i'll get to the pizza story later
i just came home from spending a week with dennis and his cats
here's my new buddyTiny, a 24 pound lover, he took a real liking to me
damn, i need a shave
applying finish
love that holly and wenge butterfly. dennis said i could come back and make my own later this summer
pics don't show how perfect the finish is on this cue
the next three pictures say it all about dennis
same picture with some fancy editing
i just came home from spending a week with dennis and his cats
here's my new buddyTiny, a 24 pound lover, he took a real liking to me
dennis called me and invited me up for some hands on experience
i have to admit i was a little nervous when i arrived and saw his operation. i had this vision of me screwing up one of his machines or one of his cues. fortunately, niether happened. people can say what they want about dennis being a flake, i heard all that stuff too, but i'm happy to have met him and feel i've made a new friend. i learned quite a bit while there, the little things, the attention to detail. dennis really puts his heart & soul into his work. and he loves to share his knowledge of cuebuilding. before i went there, a local poolhall owner said to me, that dennis only wanted to sell me something or try to impress me with his intelligence and that i was crazy to go to michigan for that. BS!!! yeah, he mentioned the lathes he has for sale, that's how we began talking in the first place. that was the end of the "sales pitch". then it was back to work. not one single question i asked dennis did he not answer for me, or suggest that i have to figure it out on my own. he explained his reasoning to me in terms that a rookie like myself could understand. and he would also show me why do this or why not do such & such.
if i would have met dennis a year or so ago, i surely could have saved myself a lot of grief and frustration. so call him a flake if you want, i'll call him a friend and a teacher. anyone out there interested in getting into building cues, i strongly suggest, take a week and spend some money up front, let dennis teach you something that will save you many headaches that may discourage you from pursuing your dream. i admit i was close to giving up myself. now i have a new determination to stick with it. once i get a real lathe, you have to have the right tools to do any job, i knew that before going to dennis'. sherm adamson & dale pierce have driven that home to me also. two more cue nuts that have helped me recently. also good teachers. i cannot do the things i want to do on my unique cue companion lathe. it's good for tips, ferrules and wraps. THATS IT!!!!
like i say in my signature, i don't consider myself a cuemaker, just a cue converter. i am content with that for now. there's a bazillion cue makers already. i love to take a virtually unusable piece of crap from ebay or a yard sale and make it into a beautiful usable cue.
the next day i was upstairs on his computer checking emails, he hollered up the steps, that this was the first time he ever cleaned his oven with a shop vac. we got a laugh out of it all, fortunately
i told dennis not to mention the 'burnt pizza incident' & i wouldn't mention the two out of two games of chess i won or the 5 to 4 games of 8 ball i won.
dennis , thanks a million for a fantastic week, i wish i could have stayed longer. looking forward to my next trip in august. remember to keep me out of the kitchen!!!!!!!!!!
i have to admit i was a little nervous when i arrived and saw his operation. i had this vision of me screwing up one of his machines or one of his cues. fortunately, niether happened. people can say what they want about dennis being a flake, i heard all that stuff too, but i'm happy to have met him and feel i've made a new friend. i learned quite a bit while there, the little things, the attention to detail. dennis really puts his heart & soul into his work. and he loves to share his knowledge of cuebuilding. before i went there, a local poolhall owner said to me, that dennis only wanted to sell me something or try to impress me with his intelligence and that i was crazy to go to michigan for that. BS!!! yeah, he mentioned the lathes he has for sale, that's how we began talking in the first place. that was the end of the "sales pitch". then it was back to work. not one single question i asked dennis did he not answer for me, or suggest that i have to figure it out on my own. he explained his reasoning to me in terms that a rookie like myself could understand. and he would also show me why do this or why not do such & such.
if i would have met dennis a year or so ago, i surely could have saved myself a lot of grief and frustration. so call him a flake if you want, i'll call him a friend and a teacher. anyone out there interested in getting into building cues, i strongly suggest, take a week and spend some money up front, let dennis teach you something that will save you many headaches that may discourage you from pursuing your dream. i admit i was close to giving up myself. now i have a new determination to stick with it. once i get a real lathe, you have to have the right tools to do any job, i knew that before going to dennis'. sherm adamson & dale pierce have driven that home to me also. two more cue nuts that have helped me recently. also good teachers. i cannot do the things i want to do on my unique cue companion lathe. it's good for tips, ferrules and wraps. THATS IT!!!!
like i say in my signature, i don't consider myself a cuemaker, just a cue converter. i am content with that for now. there's a bazillion cue makers already. i love to take a virtually unusable piece of crap from ebay or a yard sale and make it into a beautiful usable cue.
now about the pizza
geez!!!!!!!!!
i went to town, picked up a couple pizzas, came back to the shop, dennis wanted to finish up something he was working on, so he said, take the pizzas up to the house and stick them in the oven on WARM. dennis' oven dial works assbackwards from my oven at home.geez!!!!!!!!!
gettin a picture here????
we were in the shop for maybe another ten minutes or so, dennis wanted to stay down there and talk about my future a little. thank god i was starving, i said "come on let's go, i can hear those pizzas calling my name." smoke was roaring out the door, the pizza boxes were on fire, flames coming out the oven door. another few minutes, the kitchen would have been in flames. after opening every window in the house and getting some fans going the smoke cleared and we made sandwiches for supper. i was ready to go upstairs and pack my things!!!!! dennis wasn't pissed, surprisingly. thanks dennis. later on we laughed about it. he said he felt comfortable with me in the shop but not in the kitchen. GOOD!!! i hate to cook anyways the next day i was upstairs on his computer checking emails, he hollered up the steps, that this was the first time he ever cleaned his oven with a shop vac. we got a laugh out of it all, fortunately
i told dennis not to mention the 'burnt pizza incident' & i wouldn't mention the two out of two games of chess i won or the 5 to 4 games of 8 ball i won.
dennis , thanks a million for a fantastic week, i wish i could have stayed longer. looking forward to my next trip in august. remember to keep me out of the kitchen!!!!!!!!!!
damn, i need a shave
applying finish
love that holly and wenge butterfly. dennis said i could come back and make my own later this summer
pics don't show how perfect the finish is on this cue
the next three pictures say it all about dennis
same picture with some fancy editing
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hell, my wife even calls me Bert, not Brent 
that's cool 
