Best place to buy materials to build Sneaky Petes?

GrimmCustomCues

GrimmCustomCues

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm starting off like most I believe. Trying to build some sneaky petes to perfect my work on Joints, Pins, Butts, Finishes, etc. I've bought about a dozen house cues from various companies in the hopes to find some that are decent, I.E not warped, made partially of maple, points relatively equal etc. Most, if not all I've found so far are made in asia somewhere and are far below what I consider decent quality cues. If anyone can tell me where to buy some decent house cues Id really appreciate it. I'd also like to build some higher end Sneaky petes using some custom full splice non veneered blanks. Any info on those would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Richard
 
GrimmCustomCues said:
I'm starting off like most I believe. Trying to build some sneaky petes to perfect my work on Joints, Pins, Butts, Finishes, etc. I've bought about a dozen house cues from various companies in the hopes to find some that are decent, I.E not warped, made partially of maple, points relatively equal etc. Most, if not all I've found so far are made in asia somewhere and are far below what I consider decent quality cues. If anyone can tell me where to buy some decent house cues Id really appreciate it. I'd also like to build some higher end Sneaky petes using some custom full splice non veneered blanks. Any info on those would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Richard
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Shmelke sells blanks cheap and they are decent. Befriend someone who owns your local poolhall and ask them for their throwaways for practice.
 
sneaky pete blanks

GrimmCustomCues said:
I'm starting off like most I believe. Trying to build some sneaky petes to perfect my work on Joints, Pins, Butts, Finishes, etc. I've bought about a dozen house cues from various companies in the hopes to find some that are decent, I.E not warped, made partially of maple, points relatively equal etc. Most, if not all I've found so far are made in asia somewhere and are far below what I consider decent quality cues. If anyone can tell me where to buy some decent house cues Id really appreciate it. I'd also like to build some higher end Sneaky petes using some custom full splice non veneered blanks. Any info on those would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Richard
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Try the guy at New Smyrna Beach fla. Joe Barringer.
He has some higher end blanks which cost a little more too.
Bill
 
pescadoman said:
Shmelke sells blanks cheap and they are decent. Befriend someone who owns your local poolhall and ask them for their throwaways for practice.
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Hi,

The Schmelke blanks are good. When you get one the points will be even but if you put it onto the lathe for tapering, the points will become uneven right away. You must fill in the center with epoxy or reface and cut that center out and recenter.

When you first get the blank you will notice that the cue spins eccentric because they shimmed the blank or offset the tail stock to bring the points to and even position. They don't recenter or advise you of that fact so you must not cut the cue without doing what i described in the last paragraph.

I don't make many sneaky petes but I had a customer order 5 last november and the quality of Schmelke blanks is much better than they were several years ago. The bottoms of the splices are very square now where in the past they had gaps and the bottom of the fit sometimes revealed a rolled or curled joining interface.

Good Luck,

Rick G
 
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I like Schmelke but as Rick stated you have to adjust the center drill on the joint end. They are normally pushing 30" so I just cut of the end and redrill. If you are willing to wait, you can special order them with the crotch of the points higher than standard so you can put a wrap on them or use them for jump/breaks.
 
DanO said:
I like Schmelke but as Rick stated you have to adjust the center drill on the joint end. They are normally pushing 30" so I just cut of the end and redrill. If you are willing to wait, you can special order them with the crotch of the points higher than standard so you can put a wrap on them or use them for jump/breaks.
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That sounds like a good idea too. Does anyone make a plain jane house cue with no points, like an all maple cue or butt?

Richard
 
pool hall goodwill cues lol

any local places that use dufferin house cues is a good place for throwaways.........most places dump them and some of them are actually nice pieces for conversion or at least a nice handle for another cue as its just the shaft thats bowed up really bad and the butts are somewhat oversized so they can turn down nicely........
 
Hi,

I'd recommend using on old house cue from the pool room. I've made 6 sneaky conversions, all being from a pool room. Sometimes you get lucky and find nice woods. Dufferin would probably be the best. And I'm sure you can get them cheap. As I've only paid 10 bucks for each cue. Hope this helps
DB
 
Sent you a PM.....

Schmelke.....Prather.....maybe Atlas has some stock blanks!? Duc Lam here at one time was selling some as well???? :thumbup:
 
NolesFan83 said:
Hi,

I'd recommend using on old house cue from the pool room. I've made 6 sneaky conversions, all being from a pool room. Sometimes you get lucky and find nice woods. Dufferin would probably be the best. And I'm sure you can get them cheap. As I've only paid 10 bucks for each cue. Hope this helps
DB
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Although people have been doing this for years, in today's market the buyers are looking for something more high end even in SP. Most manufactured house cues the points are pretty short and if you re-turn the butt get even shorter. If you are going to make a nice shaft for the cue and not just use the original front end the labor is about the same to build a nice cue you would be proud to put your name on. As opposed to a finished cue that to the unknowing buyer looks like one of the $35.00 SP's you can find on ebay.

