From tree to cue how long?
- Thread starter 9BallKY
- Start date
Coos Cues
Coos Cues
Walker warned not to comment on things you haven't actually done last week.
Apparently there are no loggers here.:smile:
I'm not a cuemaker but I'm guessing there are so many different factors to really say. Air dried vrs. Kiln dried , type of wood, location humidity, cored vrs not, how many passes does a particular cuemaker make before it's to size and how often they make a pass. Straight grain vrs.twisted grain vrs.burl..stabilized vrs.not stabilized. I'm sure there are other factors they take into consideration.
Not a cue maker, just a cue repair guy. I do woodworking for a hobby. Depending on the species of wood and moisture content, it can take at least a couple of weeks just to make a picture frame for an 8x10 photo. When you cut wood, you should let it rest. There are far more steps in making a cue compared to a picture frame. It wouldn’t surprise me if the cue makers suggested months if not a year to make a custom cue.
What Kim says above^^^. Ebony, air dried for example, is at least 2-3 yrs and have heard as much as 10 yrs. It depends on so many factors if it's air dried. I usually weigh the wood when I take possession of it, mark each piece with date and weight, then forget about it for at least 6 months then every few months re-weigh them. Once it stays the same weight for 2-3 measurements thru the different seasons, it is ready, IMO.
Dave
Don't worry about when the tree was cut.
Seasoning starts when the maker receives his woods.
Sticks needles on them and see their moisture content .
Depending on his shop conditions, seasoning might take long or not very long .
When the wood stops losing weight after a while, it's ready to be turned. Most are turned to 1 3/8 round and hung . If they are going to be cored, smaller hole can be drilled .
They sit a while, then turned again and final size holes are drilled.
Seasoning starts when the maker receives his woods.
Sticks needles on them and see their moisture content .
Depending on his shop conditions, seasoning might take long or not very long .
When the wood stops losing weight after a while, it's ready to be turned. Most are turned to 1 3/8 round and hung . If they are going to be cored, smaller hole can be drilled .
They sit a while, then turned again and final size holes are drilled.
I'm sure the answers are going to be as variable as the factors used to derive the answer. For general woodworking, the answer seems to be just as complicated. But that also depends upon your ability to read the grain of the piece and (hopefully) recognize and stay away from a piece of reaction wood. That's not easy. Doesn't matter how long you let something dry, it's going to move as the seasons change anyway. Really important to construction / joinery and an easy way to weed out junk as time passes. Some pieces of wood aren't usable without stabilization no matter how you treat them. Even with a finish on top, things aren't impervious to moisture change. I imagine it's no different for cues. It's probably not a bad idea to let things go through seasonal moisture change after reaching equilibrium with the environment and checking carefully for surface checking along the way.
Or you could probably make a pretty damn nice cue out of a piece of green straight-gained mesquite with no finish and dare someone to get that sucker to warp.
Or you could probably make a pretty damn nice cue out of a piece of green straight-gained mesquite with no finish and dare someone to get that sucker to warp.
I don’t feel comfortable rushing any wood to season. I started making cues in 1998, I quit in 2005 and started again a few years ago. Most of my ‘river of wood’ I have had for many years. Most times I’ll turn some pieces and it will be months or years when they get turned again.
I date every piece of wood in my shop, when I buy it and then each time it gets turned so I always know the status of any piece in my shop. Assembled butts and shafts also get dated.
I do not use any chemicals to ‘stabilize’ my wood. I prefer time.
Every maker is different. But you won’t get wood aged like this from most, if any, production companies.
Some of my shafts that are 20 years old, minimum.
Constantly buying more wood. It’s literally my 401k.
I date every piece of wood in my shop, when I buy it and then each time it gets turned so I always know the status of any piece in my shop. Assembled butts and shafts also get dated.
I do not use any chemicals to ‘stabilize’ my wood. I prefer time.
Every maker is different. But you won’t get wood aged like this from most, if any, production companies.
Some of my shafts that are 20 years old, minimum.
Constantly buying more wood. It’s literally my 401k.
Thanks guys for all of your answers. I was just curious about this subject. I’m not a cue maker. I barely know which end to point at the cue ball. Several years ago I cut up a maple behind my house that blew down and the wood in it was spalted so it got me to thinking on this subject and I had just never had ask that question.
I’ve also got a huge maple with several burls on it behind my house. I look at it sometimes and think what a shame it is that some cuemaker doesn’t have that wood stored somewhere to turn into some beautiful cues some day.
I’ve also got a huge maple with several burls on it behind my house. I look at it sometimes and think what a shame it is that some cuemaker doesn’t have that wood stored somewhere to turn into some beautiful cues some day.
Know what species of maple it is? Only soft maples grow where I'm at. Any burl of course is just decorative. Same with spalted wood. Spalt is the result of fungal infection and is essentially rot. Need to be careful with it not to let the moisture back in when it's dry or the spores can activate. Can be beautiful when treated properly, although it's not everyone's cup of tea.
No not sure what species of maple it is. I believe it is either a sugar maple or a silver maple though.
Too many variables
This is an example different woods.
I bought a piece of snakewood from a reputable dealer that said it was from a batch he had bought 25 years ago.
Being snakewood I was very careful and cut it over a few years 3 to 5 if I remember correctly.
2 years after the cue was complete, it developed hairline cracks.
This is an example different woods.
I bought a piece of snakewood from a reputable dealer that said it was from a batch he had bought 25 years ago.
Being snakewood I was very careful and cut it over a few years 3 to 5 if I remember correctly.
2 years after the cue was complete, it developed hairline cracks.
hahahaha........... maybe if anyone is wondering why I warned about that.......... for 20 or so years I was a technical trainer for transport refrigeration............ just once.... I attempted to show how some thing was done that I had never done my self........... TOTAL DISASTER........... looked like an idiot in front of 40 guys.............. never did that again.......... and I follow that rule
I have a decent amount of snakewood I have had for over 15 years. Some of it has developed cracks, some hasn’t. For me, I have decided I’ll only use it for points and inlays. I haven’t had any problems with that.
A good friend of mine bought a cue from a well known maker last year. He isn’t the original owner, the cue was made in the 90’s. He showed it to me when he got it. A few months later he had brought it to the pool hall to play with. I was looking at it and noticed the buttsleeve, which was a full 3” or so of snakewood, had a hairline crack on two sides.
It wasn’t like that when he bought it a few months previously.
Just not worth the headache for me. Only for points and inlays.