Well, here's the story:
Somewhere around 10 years ago, before the turn of the century (probably more that this point) I was making Custom Guitars and playing a lot of pool. As such, I was working with a lot of wood and very interested in cues in general.
Over the years, I have met a few makers and players and one of them was Burton Spain.
I purchased his book "Making Blanks" (which I can't find now- quite annoying) and with that in hand, proceeded to do so, with the limited equipment I had. well, I had a LOT of equipment; however none of it was really for making cues. You get the idea.:wink:
Anyway, I glued up a full-splice blank with a straight-grain maple forearm and purpleheart butt. I added a single veneer of Walnut just because I had it lying around.
This thing was a mess. It literally looked like a train wreck! But it was strong, and it was mine. My first cue attempt, and first full splice attempt. Basically, I jumped into the deep end!
The blank was turned by a well-known cue maker, but I will not mention him as he probably doesn't want to be in any way associated with this cue. But, he did me a great favor by turning this monstrrosity into a manageable blank. I will likley show him the finished product and let him decide if he want's anything to do with it! Rest asured, he has thrown out far nicer examples of his own work that was not up to his standards...
I then worked with another 'hobby' cue maker (who actually has done some nice work) and added a joint pin and collar as wel as extend the butt a bit with a tennoned purple heart scrap. (I play a 59" cue and there was no way this would have worked at that length!)
Then it sat in my basement, forgotten for close to (if not more than) 10 years, along with a bunch of neck blanks and wood working equipment from the now defunct guitar business...
In the clean up to get ready to move, I stumbled across it again. To my suprise and amazement, it was quite straight! It has not seen anything resembling care for a decade, and it was straight. I felt I had to complete this one cue, even if I never make another cue again in my life.
So, over the last several weeks, I have been woprking on it. I should have taken more photos, but I am just eager to get it finally finished.
I threw it on the long lathe here at work, and tapered the butt. It did/does have some run-out at the base of the splice, but it is not horrible for having no idea what the hell I'm doing. I couldn't turn it all out, so there will always be a slight 'hop' there in the middle. The points are not even, but they are reasonably sharp. About 1/4 inch between the highest and lowest I'd say.
After the tapering was more or less done, I made a white delrin butt cap. We have white and black delrin scrap, so those were frebies. I just had to make them.
I decided a black ring at the butt cap would be nice, so I cut one of those too. I cut a .900 tenon (larger than normal) for the ring and butt sleeve and epoxied them on with West System of course. (Good stuff I used to use for guitars too)
Then I cut those as well as a wrap groove. The bottom of the points are messy, so I had to hide them under the wrap. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that, but this is too embarassing to show!
I encapsolated the cue in West System to add the 'hard candy shell' and fill the wood pores. I then sanded it smooth and last night I sprayed some clear on it.
That brings me to now, and my question:
What wrap to put on it? I will get some linen from Prathers and I have narrowed it down to four choices (please see their site for samples):
Antique
Black/Brown
White/Brown
White/Light Green
My old Black and Howard have the classic white/light green (the Black has the REALLY old 'fine' stuff I love) but I thought it might be nice to try and bring out the brown veneer a bit, or just brighten it up overall.
What do you guys think?
Somewhere around 10 years ago, before the turn of the century (probably more that this point) I was making Custom Guitars and playing a lot of pool. As such, I was working with a lot of wood and very interested in cues in general.
Over the years, I have met a few makers and players and one of them was Burton Spain.
I purchased his book "Making Blanks" (which I can't find now- quite annoying) and with that in hand, proceeded to do so, with the limited equipment I had. well, I had a LOT of equipment; however none of it was really for making cues. You get the idea.:wink:
Anyway, I glued up a full-splice blank with a straight-grain maple forearm and purpleheart butt. I added a single veneer of Walnut just because I had it lying around.
This thing was a mess. It literally looked like a train wreck! But it was strong, and it was mine. My first cue attempt, and first full splice attempt. Basically, I jumped into the deep end!
The blank was turned by a well-known cue maker, but I will not mention him as he probably doesn't want to be in any way associated with this cue. But, he did me a great favor by turning this monstrrosity into a manageable blank. I will likley show him the finished product and let him decide if he want's anything to do with it! Rest asured, he has thrown out far nicer examples of his own work that was not up to his standards...
I then worked with another 'hobby' cue maker (who actually has done some nice work) and added a joint pin and collar as wel as extend the butt a bit with a tennoned purple heart scrap. (I play a 59" cue and there was no way this would have worked at that length!)
Then it sat in my basement, forgotten for close to (if not more than) 10 years, along with a bunch of neck blanks and wood working equipment from the now defunct guitar business...
In the clean up to get ready to move, I stumbled across it again. To my suprise and amazement, it was quite straight! It has not seen anything resembling care for a decade, and it was straight. I felt I had to complete this one cue, even if I never make another cue again in my life.
So, over the last several weeks, I have been woprking on it. I should have taken more photos, but I am just eager to get it finally finished.
I threw it on the long lathe here at work, and tapered the butt. It did/does have some run-out at the base of the splice, but it is not horrible for having no idea what the hell I'm doing. I couldn't turn it all out, so there will always be a slight 'hop' there in the middle. The points are not even, but they are reasonably sharp. About 1/4 inch between the highest and lowest I'd say.
After the tapering was more or less done, I made a white delrin butt cap. We have white and black delrin scrap, so those were frebies. I just had to make them.
I decided a black ring at the butt cap would be nice, so I cut one of those too. I cut a .900 tenon (larger than normal) for the ring and butt sleeve and epoxied them on with West System of course. (Good stuff I used to use for guitars too)
Then I cut those as well as a wrap groove. The bottom of the points are messy, so I had to hide them under the wrap. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that, but this is too embarassing to show!
I encapsolated the cue in West System to add the 'hard candy shell' and fill the wood pores. I then sanded it smooth and last night I sprayed some clear on it.
That brings me to now, and my question:
What wrap to put on it? I will get some linen from Prathers and I have narrowed it down to four choices (please see their site for samples):
Antique
Black/Brown
White/Brown
White/Light Green
My old Black and Howard have the classic white/light green (the Black has the REALLY old 'fine' stuff I love) but I thought it might be nice to try and bring out the brown veneer a bit, or just brighten it up overall.
What do you guys think?
???
