Advice on Selecting house Cue for a Shaft!

[jlrowe]

Hey Guys,
Im Thinking about getting a shaft cut from a old house cue. I had one of Shawn Putnams Old Cues that he cut the shaft from old house cue. It was a fantastic shaft. Regret that i had to sell it couple years ago to pay bills. Now cant get it back. So i have a friend that had a pool room back in the 80's that has a few house cues. My question is what do i look for in selecting the best house cue for the shaft?

 

[manwon]

Hey Guys,
Im Thinking about getting a shaft cut from a old house cue. I had one of Shawn Putnams Old Cues that he cut the shaft from old house cue. It was a fantastic shaft. Regret that i had to sell it couple years ago to pay bills. Now cant get it back. So i have a friend that had a pool room back in the 80's that has a few house cues. My question is what do i look for in selecting the best house cue for the shaft?

I have done this on a number of occasions and I look at the following before using a house cue for shaft conversion.

1) I use house cues that are at least 30 years old or older.

2) I use House cues that are perfectly straight, at least .900 above the points when cut, at least 13mm at the ferrule and at least 32 + inches long from the top of the points.

3) I do not use house cues with any major marks that are in the maple, like knots or non straight grain. Curl effect or even some birds eye are OK, as long as the growth line is straight.

 

[desi2960]

old cues

i just bought 100 1920's cues and after i went i was done i had 16 great shafts. the rest were rejects. i look for all obvious flaws, knots, cracks, crooks, etc. then measure length and make sure that 29 1/2 inches from the splice, the shaft is at least 14 mm. i then cut the cue and count the growth rings. i use anything thats 20 gpi or more. i like the honey color of these shafts, reminds me of the old one piece house cues i started playing with 50 years ago. if i were you i would find the oldest cue i could,and look for straight growth rings. good luck. chuck starkey

 

[cueman]

I would look for older cues, reasonably straight, large enough diameters to cut a straight shaft out of it, and tighter grain if possible. The tight grain is not as important on some older house cues because they were dried a different way than most of todays wood, so they often will have a little harder and stiffer wood even though the grain may not be super tight.

 

[jlrowe]

Thanks Guys!

Thanks for the replies Craig, Chris and Chuck that is exactly the info i was looking for. Really never thought about needing to be 14 mm 29.5" from the splice but makes sense now. This would have been probably a valuable mistake i wouldnt have thought of. Thanks Chuck.

I would look for older cues, reasonably straight, large enough diameters to cut a straight shaft out of it, and tighter grain if possible. The tight grain is not as important on some older house cues because they were dried a different way than most of todays wood, so they often will have a little harder and stiffer wood even though the grain may not be super tight.