Certainly there are woods that are just unstable to begin with as mentioned, and coring has provided the ability to get the looks that some people want, even when the wood types may not have been considered suitable prior to coring becoming an acceptable technic.
For Me I like the feel of uncored cues when using woods that are somewhat stable, suitable, and produce a nice feel and hit, because each can have individual characteristics, that make them unique, and coring may would change that, but some woods are just straight up not acceptable for use without coring.
Even with some woods that are accpetable candidates for non-coring though, there can be stability issues. Wood in general has a mind of It's own from My experiences and IMO. Even Maple can vary from piece to piece. I've heard others say this , and I'm probably even guilty of it Myself, but some people say Their shafts talk to them. I think what this is and atleast I know it is for me, but It could be more of a metaphor to someone that's more less reading the woods, or rather just being very observant. Like with maple shafts, just as an example- It's considered a stable wood, but count, runoff & eveness/straightness of grain, weight, checking the shafts for runout inbetween turns, and so on can reveal alot about the shafts individually, so There are plenty of things to read into. There are many characteristics, that are responsible for shafts being culled. Any given piece may have come from the same batch of maple, and maple may be an acceptable candidate for no coring or even for use as a core, but still yet not every piece can be the same. It just the law of nature, and this rings true for many other woods that are considered stable. when you add in the issues of being properly aged, and cured, then It only adds to the uncertainty, therefore the best thing you can do is be observant, and read the woods so to speak.:wink: It's not without exception, but still alot can be obtained from being observant.
As far as woods that are only suitable with coring- I'll leave that to the experts to list species, as I've for the most part always used what are generally thought of as stable woods, and I am just now venturing into coring some that are not. I know of alot of them somewhere in the back of My mind, and some woods from the looks are obvious, but many have been mentioned here in the archives by people that have had More experiences with them then I. Probably many more then I could come with off the top of My head right now.
The point of My post was just to address the metphors commonly used and mentioned as reading, listening, or talking to the woods, although I don't know, Like Chris mentioned there May be people that actually are in a state of mind where they mean what they say by the sound of their descriptions.
I do feel though, that regardless of the wood type, close attention should always be paid to any characterstics that may indicate problems in advance or effect stability issues down the road, so I like the question, and I'm also interested in hearing what woods others have had experiences with, and info on different wood characteristics.Not only on the stability side but, turning & finishing issues also interest Me.:smile:
Greg
I also agree with Chris. Coring has revolutionized & advanced cuemaking. However, I personally feel it should be used wisely & in well planned moderation. A pingy piece of palisander will be considerably lessened with a maple core, while an unstable burl can be used as a structural piece of the cue if it has the same maple core. There are always two ends of the spectrum, and to focus on one means losing sight of the other. In the end nothing matters more than experience based knowledge.