chester krick
- Thread starter rtbbf
- Start date
Where's the cue where are the pics, nothing here
"the chester krick"????LOL does everyone on the forum know about this cue but me? is that why no pictures or description need to be added to his? just a simple "the chester krick"???lol
man i'm used to being in "the know" about these things.
Chester Crick is a recently departed excellent cue maker that tutored Steve Klein in the art of cue building.
That's probably the best, most brief summary anyone could have put up. well said. Great cues! I have had a couple of his cues- hit and feel pretty good- generally sell fast too. GLWS!!!
Chester Krick...CK Custom Cues...Chester passed away a few years back. Below is the information from Chester's write-up in the 3rd Edition of the Blue Book of Pool Cues (published in 2005):
Chester Krick was an avid pool player in his early teens. He also loved woodworking. In the 1980s, he owned a small woodworking shop, making furniture and antique reproductions. His first cue was factory made. It played alright, but he thought that he could improve it. He worked on it and basically ruined it trying to make it play better. But from that experience, he thought he could build a better cue. He did a lot of research about how to make cues, but information was, and still is, scarce. He finally stumbled across an Internet article about a cue maker named Dennis Dieckman, who was willing to sell information about the art of cue building. Chester called him and visited his shop in Michigan, and after several hours of conversation, decided that he could build cues.
Chester bought a lathe and started making and repairing cues in 1995. He learned by trail and error. It was and still is his goal to make a cue that plays well. The decorative aspect of the cue is secondary. Chester wanted to make two-piece cues that hit like a one-piece clue. He decided that a flat-face wood-to-wood joint was the best way to minimize the hardware at the joint. His first cues were not very fancy, but they hit pretty well. After making about every possible mistake, his cues improved in both function and decoration.
In 1996, Chester built a small website with photos of his cues and outlined his philosophy on cue making. To his surprise, lots of orders started coming in for his custom cues. At that point, he went full time into building cues and started reinvesting profits into better equipment. He got a hobby-type CNC machine to do inlays, but it wasn´t long before he built his own CNC inlay machine. This machine was more industrial and did a better job with accuracy. Chester didn´t know how to program CNC codes, so he bought a CAD program and taught himself how to draw inlays using Autocad. He then got a program that converted the drawings into machine code, and he was then off and running, making his own inlays on a machine that he had made himself.
Chester decided that he would not keep what he knew about cue making a secret. He offered to tutor students in how to build cues. Steve Klein was one of the first aspiring cue makers who worked with Chester. Steve is kind enough to give Chester a lot of credit for helping him to become a first rate cue maker. Chester has made many other friends and contacts through sharing of cue information, such as Dave Barenbrugge from Arizona. Dave and Chester have both benefited by sharing information.
Chester Krick´s proudest day as a cue maker came in July of 2002 when Sonny Tan won the Singapore National 8 ball championship using a CK Custom Cue. He actually borrowed the cue from the original customer, and practiced with it for only two weeks before winning the National title. Chester has had an increase in demand for his cues since the day Sonny won using a CK Custom Cue.
For the past two years, Chester has designed and developed a new joint pin called the Supra, and is now in the process of getting his product patented and trademarked.