Ash Pool Cue Shafts

Pangit

Pangit

Banned
"Pool" is a misnomer. Snooker I should say. The best Cue Artist in the world play with Ash, and they don't worry about low deflection shafts, play with 9.5mm soft mushrooming tips, green triangle chalk. KISS. Make way more above the table money than pool players.

I'd like a "custom" Ash Pool Cue.
 
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You think it would be a good bet to put your 'best cue artist' up against Mr. Efren Reyes or Alex Pagulayan or John Schmidt or SVB (shiiiiit, I will even throw in a Brandon Shuff!) in an all around of 3 basic cue disciplines:
Snooker, 3c and 9 or 10b?

You lose.

Wood type is basically irrelevant to billiard skills.
 
Black-Balled said:
Wood type is basically irrelevant to billiard skills.
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Then why does each (or at least some) of the disciplines have there own?

I, too, am puzzled why maple is so dominant. Many snooker players play 9 ball with their 9mm ash snooker cues, some to a very high standard indeed.
 
Pangit said:
"Pool" is a misnomer. Snooker I should say. The best Cue Artist in the world play with Ash, and they don't worry about low deflection shafts, play with 9.5mm soft mushrooming tips, green triangle chalk. KISS. Make way more above the table money than pool players.

I'd like a "custom" Ash Pool Cue.
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"Best cue artists?" Vast majority of snooker players who try pool can`t hack it. Ask Ronnie O`Sullivan how easy pool is.
 
sammylane12 said:
"Best cue artists?" Vast majority of snooker players who try pool can`t hack it. Ask Ronnie O`Sullivan how easy pool is.
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Oh please. Are you seriously suggesting RONNIE O'SULLIVAN couldn't stick a few balls in massive pockets regularly enough to be quite good at it?

You Americans should go see some proper cueists occasionally. You're in for a shock.
 
TheThaiger said:
Oh please. Are you seriously suggesting RONNIE O'SULLIVAN couldn't stick a few balls in massive pockets regularly enough to be quite good at it?

You Americans should go see some proper cueists occasionally. You're in for a shock.
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Just thought I'd throw in a quote from Ronnie from when he decided to try and play pool in the US.


"At the moment I am an awful pool player. I have got to get used to heavier balls, different angles from the cushions, things like that.
"Snooker players are perfectionists but in pool you leave yourself with shots you would not dream of taking on the snooker table like potting balls off cushions. There is a diamond system to the table which is simple if you know how to work it. If you don't it isn't.
"That's why snooker players get thrashed by American pool players because it is not as easy as it looks. I think there is more luck involved in pool than snooker but I still think there is a tremendous skill level in pool that goes unseen.
"Once I started playing pool over the last couple of weeks I have realised it is a very difficult game and there is an art to it. If you compare it to snooker, with big holes in pool surely you shouldn't miss but it is not as simple as that. There are a lot more tactics to the game - which I need to learn and that will take time."
 
TheThaiger said:
Oh please. Are you seriously suggesting RONNIE O'SULLIVAN couldn't stick a few balls in massive pockets regularly enough to be quite good at it?

You Americans should go see some proper cueists occasionally. You're in for a shock.
Click to expand...

Sure, he could make shots on a pool table. He just couldn`t win pool tournaments. I remember several years ago when he took up 9 ball, was going to be the "new sheriff in town". It didn`t last very long.
 
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In reference to the ASH shafts, I must concur. A few years ago, I purchased a half dozen or so 3/4 snooker cues, made with ASH shafts, and various types of woods for the butts. I was amazed at how solid the hit was, comparing to maple shafts.

I don't know how available ASH is in comparison to maple, but I have asked several cue makers if they would make ash shafts. I got no positive responses. One reason that came up was that the ASH shafts were "UGLY" with all the wood grains running thru them. The pool players of today (for whatever the reason) want beautiful, solid white, maple shafts.

I was recently given a two piece cue, made completely of ASH. I must admit, it is NOT a thing of beauty, however, it has an amazing hit, and this particular shaft has a 13mm tip!

My experience playing 8 ball or 9 ball (on a 7 foot table) with a 9.5 - 10mm tip was a good one. Using the smaller tip, I was able to get a lot of English and action, easily moving the cue ball all around the table. The negative side is trying to make a long, table length shot with the small tip was difficult. I was able to play a decent game on my 9 footer, as long as I could draw close position to my object ball.

