Shaft flex increase with use?

Kimmo H.

Kimmo H.

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
This thing caught my attention last night when I played with a few different shafts of different ages and hours on them.

I have an old precat 314 that has been unplayed up untill this year and that shaft hits pretty stiff and sporty as of today. However I have a friends cue in storage at my house and he has a 314 too but that shaft has seen some serious use over the last 15 years and it feels like a rubber hose compared to mine. Its whippy as what and hard for me to play with. Both are the same 12.7 in diameter and have the same exact taper. There is definitely something off about it for sure. Do shafts wear out over time in use and lose their spine so to speak?

I have a bunch of other shafts aswell and they have all changed in hit a little bit but nowhere near as much as the Predator shaft has. Solid shafts less so than laminated, they dont seem to be affected quite as much for whatever reason :confused:
How about you, have you experienced anything like this or is it just me :rolleyes:
 
HawaiianEye

HawaiianEye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I would have to think that anything that bends or flexes will lose something over a long period of time and continuous motion.

I think if you use the same shaft all the time, you become accustomed to it because it is a gradual change and you don't notice it like you did in this case. You were immediately comparing one with little play to one with lots of play.
 
Fuji-whopper

Fuji-whopper

Fargo: 457...play some?
Silver Member
Wood has a memory but like humans the memory fades, also as mentioned shafts will get thinner with tip replacement and cleanings. If you clean it by hand most people will sand the center of the shaft twice and the tip once with each stroke, usually you start at the middle of the shaft and run your hand up to the tip then back down to the middle which constitutes one pass. You just sanded the middle twice and tip once without really thinking about it so it's natural for the middle of the shaft to get thinner faster than the tip which will exacerbate the condition you're speaking about. It's very hard to notice and since you don't measure the middle of the shaft it will only become obvious when it starts playing differently, which by that time it's kind of too late.


Neil
 
K

kollegedave

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
You know now that you mention it, I feel like I noticed the same thing. I am going to take more care to try and compare used vs. unused shafts.

I am interested to hear other responses to this.

kollegedave
 
D

dawgcpa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Shafts

I heard Mark Wilson mention on a stream that they definitely wear out and will need to be replaced at some time. He talked like they he felt shafts definitely had a life span....
 
billiardthought

billiardthought

Anti-intellectualism
Silver Member
I am wondering where the sweet spot is as far as mileage vs playability goes. A lot of you are saying shafts wear out over time and I certainly agree with that. But what I have heard MORE of is that shafts wear IN. I was specifically told by a pro that uses the same shafts as me to make sure I play with both shafts equally for a number of months before making any big judgements about them as they will settle in to themselves so to speak. Interested in more responses on this subject.
 
mortuarymike-nv

mortuarymike-nv

mortuarymike-nv
Silver Member
Wippy shaft

Sounds like you LD guys need some shaft Viagra :thumbup:

I thought my black dot was feeling pretty whippy too , then it delaminated .....
 
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Q

qbilder

slower than snails
Silver Member
dawgcpa said:
I heard Mark Wilson mention on a stream that they definitely wear out and will need to be replaced at some time. He talked like they he felt shafts definitely had a life span....
Click to expand...

That's probably pretty accurate, but conditional. Nothing wears on wood like climatic swings, most notable of which is severe humidity swings. Otherwise wood is much like plastic. It's stiffer in the cold, and more pliable in the warm. If cold enough and being played with, the flexing can certainly damage the fibers, thus weakening the shaft. The more fiber that's damaged, the less integrity the wood has, and the more it will be able to flex. Not only will it flex more, but will also have slower memory(reflex). Worst of all though is humidity swings. Just like the fibers in your clothes can only withstand so many washes before breaking down, wood can only get wet then dry so many times before it breaks down.

Regardless if solid or laminated, every shaft will eventually fail. The rate at which it happens depends on how you care for it. If you keep the cue in a case and in environmentally controlled areas, it should be fine for your lifetime with no discernible differences. If it's played with several hours daily and is taken from hot to cold and dry to damp, then yeah it's going to wear out in a matter of years. Pro players wear shafts out at the highest rate of anybody, considering they have one long enough. The rest of us likely won't EVER wear out a shaft.
 
Kim Bye

Kim Bye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
qbilder said:
That's probably pretty accurate, but conditional. Nothing wears on wood like climatic swings, most notable of which is severe humidity swings. Otherwise wood is much like plastic. It's stiffer in the cold, and more pliable in the warm. If cold enough and being played with, the flexing can certainly damage the fibers, thus weakening the shaft. The more fiber that's damaged, the less integrity the wood has, and the more it will be able to flex. Not only will it flex more, but will also have slower memory(reflex). Worst of all though is humidity swings. Just like the fibers in your clothes can only withstand so many washes before breaking down, wood can only get wet then dry so many times before it breaks down.

Regardless if solid or laminated, every shaft will eventually fail. The rate at which it happens depends on how you care for it. If you keep the cue in a case and in environmentally controlled areas, it should be fine for your lifetime with no discernible differences. If it's played with several hours daily and is taken from hot to cold and dry to damp, then yeah it's going to wear out in a matter of years. Pro players wear shafts out at the highest rate of anybody, considering they have one long enough. The rest of us likely won't EVER wear out a shaft.
Click to expand...

Since the shaft in question is a laminated shaft, what are the long term characteristics of the glue/epoxy used to hold the shaft together?
 
chefjeff

chefjeff

If not now...
Silver Member
Fuji-whopper said:
Wood has a memory but like humans the memory fades, also as mentioned shafts will get thinner with tip replacement and cleanings. If you clean it by hand most people will sand the center of the shaft twice and the tip once with each stroke, usually you start at the middle of the shaft and run your hand up to the tip then back down to the middle which constitutes one pass. You just sanded the middle twice and tip once without really thinking about it so it's natural for the middle of the shaft to get thinner faster than the tip which will exacerbate the condition you're speaking about. It's very hard to notice and since you don't measure the middle of the shaft it will only become obvious when it starts playing differently, which by that time it's kind of too late.


Neil
Click to expand...

Plus, the hand tends to squeeze the sandpaper just as it goes past the ferrule and this extra friction at that point makes the hourglass shape happen even faster.

Jeff Livingston
 
sammylane12

sammylane12

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Kimmo H. said:
This thing caught my attention last night when I played with a few different shafts of different ages and hours on them.

I have an old precat 314 that has been unplayed up untill this year and that shaft hits pretty stiff and sporty as of today. However I have a friends cue in storage at my house and he has a 314 too but that shaft has seen some serious use over the last 15 years and it feels like a rubber hose compared to mine. Its whippy as what and hard for me to play with. Both are the same 12.7 in diameter and have the same exact taper. There is definitely something off about it for sure. Do shafts wear out over time in use and lose their spine so to speak?

I have a bunch of other shafts aswell and they have all changed in hit a little bit but nowhere near as much as the Predator shaft has. Solid shafts less so than laminated, they dont seem to be affected quite as much for whatever reason :confused:
How about you, have you experienced anything like this or is it just me :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I have 2 original shafts for my 1975 Palmer, along with the four I have had made along the way. The 2 original shafts do not feel any different to me today than when new. If they are different it is extremely negligible.
 
3andstop

3andstop

Focus
Silver Member
Yeah, yeah, yeah.... and we all will never miss again when Venus aligns with Jupiter.

Shit man, I run 60 balls cold out of the gate, and then I can't put 5 balls together for the rest of the day.

Now who's memory started giving up? Me or my shaft? :eek:
 
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