Blue Cues?

Myrtle_04

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I love blue. I did a search for blue woods and found Blue Mahoe and Beetle Kill Pine. Has anyone used these woods in a cue? If so I'd like to see some pictures. Also some suggestions for a wood that would look good dyed blue/dark blue. I have a few ideas of what I would like in a cue, but i'm not sure how exactly to go about it and what my best option would be whether going with a naturally blue wood, dyed wood, or combination of both.

Thanks in advance.
 
My suggestions would be to use either Birdseye or Curly Maple stained blue, or to use Box Elder Burl wood that is dyed blue.
 
And the blue on the shaft over time will blend in nice. I think your on to something here. Johnnyt
 
I thought of a curly maple and I looked up some examples of dyed burl in pens. That would look pretty cool. I just want something that looks nice and not gawdy or too bright.

http://www.fcwood.com/ - love how it's blue and contrasts with the natural color of the wood accented with blue in the pores

http://www.wndpens.com/Baron-Fountain-Pen-p/bf5w11.htm - I love the color here, but I'm a afraid the cue would look like it came of an assembly line if it was solid throughout the butt rather like this

http://www.poolcueguru.com/product/rage-midnight-blue-curly-maple-cue-rg-120/

I need to come up with some design ideas to make it elegant. I do want a wrapless cue. Don't want someone to come up to me and think I have a $50 starter cue. Not trying to be a dick. I just see alot of really good looking deep red incorporated into cues and not alot of blue that looks high end and well done.
 
Pine doesn't work for pool cues. But the pine with streaks in it looks good for furniture for the cottage. I've seen some coffee tables made from it. Rustic looking.

Blue is my favorite color too. You might consider using blue pearlescent in the butt sleeve. A couple of different shades of blue veneers.

I'm having one made like that right now.
 
Blue Mahoe

I have, to my knowledge, the only cue made with Blue Mahoe. I sourced the wood my self from a sustainable forestry project located in Puerto Rico. I'll get some pics up if you are interested in seeing them.

EDIT: Here is a link: Blue Mahoe Cue. Bob Dzuricky made the cue, and it is very nice. His pictures don't really show the wood that well, though. Very iridescent, but did turn out more purple than blue. That is the thing with Blue Mahoe; you really don't know what shade you're going to get until it is turned and finished.

Make sure you do your research before you proceed with Blue Mahoe.

Josh
 
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Blue inlays and veneers...

Hello,
I also like blue, but I prefer a cobalt blue. I guess it is more purple than blue, but that is debatable.

My cue has a double Royal Blue veneer used in the v-groove points as well as Lapis inlays. My jp's also use royal blue veneers.
If you compare the two Royal Blue veneers in the Cue and JP, you can get an idea how the wood grain/cut plays a role in how the color can vary using the same shade of veneer.
(see my Avatar)

Bob Dzuricky did an excellent job on my cue (his blue Mahoe cue was mentioned earlier).
My JP's were made by Jim Baxter. Both veneers were listed as Royal Blue though.

I have a thread that shows most of the process pics. Bob Dzuricky's site also shows my cue's forearm in his Forearm page.
That page will show you a contrast of what my veneer looked like before and after clear coat.

I would like to see your Blue cue... keep us posted on the progress.

Best of luck
Jeremy
 
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My suggestions would be to use either Birdseye or Curly Maple stained blue, or to use Box Elder Burl wood that is dyed blue.
Fine advice!

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=156584
dontcheat.jpg
 
wow! I really like that Kenny murrell. The SS joint is kind of a turnoff, but the ebony and the elder burl contrast great. I really like the light spots in the bottom of the butt to give it that natural wood look. This gave me some really good ideas of what i'm looking for and how I can break up the elder burl using ebony. The only negatives I have are the joint collars and the JPs. Instead of the solid ring design I want something more broken up using the blue as an accent like in the tascarella and EddySJ's cue. I might want to go with a more of a thicker almost tile pattern around the collar either breaking it up with ebony or whatever would I use.

The tascarella is very nice also. Like his use of blue as an accent. I'm really looking for a wrapless cue as my back hand is pretty much all over the place on the butt of the cue and I don't like feeling the end of a wrap.

I understand how some people would see the Murrell cue as maybe a little to "mass production". IMO it's mostly going back to the joint collars and the JPs. I'm wondering how it would look if the black was a little lighter and the wood grain was visible in the ebony. It's not really something i've thought of before, but i'm kind of interested to see what it would look like.

I'm not trying to knock anything, but I do have a question.

Where did the dots and the I guess diamond like symbol in the points come from? I've seen it in a few cues and I was just wondering where it came from and what the appeal is.
 
Where did the dots and the I guess diamond like symbol in the points come from? I've seen it in a few cues and I was just wondering where it came from and what the appeal is.

Notched diamonds and dots are a classic form of inlay design pattern that goes back to the late 50's/early 60's and later. They are often associated with cues from that era made by George Balabushka, Franke Paradise, Palmer and others. Those inlay forms before cuemakers got ahold of them were often used by luthiers (people who build guitars) for inlays in guitar necks. Today's modern cue makers continue to use these inlay forms whenever they wish to produce an "old school" or "classic" design in their cues. I have always been a fan of the design patterns myself.
 
Notched diamonds and dots are a classic form of inlay design pattern that goes back to the late 50's/early 60's and later. They are often associated with cues from that era made by George Balabushka, Franke Paradise, Palmer and others. Those inlay forms before cuemakers got ahold of them were often used by luthiers (people who build guitars) for inlays in guitar necks. Today's modern cue makers continue to use these inlay forms whenever they wish to produce an "old school" or "classic" design in their cues. I have always been a fan of the design patterns myself.

Thanks for the history lesson. I didn't realize guitars had such an influence on cuemakers. I can see where the fabrication similarities go hand in hand.
 
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