I have been breaking and jumping with Dymondwood for some time now. I have a dedicated cue for each. I love the equipment and don’t see myself changing. However, a few weeks ago, I was in a pretty bad car accident and injured some tendons in my wrist. Swinging my breakcue is often painful due to the weight of the Dymondwood. I’ve been using a much lighter weight OB speed break shaft, I also have taken some weight out of the butt to allow me to comfortably swing the cue. I have been getting pretty consistent 9ball breaks, squaring the ball after impact and often pocketing the 1 in the opposite side pocket or the wing ball, or sometimes both.(I break from the sideline rail) As my wrist gets better, I have tried going back to the Dymondwood shaft but with not such great results. Of course I am hitting at 3/4 speed or so. I have heard some people talk about how Dymondwood is meant to perform best when using a hard break. I am wondering what y’all think about that, and what in your opinion is the best 9ball break with Dymondwood. I can still control the cueball with my more powerful break so that isn’t an issue. Is Dymondwood meant to be mainly broken with hard or have many of you had success using a controlled softer break with it as well. Any advice is appreciated, thanks.
Speed of break with dymondwood?
- Thread starter Scothron
- Start date
Not necessarily. Break speed comes from the combined weight of the cue and speed of the stroke. Speed of the stroke is the bigger factor, and a lighter cue can often be stroked faster, but not always - if you can swing a heavier cue at the same speed as a lighter one you get a faster CB. That depends on the player’s “fast twitch” muscles (not necessarily brute strength).
pj
chgo
ever heard of a guy named corey deuel? he could break by phewing the cue ball. no need for power until your wrist is back to 100. you can develop bad form trying to compensate. im in gym mode right now, trying to get back in shape, lifting pretty heavy, some days I try to shoot and my arm acts like it has a mind of its own, its kinda funny, but it makes for consistency to be wishful thinking. I say break like you normally do just with slower speeds.. sucks to be injured.
Dymondwood is way heavier than maple because it's impregnated wood held together with epoxy. It hits very hard and extremely rigid. A heavy Dymondwood cue would only be practical for breaking due to deflection.
Lighten it up, you now have a low deflection cue for playing pool.
The best 9 ball break with a Dymondwood cue for me would be
60% strength, pocket the 1 in the side, have the 9ball roll out to either corner pocket for an easy combination or carom on my next shot to win the game.
And Trina*
I once saw a fella kick himself in the back of his own head he tried to break so hard. Funniest thing ever. The balls barely moved because he was so focused on looking like a scorpion he fudged the hit.
Lighten it up, you now have a low deflection cue for playing pool.
The best 9 ball break with a Dymondwood cue for me would be
60% strength, pocket the 1 in the side, have the 9ball roll out to either corner pocket for an easy combination or carom on my next shot to win the game.
And Trina*
I once saw a fella kick himself in the back of his own head he tried to break so hard. Funniest thing ever. The balls barely moved because he was so focused on looking like a scorpion he fudged the hit.
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My breakcue has a traditional impregnated dymondwood shaft that weighs roughly 6oz and the butt is flat laminated just like you would expect, but it isn’t impregnated. Creates a very front weighted breakcue that transmits good power with minimal effort. It is a Krindlekin custom break cue. The butt is extremely light but I have multiple weigh bolts I can add or take away. I owned an Alex Brick j/b a while back, I thought it broke and jumped well, but it was so heavy (23oz or so if memory serves) that it broke down my mechanics and I lost control of the cue. I sold it after just a few days. I guess I’m considering switching back to the Dymondwood but removing all the weight bolts to try to get the weight down under 19oz. I just don’t really know if that would kinda be defeating the purpose of the Dymondwood to make it that light if part of what makes them break so well is the heavier weight. I believe dymondwood has a nice pop to it, a little more so than regular wood, I guess I’m just wanting to take the time I have to spend breaking softer and with a lighter cue to figure out exactly how I want to set up my cue when I’m healed up. Don’t know if anyone out there has a similarly built breakcue with just the impregnated shaft. Also, the Krindlekin jump cue with the heavy Dymondwood shaft and hammerhead tip jumps like a dream.
Before I hurt my hand, I used the predator break speed app to test out break speed with the cue at its heaviest weight, a middle weight, as well as the current lighter weight. Unfortunately, I have not had good luck with consistent readings from it. Either the app isn’t that great or the fact that the table is in my basement could be causing an echo in sound that’s throwing it off. I follow the directions perfectly so I’m not sure what it is.
The grain of truth in the statement is that Dymondwood, phenolic tips, and a handful of other cue materials and construction techniques are incorporated specifically to hit the ball harder; to transfer more energy into the CB. If you're not going for a hard break, these things no longer have a point, and any decrease in accuracy or control (aka the reasons you don't use them on your playing cue) is no longer worthwhile.
It's not that the cue suddenly develops a curve when you hit the ball softer, or that the rack somehow knows what material the CB was hit with 4 feet ago. There's nothing about cue design that only works at a hard speed. There are only elements of design whose only benefit is more speed, and if you're not trying to maximize speed they don't make sense.
There might be some benefit from not needing to hit as hard to get the same CB speed. This could apply to shots other than break shots.
pj
chgo
Very true PJ.
I find that energy transfer, which is what your speaking of, is one of the best things about carbon fiber shafts.
Jeff
Get the Predator break speed app for your phone, it works like sonar. I tried several cues and found not much difference in speed, break cues, playing cues, house cues.
Maybe Diamond wood produces faster cue ball, only one way to find out.
Good luck, have fun with it.
Maybe Diamond wood produces faster cue ball, only one way to find out.
Good luck, have fun with it.
It can also help you learn to break faster with whichever cue you use. As others have said, though, you need control first. If you scratch a lot, more power is not useful.