can a quality custom cue be built without power tools?

S

smashmouth

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
no machines, nothing electric, just manual hand tools, could a high quality plain jane be produced in this manner?
 
No. At bare minimum you would need a lathe, and I can't see a foot-pedal or otherwise manual-powered lathe operating at a high enough speed to do the job.
 
Of course. There are lots of skilled wood craftsman who can make pretty amazing things without power tools. Power tools just makes the job faster and easier.
 
Sure, you just need and olde tymey wood shop:

belts.jpg
 
Don't pool cues predate electricity in the first place? That ought to tell you whether it's possible or not...
 
Baxter said:
That could work, assuming you have someone else to pedal while you work. I can't see doing both being very easy;)
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I thought you could invert it, crank arms down, chain going up and forward from a seat to the edge of a bench. I got the parts, who gots the smarts?!
 
jtaylor996 said:
Don't pool cues predate electricity in the first place? That ought to tell you whether it's possible or not...
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They sure do. I don't think they fit the criteria of being "quality" by modern standards though. I don't think that any cue made with hand tools can ever be of higher quality than one made with modern construction tools and techniques.

Is it possible to make a cue without power tools? Of course it is. Is it possible to make a cue without power tools that played well enough to become a good players every day playing cue? Maybe. I guess a lot of things are possible with an unlimited amount of time. I'd say it's highly unlikely though.
 
Black-Balled said:
I thought you could invert it, crank arms down, chain going up and forward from a seat to the edge of a bench. I got the parts, who gots the smarts?!
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I figured that, but I'm thinking it would still be hard to keep your upper body quiet enough for a steady hand while your lower body is pedaling the cranks. At least for an extended period of time.
 
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OP said no machines....in that case I'm going to say no, absolutely impossible going by the standard definition of a machine. Now, take that away and just make it no power tools and I think you could create a serviceable cue but not one that would stand up to the quality we expect to see today. I also think it would take two people, one person driving some sort of human powered lathe (machine) while the other works on the cue.
 
smashmouth said:
no machines, nothing electric, just manual hand tools, could a high quality plain jane be produced in this manner?
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I would think possibly, but why? I was in Scotland and was at a place where they made Bagpipes. They had lathes and equipment that was once used like hundreds of years ago that was not electric. Foot peddle powered and even powered by a belt and water wheel. So if you have a stream running past your house you may be in business.
 
let's say a one piece cue of very high quality? more realistic?

I mean it's just a tapered straight stick no? maybe some uniformity issues with the taper?
 
What do YOU define as high quality?

By definition high quality does not mean high precision, but typically high precision leads to high quality. That being said, something could be high precision and have design flaws which lead it be low quality in the end.

Say someone could build a high quality/high precision cue on par with cues built with conventional power tools. How would you tell the difference? If it's the same quality and precision, there is no way to tell. Does it actually matter? I don't think so.

Personally, I wouldn't want anything like that. The cost would sky rocket, because of the ridiculous time it would take.
 
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