Snooker Cues

Pre-Flag Master

Pre-Flag Master

Cue Ball Man
Silver Member
I've noticed that pro snooker players who cross over to pool, start out playing with their snooker cues and end up going to a pool cue. Begs the question are snooker cues really just right for snooker and pool cues really just right for pool?

I have my own ideas about what makes a good pool cue and it really seems to go against the modern thinking. I don't like the pro tapered cues that are so common today. But I'm still trying to figure out what's just right for me. For a pool cue I think a long straight/conical taper might be good. But, I wonder if doing it that way allows you to have enough wood in the shaft and the right diameter at the tip.

Which leads me to my interest in snooker cues. It seems like they have a taper that starts at a point about 5 inches back from the tip and goes down quickly to the tip. Am I observing this correctly? This would allow both a beefy shaft and a small tip. Are snooker cues generally pretty stiff - when compared to a pool cue at least?

BTW, I do realize that snooker balls are smaller than pool balls.

What's the typical length of a snooker cue?

It doesn't seem to be too easy to buy a snooker cues in the US. What's up with that? Any suggestions? This purchase would be for experimentation, so I would want something that's inexpensive, but actually represents a legitimate snooker cue in terms of dimensions. 1/2 length preferred as opposed to 3/4, but 3/4 would do.

thanks
Fatz
 
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English 8 Ball - 8.5 mm cue - 2" ball

Snooker - 9 - 9.5 mm cue - 2 1/16" ball

Pool - 11 - 13 mm cue - 2 1/4" ball

All of these cues are normally 57" - 58"

Russian Pyramid Billiards - - 2 11/16" ball (I think the cues are over 30 oz.) Cues here measure 164 cm (by my math 64")
http://www.hamiltonbilliards.com/pr...ska_black_piramid___russian_billiard_cue.html
Their tip selection goes up to 14 mm, so perhaps this is what is on the Pyramid cues.

Snooker cues are available in Canada, Bradleys, for example
http://www.fgbradleys.com/fgb-cart/default.asp

Enter snooker cue in the search box. Most will be half joint.

As for taper, the crew in the Main forum will serve up the definitive answers (an infinite number). Subject never comes up here :grin:
 
snooker cue in US

dont shy away from ebay. i sold several good cues there & got positive feedback. i bought 2. both good. just buy from someone with 99% or better feedback and a return specified. one i bought was a nice 3/4 snooker with 2 extensions & case for $100, asian made, most are. US snooker balls are usually 2&1/8" instead of 2&1/16"
one piece is coming into prominence for pros too.
most are ash shafts......except for the top money winning cue in history which is maple and wielded by Hendry. some imagine that brass ferrule as being heavy. but when you have the tip off you can see that it is very thin walled and adds negligible weight.
on a pool cue with thick wall plastic ferrule it is possible to turn a cue down from 14mm down to 13, 12, 11
with the brass ferrule it starts out small and stays the same.
jr
 
hendry used an ash cue during his prime. it got damaged during travel and he replaced it with a maple cue. most of his titles were won with his ash cue.

on topic

the material (ash or maple) is mostly a historical thing, ash being much more available in england than maple. both woods profit mostly from good aging and seasoning and having very similar hardness/stiffness.

snookercues have a taper very similar to the I 3 shaft from McD, thats what gives this stiff hit.

players switch over to pool cues because the very thin brass ferule would take damage with the powershots in combination with heavier balls. nethertheless, the cues, from drago for example, are made by john parris who is a top craftsman in the snookercue scene.

funnierwise, top snookercues are not that expansive. have a look at peradon cues, top snookercues with good pricing :) good cues from asia are O min or mastercue, both reasonable priced.

ah yes, 3/4 is prefered by snookerplayers because 1/2 could hurt your chin or stick in a beard (no joke, have seen it :wink: ) since snookerplayers use the chin as a contact point.

hope i could help a little bit
 
bender_lu said:
hendry used an ash cue during his prime. it got damaged during travel and he replaced it with a maple cue. most of his titles were won with his ash cue.


hope i could help a little bit
Click to expand...

I would disagree here, Hendry never played with a ash cue.
 
bender_lu said:
ah yes, 3/4 is prefered by snookerplayers because 1/2 could hurt your chin or stick in a beard (no joke, have seen it :wink: )
Click to expand...
I believe it...when I was young I would let my facial hair grow out every once in a while. It would often snag in the joint of my pool cue. OUCH!
 
