How do you explain this

You see below the pin there is a void.

This is a weak spot in the wood.

I bet the pin is installed a little crooked (just a few thousandths would be considered "crooked")

Two years of flexation against the void there and POP goes the pool cue.

Do you bend the shaft against the table?

I can see that the end of the split toward the bottom of the cue is what broke, and the fissure rode up to the joint.

Pushing down on the pin could also cause this

Look at the brand...

The grain on that butt is just wrong. Short, diagonal, slash. I'm pretty sure that was not made by a custom cue-maker who would have rejected that grain in that area, and burned the blank. There's a reason it was painted.

That said, some do use exotic wood with phenomenal grain that is gorgeous to look at but maybe not ideal from a technical/structural perspective, for playing cues and it works out fine. Break & Jump cues take a lot more energy and need better grain wood.

smt

cnyncrvr said:

No I dont bend my cue, I stroke through the cue ball and rarely if ever does the tip of my cue make contact with the table.

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But the first post I wrote is likely your real answer.

Have the pin checked for runout.

Have someone install a pin into a house cue butt and reuse the shaft, should still break like a truck

Downward pressure will do that

Mario

Tap clearance left with no plug and epoxy?

And, oh, coring would have likely prevented that .

My guess is massive grain run out and the shaft may not have been completely on tight so it turned the pin into a splitting maul.

Material defect 100%. That wood has a 60* tilt in the face grain while the edge grain appears to run straight. This is because of a crook in the log. There's nothing wrong with the craftsmanship of the cue. The joint is fine. You got a dud & it's nobody's fault, not even the manufacturer. I can clearly see the grain lines in the pic & they run parallel with the center line of the cue. What isn't seen is the tilt in the face grain, well until the cue split. Now you can see exactly how crooked the log was.

Most makers are completely unaware of how wood grain is structured and oriented inside the tree. The dark growth rings that we know of as "grain lines" is only a fraction of the entire grain structure and represent only half of the grain orientation. A straight line running at a 60* angle is still a straight line even though it's not even close to being on course. Same exact thing with this cue. The pic clearly shows the growth rings are straight, but that doesn't mean the grain is straight and parallel to the cue.

Case in point, take a "U" shaped log and stand it so the arch is pointed up. Make a cut right through the center, splitting it in two. Look at the growth rings & they'll run straight as an arrow, but you know damn well the grain is "U" curved. That's exactly what is going on with this cue. Had you laid that log on its side so the arch lies flat on the ground, then cut it in two, you'd see the growth rings make a "U" shape. Growth lines only tell you how they are oriented in the log, not how straight the actual grain is.

cnyncrvr said:

Your post is not helpful and has absolutely no merit what so ever. There are plenty of fantastic reviews on this cue as well as the brand in general.

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It was not my intention to be flippant. I repair stuff like this every day, and some brand are totally overrepresented in failiures and low quality materials.
I`m sorry you heard this was a great cue, as it clearly isn`t.

Btw, this doesn't happen to production cues only.
Seen big brand cues split by the joint as well.

JoeyInCali said:

Btw, this doesn't happen to production cues only.
Seen big brand cues split by the joint as well.

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It'll happen to any cue regardless of maker. I see it in non-cored birdseye front cues, custom and production. Usually it happens to shafts, and more often than not the grain seems otherwise straight. Like I said, it's 100% material defect, and a defect that isn't visible until it's too late. I know a few guys who know how to check for it, and have shown some folks who visit my shop, but for the most part cue makers in general are completely ignorant to it. If the growth lines look straight they think that means the grain is straight. Grave mistake.