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Do cue makers who make wood shafts still use a wood sealer dip?

ShootingArts
I don't believe any of the stabilizing agents are safe to use without fresh air, supplied air. I used to know something about xylene, not popping to the top of my head at the moment. I want to say it was a highly dangerous ingredient in some paints such as the three part paints that used equal parts of paint and "hardener" and roughly an equal part of thinner. That info is a little shaky but what isn't shaky is all of that shit is dangerous as hell!

I was using Ditzler products when their high epoxy paint came out, Deltron? similar to Imron. I talked to the factory at least once or twice a week for about six months. Talked to one engineer who I thought I knew well. He told me the double bugeye organic vapor face masks were plenty adequate. After six months my shop foreman and I who painted cars together, were both having to sleep sitting up after spraying a car, breathing issues. I called to talk to the engineer and he was on vacation. Talked to a different engineer. "Oh, we don't let our people even mix that paint without fresh air."

There was something labeled as a respirator number on the side of the paint can, an OSHA number. I spent hours on the phone to OSHA. "That isn't really an OSHA number, it is a bureau of mines number." What the hell, I have ran this rabbit this far, I called the bureau of mines to find out what this respirator was. "The number doesn't refer to a respirator,"(despite the labeling on the can,Hu) "It refers to a pamphlet."

"What is the pamphlet about?"

"Fresh air systems."

While on the general subject, some people finish entire cues with superglue type products. His doctor told one cue maker that this was what was causing him to die. Second hand info, I wasn't in the doctor's office.

Lot's of dangerous stuff out there. Think twice before using it especially in volume. I went back to using standard wood sealers and finishes. I also turned a shaft blank from square to rough tapered in eight to ten turnings then a few more turnings to get to final taper. Out of a gross of blanks, 20-30% became finished shafts. I didn't see that the stabilizers upped the percentage a whole lot. Best I recall, less than ten percent more stayed straightish, and all of them sounded and hit soft. If somebody wanted a sharp sound when hitting a cue ball I couldn't get it with the stabilizers. I could get the medium hard hit I prefer so I used the stabilizers on3-6 gross of shaft blanks.

Main thing I learned about shaft blanks, they make damned good tomato stakes in the garden! Rows and rows of eight dollar apiece tomato stakes.

Hu
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2-RAIL KICK SPEED EFFECTS, with the Midpoint-Parallel-Shift Aiming System

dr_dave
Baby Huey said:
As a side question dr Dave, why is it easier to kick two rails to a specific location vs kicking one rail to the same location. In other words it seems speed control is easier kicking two vs one.
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I don’t think it is easier kicking 2 rails vs. 1, in general. But going off 2 rails can be less sensitive to speed and spin variations (because changes on the 1st rail tend to cancel off the 2nd rail).
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BCA handicap, how/why did I go up?

Chili Palmer
iusedtoberich said:
12 points is a good amount of movement with a 671 robustness for not having played in 3.5 years. My bet is you played a few tournaments in the interim and forgot about them, or didn't know they reported.

If you download the fargorate app, and pay for the subscription service, it will show you all of your matches. You can pay for just a month for about $2, and then turn it off. The free version doesn't show your match history, the paid version does.
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In my case, I quit at 630'sh (and climbing quick, I might add ;)) with just over 200 games (214 if memory serves me correct) and in the next couple of years (with no games) it dropped to 615'sh. That was about 4 years ago. I have played a few tournaments since then and now sitting at 617 and 254 robustness. I have always attributed it to the fact that a lot of the players I beat were low to mid 500's and now some of them are pushing 600, and a few of them might be over 600. I also beat the highest rated player in the area at the time (675) and he's now 658. His rating going down, brings mine down, all the other players ratings going up, brings mine down. So, I don't think 12 points with a 671 is that big of a deal, my guess is if he went through his history some, if not a lot, of the people he beat have had their ratings go up.

Also, you don't need to pay for the subscription to view your matches. The second icon from the left (the one with 2 heads) is your match history. You can also search by player name, turns out me and the 675 guy went 1-1.
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How do you find your opponent's weakness?

Chili Palmer
dzone said:
I always thought it was me against the table. But recently I was told by a stronger player that I need to find the weaknesses in my opponent's game. He didn't tell me how to do that. What are the best ways for me to actively test their limits during the early stages of a match?
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Since the only time I can affect their game is if I play a safe, or otherwise complicate the table i.e tie up some balls, I look to see if they can kick and/or jump. When you can play a safe, pay attention to how they kick at the ball, did they go 1 rail instead of 2, were they even close, etc. Did they jump, if so, did they hit the ball, did they make the ball. Did they tie up balls instead?

Of course, you have to be proficient at kicking to know if they did the right thing.

I'm sure there will be more educational posts coming, looking forward to them.
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