A ferrule's primary objective is to protect your shaft from splitting like firewood. That's all. With that simple logic in mind, if ferrule material dictates the way your cue hits, feels, sounds, and deflects, then you have done something terribly wrong and you should seriously reconsider your build techniques. If you have done everything correctly in your wood choices and construction, then the material you choose for the ferrule should be nothing but a minute factor in the cue's personality.
No need to offend anyone so I won't go into my thoughts too much on construction techniques. But I will say that it's pointless to put so much time & effort into meticulously building a solid cue with awesome woods and absolutely perfect shafts, only to have all its energy buffered through a ferrule. If you're a confident builder who prides yourself in solid, great playing cues, then chances are good you have found a way to negate the affects a ferrule can have on the cue's performance. These guys choose ferrule material for almost every reason except playability. Playability is built into the entire cue, not reliant on or dictated by the ferrule. On the flip, I too often see builders putting too much emphasis on ferrule choice. This tells me they have a lot more to learn about cue making.
It went both ways for me as I have progressed as a builder. In the beginning, I was amazed at the difference one ferrule can have from another. It was a never ending journey trying to figure out which material hit which way, and which played & sounded the way I preferred. Then it morphed into install technique differences, adhesives, etc. It was a science I couldn't fully grasp because each cue was different. It took many, many, many cues & experiments & careful observation as a player to acquire a solid idea of what & how.
As the years went by I began paying attention to the not so subtle differences in shafts. The wood density, tonal characteristics, dimensions & shape, etc. More experiments on taper, tone, etc. and it eventually got out of hand to the point of obsession. I got a saw mill & began logging, milling, drying, & processing shaft wood. Not for sale, either, but merely to satisfy my own curiosities. I had to know why one cue plays this way and another plays that way, to the point where I realized it all begins with the tree. Yes it's extreme, but I am probably a little OCD. I eventually had a pretty fair grasp on things shaft related, and moved my focus yet again toward the butt.
It amazes me how much difference wood choice can make in the butt. I have experimented with numerous "A" joint techniques, adhesives, dimensions, etc. and have found nothing that contributes to hit more than wood choice. It all matters, for certain, but wood choice is paramount. Not only choosing wood, but marrying it to other woods to either enhance or drown certain characteristics. Yet again, another science to obsess over. Eventually I gathered enough experience to begin grasping the hows & whys of what makes one butt different than another. Even the bumper makes a not insignificant difference.
Anyway, much of this learning went on simultaneously over years, with spells of time being more focused on one aspect than another, and likewise. But over time I began to realize that I had it all wrong in the beginning. The ferrule isn't that important after all, and I shouldn't be using it as a performance defining component. I can control the hit & feel & sound of my cues by building it into the cue. The ferrule is merely a reinforcement to hold the shaft together at the point of impact. Completely opposite line of thinking from when I first began doing cue work. And knowing what I do now, I find myself snobbing down on builders who put so much emphasis on ferrule material. I have to remember that I am wrong, and think back to when I was in the same boat, and still built some great playing cues. When I step back and look at the whole, I realize that my cues don't necessarily hit so much better than they used to, but that I have over time learned why & how so that I can more consistently achieve that hit.
Some of my cues in the beginning hit awesome and some not so much. I knew I could tinker with ferrule materials & install technique to tweak the hit a little this way or that, and I became too reliant on ferrules. Only through experience & the desire to understand things did I learn that it's not the ferrules at all, or at least shouldn't be. If my cue is solid & sound, and I have done everything correctly, then I want that ferrule to be as unnoticeable as possible. Where I used to depend on it, I now want it to play a minimal or no role at all. Now I don't care what the material is so long as it's white, clean, cuts nice, sands nice, and looks good.
Sorry for the long post. Hope it helps somebody. Point being, there are things much more important than ferrules, and if ferrule choice makes that much difference, then you have more to work on somewhere else.