I played a lot of snooker back in the '70s, and found that there is quite a difference in the two games. As was mentioned in someone's earlier post, the balls are smaller, lighter, and react a whole lot different than the 2-1/4" "POOL" balls. I will not enter into the argument of who might be the better of the two worlds, snooker vs. pool. The only way that this could be settled would be to have both styles of play compete against each other in both fields, with both types of equipment. I think this would pose a very interesting situation.

Allison Fisher, Karen Corr, Kelly Fisher, and I don't know how many more have all come from Snooker backgrounds as Snooker Champions, and done VERY well in the "POOL" world. They seem to play a fair game of pool IMHO!
 
TAP said:
In reference to the ASH shafts, I must concur. A few years ago, I purchased a half dozen or so 3/4 snooker cues, made with ASH shafts, and various types of woods for the butts. I was amazed at how solid the hit was, comparing to maple shafts.

I don't know how available ASH is in comparison to maple, but I have asked several cue makers if they would make ash shafts. I got no positive responses. One reason that came up was that the ASH shafts were "UGLY" with all the wood grains running thru them. The pool players of today (for whatever the reason) want beautiful, solid white, maple shafts.

I was recently given a two piece cue, made completely of ASH. I must admit, it is NOT a thing of beauty, however, it has an amazing hit, and this particular shaft has a 13mm tip!......!
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I have a pool cue with an ash shaft. I love the hit. :thumbup:
 
Pangit said:
"Pool" is a misnomer. Snooker I should say. The best Cue Artist in the world play with Ash, and they don't worry about low deflection shafts, play with 9.5mm soft mushrooming tips, green triangle chalk. KISS. Make way more above the table money than pool players.

I'd like a "custom" Ash Pool Cue.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure Stephen Hendry plays with a maple shaft.
 
Andy Craig was accustomed to ash shafts in his youth (in England) so he had one of his snooker cues used to make his pool cue shaft. He is deadly with that cue. I've hit with the cue and can only say this is a case where it is clearly the archer and not the arrow.

But then I grew up playing snooker with pool cues (and still do on rare occasion). I'm afraid the grain patterns in ash do detract from my concentration on the shot. Given the way most of the great snooker players position themselves for a shot, I'm not sure they even notice the grain patterns. In any case, I think it's more a matter of what you are accustomed to rather than the superiority of one wood over the other.
 
The use of Ash wood for shafts is a matter of tradition in England, just as the use of Maple for shafts is a matter of tradition here in the U.S. Both woods will give a solid hit. The constant use of Ash by Snooker players in England I suppose allows them the natural ability to ignore the appearance of the Ash grain on their shafts. Given enough time I think a U.S. based pool player can learn to ignore the Ash grain if they were to adopt an Ash shaft.

What I found most interesting recently was watching a video of John Parris's cue shop and seeing that most of the work of creating an Ash shaft for his cues was done by hand planing the wood rather than doing it all on a lathe. Now that is a committment to tradition. Snooker players in England dont seem to have a problem with the quality of a John Parris cue made in their traditional manner. And as someone who has played alot of Snooker in his life, I would very much love to be able to order a custom John Parris cue.

Now as soon as I can get the extra $1,500.00 to blow on anything I want, I will place my order.
 
TheThaiger said:
Oh please. Are you seriously suggesting RONNIE O'SULLIVAN couldn't stick a few balls in massive pockets regularly enough to be quite good at it?

You Americans should go see some proper cueists occasionally. You're in for a shock.
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LOL!

I lived in and played in the UK for a year. Kingston Upon Thames, played pool and snooker.

I think they were the ones shocked by me. LOL!

Oh, and I used a pool cue. My JOSS. :D
 
TheThaiger said:
Oh please. Are you seriously suggesting RONNIE O'SULLIVAN couldn't stick a few balls in massive pockets regularly enough to be quite good at it?

You Americans should go see some proper cueists occasionally. You're in for a shock.
Click to expand...

The games are not even similar. Neither a pro pool player will play at the pro level at snooker, nor will a pro snooker player be able to play at the pro level in pool. Some have tried, and not faired too well doing so. Both are great games, but completely different in strategies. Just because the pockets are different sizes doesn't change that fact.
 
Manoman2444 said:
I don't know, wasn't Allison Fisher a snooker player before she became a pool player?
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Yes, and was quite a good snooker player too. You can bet she didn't drop the snooker and become a world beater at pool overnight though. I am sure she had to put in many many hours on a pool table to get where she could play at the pro level.
 
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