Slh said:
As far as I know Hendry's cue was a very inexpensive one
Click to expand...

Yes, not very expensive....it was a maple PowerGlide that Stephen used for
the majority of his career.
The cue went missing once and Hendry offered a 10,000 lb reward.

PowerGlide was a company founded by Rex Williams, an English Billiards world
champion. Dufferin of Canada was an influence in the design.
 
pt109 said:
Yes, not very expensive....it was a maple PowerGlide that Stephen used for
the majority of his career.
The cue went missing once and Hendry offered a 10,000 lb reward.

PowerGlide was a company founded by Rex Williams, an English Billiards world
champion. Dufferin of Canada was an influence in the design.
Click to expand...

quite right, a one piece maple powerglide, with Rex William's signature.
You can see Rex's name quite clearly on the cue on some close up shots
of old footage.
not sure about the 10,000 lb reward, think it may have been £ 10,000:smile:
 
You have more chance of seeing the queen mum winning a gold at diving in the olympics than you have of finding Hendry playing snooker with an ash cue. The bloke is either alergic or has a phobia i reckon. His original Powerglide was when new pretty expensive at around £70 way above average but by the time he was established it was no longer straight and i remember commentators took the micky out of it. Always looking for a cue to replace it he was gullable enough to even use an Acuerate rubbish cue before reverting back to a Parris.

The prefered cue of any snooker player is a one piece, always has been and always will be as all players will testify you get a better feel without a joint. The only reason anyone has a jointed cue is when encased they will lie across a back seat of a car as opposed to being angled in the footwell of one side and possibly bashed in the door of the other when being shut. Really the first thing you shoud do when buying a cue is go shopping for a car that has Hummer sized rear seats or fold down ones that have a flap in the middle so you can put your one piece in the boot.
(and if like me your into fishing make sure you have enough length for your rod bag)

Blokes who complain about catching their stubble in a joint are ushaven scruffy buggers who aint got the sense to not rest their chins on their cue and dont have the brains to sand smooth the joint. Its such a feeble excuse it's nonsence.
 
Pre-Flag Master said:
Which leads me to my interest in snooker cues. It seems like they have a taper that starts at a point about 5 inches back from the tip and goes down quickly to the tip. Am I observing this correctly? This would allow both a beefy shaft and a small tip. Are snooker cues generally pretty stiff - when compared to a pool cue at least?
Click to expand...

Here's an end-on view of my Mike Wooldridge snooker cue and my pool break cue.
iph_mw_vs_furybkjmp_tapers.jpg


The taper of the snooker cue is straight. If you notice the slight bend towards the tip, that'd be my fault.
It's tricky to get the entire length of the cue in focus, which is why the picture is grainy.
DSC_4876.JPG


Here's another view. The shadow helps show the straightness of the taper.
DSC_4863.JPG


Yup, that's fishing line holding up the cue. I don't recall if my wife merely shook her head at this or if she made a snarky comment. End result: desired photos taken, still married!
 
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Wity said:
Blokes who complain about catching their stubble in a joint are ushaven scruffy buggers who aint got the sense to not rest their chins on their cue and dont have the brains to sand smooth the joint. Its such a feeble excuse it's nonsence.
Click to expand...

Buy a jointed cue. For a time, Graeme Dott simply put an adhesive patch on his chin. :D:D:D

But I think he was simply trying to reduce skin irritation - he's such a baby face. :D
 
Wity said:
You have more chance of seeing the queen mum winning a gold at diving in the olympics than you have of finding Hendry playing snooker with an ash cue. The bloke is either alergic or has a phobia i reckon. His original Powerglide was when new pretty expensive at around £70 way above average but by the time he was established it was no longer straight and i remember commentators took the micky out of it. Always looking for a cue to replace it he was gullable enough to even use an Acuerate rubbish cue before reverting back to a Parris.

The prefered cue of any snooker player is a one piece, always has been and always will be as all players will testify you get a better feel without a joint. The only reason anyone has a jointed cue is when encased they will lie across a back seat of a car as opposed to being angled in the footwell of one side and possibly bashed in the door of the other when being shut. Really the first thing you shoud do when buying a cue is go shopping for a car that has Hummer sized rear seats or fold down ones that have a flap in the middle so you can put your one piece in the boot.
(and if like me your into fishing make sure you have enough length for your rod bag)

Blokes who complain about catching their stubble in a joint are ushaven scruffy buggers who aint got the sense to not rest their chins on their cue and dont have the brains to sand smooth the joint. Its such a feeble excuse it's nonsence.
Click to expand...