Just for the learning experience the house cues can be OK, but not as a cue you want to be making for customers representative of your cue skills. The point being, a good reputation is hard to build, but easy to destroy and remember, those cues will be around for a long time with your name on them. Every cue you build should represent the best you have to offer in skills and materials.
 
macguy said:
Although people have been doing this for years, in today's market the buyers are looking for something more high end even in SP. Most manufactured house cues the points are pretty short and if you re-turn the butt get even shorter. If you are going to make a nice shaft for the cue and not just use the original front end the labor is about the same to build a nice cue you would be proud to put your name on. As opposed to a finished cue that to the unknowing buyer looks like one of the $35.00 SP's you can find on ebay.

Just for the learning experience the house cues can be OK, but not as a cue you want to be making for customers representative of your cue skills. The point being, a good reputation is hard to build, but easy to destroy and remember, those cues will be around for a long time with your name on them. Every cue you build should represent the best you have to offer in skills and materials.
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The more I thought about it, the more I came up with the same conclusion as you. I originally started out wanting to build a few SP's to get some experience with Joints, pins, shafts and working with different finishes. I built a few that met my standards and they were sold instantly and I wasn't even trying to sell them. Now Im getting an insane amount of requests for them but customers are wanting not so sneaky SP's, ring work, custom pins, custom tapers, wraps, etc. I started out at prices that I believed was fair for a basic SP to over double and triple that for all the extras and it seems no one has a problem with that. Crazy I tell ya! So I just ordered a some full splice blanks to work with. In a way it kinda scares me, before I was just working on a old house cue and I knew if I jacked it up, I could throw it away and grab another one from the box. Now if I screw one up, the 30-50 bucks down the tubes! LOL Guess thats what all the practice was for.

Richard
 
I would recommend not taking orders at this point if you're concerned with ruining a 30-50 blank. You won't get 100% of these blanks to work out, some will develop a wobble, or the points will be too far off to even them out.

If your just starting out, build what YOU want, not what a customer wants. Maybe what you can do is keep a list of who is interested in your cues, and what type of woods they are looking for. When you build something that you think they may like, then contact them and let them know. If you start taking orders before you are comfortable in every aspect that you need to be, things will get ugly. Just some friendly advice. Good luck.
 
radge69 said:
I would recommend not taking orders at this point if you're concerned with ruining a 30-50 blank. You won't get 100% of these blanks to work out, some will develop a wobble, or the points will be too far off to even them out.

If your just starting out, build what YOU want, not what a customer wants. Maybe what you can do is keep a list of who is interested in your cues, and what type of woods they are looking for. When you build something that you think they may like, then contact them and let them know. If you start taking orders before you are comfortable in every aspect that you need to be, things will get ugly. Just some friendly advice. Good luck.
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You are absolutely right. Just build cues and if he is satisfied with them offer them up for sale. He will most likely be able to sell every cue he builds if the prices are right and the cues are good. Taking orders at this point will make him never want to go in the shop or answer his phone and the pressure will be unbelievable for what is supposed to be fun. All it takes is one A-hole on your back to make you want to quit.
 
macguy said:
You are absolutely right. Just build cues and if he is satisfied with them offer them up for sale. He will most likely be able to sell every cue he builds if the prices are right and the cues are good. Taking orders at this point will make him never want to go in the shop or answer his phone and the pressure will be unbelievable for what is supposed to be fun. All it takes is one A-hole on your back to make you want to quit.
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Word!
If you are a rook, you better quote one year for completion of a sneaky pete.
And that's rushing it. You get those blanks from suppliers, they are easily .100 oversized .
It will also take years to elevate your name if you start out wrong .
How many started selling cues on Ebay for cheaps and never get beyond that ?
 
You guys are all very right! I need some time to experiement with these blanks. I havent been taking any orders, just feeling up the market a bit in my area. I've actually been telling most people who have inquired about SP's that it will be 12-18 months minimum and I'm building them the way I want to. The SP's I have sold, I only sold because they came out exactly the way I wanted them too, played good, looked good. I even impress myself every once in awhile. Personally I'm not sure I will ever build to someones specific desires, other than for a few close friends and family. This is my hobby, my dream, my cues. LOL

Richard
 
Schmelke is good for the money if your cues aren't going to have a large a-joint area,the blanks they sell come way oversized top and bottom,but almost finished size in the middle for my taper.

you can also buy your own wood and send it to them.this way you can cut the 24" and 18" pieces of wood 100% square to 1.5".it makes better sneakies if you start with truly squared wood.
 
how about shafts dowels ? where can you get good ones ?
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first you need to be willing to spend around $1000 to buy 100 shafts.you can do a search here,the best shaft guys have almost all been listed here at some point.after you get the 100 shafts in,you can sort through them and find probably 50-70 really nice ones depending on who you bought them from.

i say this b/c it is very hard to buy just a few really good shafts.you will undoubtedly waste time and money trying to pick and choose different wood dealers who sell "AAA" shafts for $20 each.you will get some,but you will also get shafts that i wouldn't use in a jump/break cue that are "supposedly AAA" shafts.

i have a buddy or two who has bought these "AAA" or "GOLD rated" or etc shafts that turned out to 5 rpi of totally wobbly grain.

i'm rambling trying to get my point across and i'm sure it's a little confusing,but just trust me and buy a box of 100 shafts from one of the good guys and you will have plenty of great shaft dowels.
 
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