectly, they are inlays. Spliced points if done correctly will line up perfectly as well.

I once refinished a Joss East cue and found the tips of the points were painted or inked on to make them come out even. The outside venner was black so this was almost undetectable.

On inlays in Ebony black tinted epoxy can be used to give the appearance of a more perfect fit. Tricks can be used.
I was at the BCA show once and picked up a Richard Black cue and took out my magnifer. He grabbed the cue from my hand and said "A cue must be examined at arms length with the naked eye".
He was probably right. A cue can look perfect from a small distance. Few cues could probably stand up to being examined with a loupe.

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alphadog said:

I think the only shot in pocket that doesn't come up in other games is following a ball in

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maha said:

actually it is almost a certainty it happened.

what was quoted was correct if before he shot someone said what are the chances right now he lucks in 4 in a row hitting multiple rails.

but after the fact, which is what we see here, with all the times people blasted in life it bounds to come up many times i suspect.

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sjm said:

I'm going with once in a lifetime. Unfortunately, this guy may not get another good roll for the rest of his life. All of his luck has been used up.

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iusedtoberich said:

In college in 2002 I needed to take a couple of electives to graduate. One I took was called "Sociology of Sports". One of the main themes of the class was spending one's entire youth to become a sports star was about the same longshot as winning the lotto. The sports were the major USA ones.

There were many aspects to it:
-The probability of getting onto a pro team, even if your skills are tremendous, is almost zero.
-If you do get on a pro team, the avg salary is 400k USD per year. This data might have been a few years old at the time (2002), but keep in mind, the millions and millions we see as salaries are the first round draft picks. The other guys are way lower.
-The average career length is 4 years. Due to injury. Due to being dropped in favor of the new class. Again, this was the avg. The first round draft pick guys that become the superstars obviously have avg careers closer to 10 years.
-The money management is nill. Most of these guys end up bankrupt. The start low or middle class, and then have a huge sum of money thrown at them. They blow it all on stupid stuff. Then 4 years later their knee goes out and they are cut. Now they have no income from sport, and they hadn't saved any.

I almost think pool is an easier path. It can be played much longer without injury or risk of being "cut". It's also a much lower level of money, so the player is always on a budget. Less likely to blow money on stupid stuff.

Although now that I wrote that, many GOOD players I've seen go straight to the poker machine and dump their pool score right into it.

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R2PQZ said:

I used it for joint, buttcap, and ferrule. Ferrule may have been replaced. The original micarta hasn't been made since the late 80's.

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GoldCrown said:

I look for place that does motorcycle quality chroming if that is the finish I want. But aren't all GC4's are bronze? Can the pocket castings be high polished?

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maha said:

balsis was almost an old man near 60 when mike beat him. although mike might have been as good as when he was young.

but the game was changing with the cloth as they opened the balls up more.

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