What this guy said.
Ash can yank hairs out if you don't care for your cue properly as well. A thin treatment of linseed oil periodically will keep the grains from opening up.

The balance and hit of 3/4 jointed cues is superior to 1/2 jointed cues as well.IMHO.

As far as ash or maple goes, I have heard that ash wood is more stable in humid environments, like the uk. Maple has a stiffer hit, being a denser wood, ash plays softer. Some players don't like the prominent grain that ash has.


Stephen hendry's cue was crooked as a dogs hind leg as well (the old one which was destroyed).
 
Snooker cue

Get hold of monto p2 here on AZ. He can get a custom o'min 3/4 done up with two shaft sizes, one for pool, the other snooker for a more than reasonable price.
 
I had Mike Wooldridge make me a Snooker cue 2 or 3 years ago. Excellent cue and excellent craftsman Mike is. It's a 3/4 joint cue, and so I also bought the Ostich skin case to fit. All told the price wasn't so bad. I did not get veneers, so it's ebony into ash only. Mike has his own proprietary joint that is probably the best fit on any pool or snooker cue I've ever seen. Shipping from the UK to NC is pretty stiff at about $125.

So, I play American Snooker on 10 footers with 2 1/8 balls, and playing with the 9.5mm tip is a unique feel, but I honestly amd cautious when trying to juice the cueball with it. Lately I've adjusted to an OB2 shaft for my Pool cues, and at 11.75mm it works pretty well for both pool and snooker, and I don't have to get used to a different feeling cue for different games anymore. I primarily play one pocket, and snooker, in that order, and so with the OB2 it's less adjustment for me.

If you really want a nice snooker cue at a fair price check out the Mike Wooldridge Shark Series. Very simple looking cues, but as soon as you see and touch it you will appreciate his skills as a cuemaker.

I did try pool with it though and it just didn't work.
 
TheThaiger said:
Are Omin cues any good then?
Click to expand...

I've got a one piece of o'min, it hits great, and I've owned two parris custom cues which were over 1k each.

A professional once asked to look at my cue, and remarked at how well made the o'min cues were, and how that was affecting the marketplace for UK cue makers. Fit finish and hit parallels the parris cues I've owned, or any other. Letsputit this way, since snooker was dying out i sold my cues and only kept the o'min for a player.
 
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Pre-Flag Master said:
I've noticed that pro snooker players who cross over to pool, start out playing with their snooker cues and end up going to a pool cue. Begs the question are snooker cues really just right for snooker and pool cues really just right for pool?
Click to expand...

Speaking in generalities, the answer would be yes, snooker cues for snooker, pool cues for pool. It’s all about tip size, so the smaller the cue ball, the smaller the cue tip.

Pre-Flag Master said:
Which leads me to my interest in snooker cues. It seems like they have a taper that starts at a point about 5 inches back from the tip and goes down quickly to the tip. Am I observing this correctly? This would allow both a beefy shaft and a small tip. Are snooker cues generally pretty stiff - when compared to a pool cue at least?
Click to expand...

I’ve had an English cuemaker describe the taper on his cues as “cigar-shaped”. So, yes, the shaft would be “beefier” in comparison to the normal taper on a pool cue. I think the mindset is, the stiffer the shaft, less deflection – but I’m not really sure how that compares to a pool cue. It’s been years since I played pool or used a pool cue.

Pre-Flag Master said:
It doesn't seem to be too easy to buy a snooker cues in the US. What's up with that? Any suggestions? This purchase would be for experimentation, so I would want something that's inexpensive, but actually represents a legitimate snooker cue in terms of dimensions. 1/2 length preferred as opposed to 3/4, but 3/4 would do.
Click to expand...

We have problems finding decent snooker cues in Canada too – but if you can find a Dufferin Snooker cue it would work for you. Most of the mass produced cues have varnished shafts – BCE and Riley come to mind immediately. For experimentation, I’d go with the measurements that most entry-level snooker cues stick to: 57-59” long, ash shaft with a tip size of 9.5-10mm, and balance point close to 17” from the butt.

Hope this helps.
 
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