Alignment aid on ferrule?

[NewStroke]

There is a nifty invention created during WWI. It's a cross hair inside of a circle and was mounted on the machine guns of bi planes. I used one on my Paul Mottey and it works great. The only problem is that I am wearing a flat spot on the shaft because I keep stroking on the same side of the shaft.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Played some 8 ball with a guy who had a black stripe on his ferrule. I asked him what it was and he said he used it to help him line up shots. I have never seen such a thing. Is it legal? Sounds like a good idea.

I've been marking my shafts with a "this side is up" stripe for about 30 years. While playing one pocket in Galveston this week, one of my opponents asked me, "Isn't that an illegal aiming device?" and wandered off to find the head referee. He came back disappointed.

 

[iusedtoberich]

I've had a few customers in my cue repair business over the years ask for a marker line on the ferrule to help with their aim.


I twist my cue, but its not intentional, and I don't think my mechanics are flawed. I first discovered it when I put on Joe Tuckers' 3rd eye stroke trainer on my cue. After about 10 back and forth strokes, it had rotated 45 degrees or so. My wrist did not twist, my stroke was straight, and my fingers did not twirl the stick.

I do play with a rubber 3 cushion grip on my cue, and I think what was happening was the extra friction of the grip against my fingers would somehow cause the slightest cue rotation. And after several strokes, and the 3rd eye on the cue, it was obvious the cue was rotating in my hands.

 

[3RAILKICK]

Why 'up'??

I've been marking my shafts with a "this side is up" stripe for about 30 years. While playing one pocket in Galveston this week, one of my opponents asked me, "Isn't that an illegal aiming device?" and wandered off to find the head referee. He came back disappointed.

What is the benefit of knowing that 'this side is up'? Simply consistency? How did you determine which 'upside' was the best 'up' for you?

A deflection issue? To avoid a distracting shaft blemish while sighting your aiming line? Just curious. Your posts are informative and insightful and well reasoned-that's why I ask.

Is the stripe near the ferrule or back near the joint?

Thanks

3railkick

 

[Bob Jewett]

What is the benefit of knowing that 'this side is up'? Simply consistency? How did you determine which 'upside' was the best 'up' for you? ...

My thinking is that if there is any asymmetry in the shaft or tip, I can learn subconsciously to compensate for it as long as the stick is rotated the same way for every shot. Snooker players have been doing this for a long time, but they have a different marker. As I recall -- it was a very long time ago -- I marked the shaft for the straightest alignment without regard to the grain.

Turning the stick to "up" becomes automatic. If I'm shooting a draw shot, I only need to pay attention to the chalk on the "top" of the tip.

 

[mdavis228]

I just write "Ferrule in front" on the back of my hand. Tried writing "This side up" on my ferrule and it gave a whole new meaning to shooting the lights out... Not popular...

 

[hdgis1]

From the standpoint of grain structure (think cross section of your shaft) if the grain is aligned horizontally

_________
_________
_________
_________
_________ deflection is going to occur more up and down


||||||||
||||||||
||||||||
|||||||| with the grain oriented this way, deflection is going to occur to left and right.

There really is no good way to explain this other than to say try taking a 1x1 and finding which way it is hardest to break. All wood works the same - thats why straight grained shafts are most desirable. Though they will always have more deflection than a pie shaft.

Chris

 

[Shaft]

Not illegal, not new, and why not?

I can't find any rule against marking your cue in any way.

You can find antique maces that were built with a contrasting layer of veneer wood in the center of the head that formed a thin "stripe" in the center of the head. Many of these striped maces were flat on the bottom (the part in contact with the table) and contoured on the top. The contour serves no apparant purpose except this: if you sighted down the mace and the contoured stripe was not straight, you knew your sighting was not centered on the stripe.

 

[androd]

Aiming Aid

I've used a line on my ferrel for many (15) years now. When I want to add a tip of english, I aim at my target with the line(scribe) and move my cue to where the edge of the farrel is where the line was, thats one tip of english for my cue and stroke.(or 1/2 the width of my shaft) Its also very handy for half ball hits, get in the middle of the CB and aim the line at the edge of the OB.
Rod.
PS; It has nothing to do with the grain for me.

 

[TheConArtist]

I use to have a cue where the grain of the shaft would come to a V shape only the point of the V is on the top. So i would make shure it was centered, it did help with pocketing balls, or i might have just been fooling myself:grin: Nowadays after fooling around with my eye placement i have been using the edges of my cue stick to aim with. Also where my eyes are looking at the cueball, if i look at the edge of the cueball my left eye will be looking at the center of the cueball and my right eye will be staring down the outside of the edge of the cueball. Really helped me out as i do see two cueballs when i play, call me weird if you want but its the way i play. So when i aim i combine both my eyes to see the cueball. So i see the center and the edge at the same time and i don't have to shift my eyes at all. Might sound hard to understand but so does all the other aiming systems out there right.