cored or uncored???
- Thread starter mrinsatiable
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From Schmelke and old Dufferin factory.jazznpool said:
I have better coring dowels. Ugly 20+ rpi maple which just had too sugar to be shafts. So I chopped them.
JoeyInCali said:
No such thing as too much sugar. An ugly green & black mineral spot might be ugly, but never too much sugar. There's a reason it's called "sugar maple". Take the sugar out & you are robbing the very essence of the wood. Might be ugly but they sure hit like a dream.
coring
You're right. The whole subject could be a can of worms. I think one of the other main reasons cuemakers core is to meet production. How many cuemakers have time to wait for wood to fully season 20 to 25 years before they make a cue. Or, have enough of this seasoned wood around in reserve quantity to make cues to sell, and put food on the table.
I personally believe that when you core certain woods, you alter the natural harmonic structure and integrity of the wood. Why in the world would anyone want to core a piece of rock maple for a forearm thats been properly stress relieved, stable and done moving. On the other hand I agree that other types woods require coring, for weight, balance and stability, like burls and such. To me, both ways of making cues are correct. But I don't agree in coring every kind of wood either. In the hands of great cuemaker, there's nothing like the sound or playablity of a cue that he has yeilded to mother nature on, selected and assembled the right woods, and created a well balanced uncored cue.
JoeyInCali said:Can of worms.
I don't agree in coring every kind of wood but that's just me.
You're right. The whole subject could be a can of worms. I think one of the other main reasons cuemakers core is to meet production. How many cuemakers have time to wait for wood to fully season 20 to 25 years before they make a cue. Or, have enough of this seasoned wood around in reserve quantity to make cues to sell, and put food on the table.
I personally believe that when you core certain woods, you alter the natural harmonic structure and integrity of the wood. Why in the world would anyone want to core a piece of rock maple for a forearm thats been properly stress relieved, stable and done moving. On the other hand I agree that other types woods require coring, for weight, balance and stability, like burls and such. To me, both ways of making cues are correct. But I don't agree in coring every kind of wood either. In the hands of great cuemaker, there's nothing like the sound or playablity of a cue that he has yeilded to mother nature on, selected and assembled the right woods, and created a well balanced uncored cue.
I didn't know that.qbilder said:
But, when you have sugars near the ferrule and lots of them, players panic.
Ralph sez: Why in the world would anyone want to core a piece of rock maple for a forearm thats been properly stress relieved said:Hey Ralph, How about the case where the forearm square, dowel, or tapered cone is highly figured and beautiful in all respects except it is very thuddy in tone? IMO, thuddy tone is an indicator of realtive wood weakness, deadness, or poor integrity. Great shafts cannot compensate for this IMO. This is a situation where I believe coring would be of great help--assuming the core wood is good. This is not to say that a thuddy forearm or thuddy shafted cue won't pocket balls. BTW, you can let a thuddy piece of wood "season" for decades and its not going to get appreciably better. Assuming the wood is dry enough to begin with, allowing wood to acclimate to a particular environment for several months makes total sense. IMO (always have to add this around here), there is little or nothing to be gained beyond that in terms of working the wood except, perhaps, for the superstitious.
Martin
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core it
Martin. In that situation I would say core it. If it's an absolutely beautiful piece of wood that just doesn't meet the tone grade, by all means.
Part of a player's percepion (at least mine anyway) is what the cue sounds like when impacting the cue ball. When I perceive a satisfying tone, then the cue tends to go away after a while. A lot easier in my mind not to think about the insturment that you're playing with and let the subconcious part of your brain pocket the balls. Another part of the coring thing is in the initial selection of the wood it's self. The weight, the sound, ect. And knowing from experience what that type of wood will feel and sound like when it's finally finished. Cored cues can play and sound awesome. I personally play with a Cochran. I know for a fact Mike cores everything down there. Lots of benefits to the core. And I also have some cues that I play with that are completely uncored, still dead straight and also hit like king kong. These type of cues werent just made yesterday though. Like I said before, It takes a lot more time for the wood to season and stop moving before you can use that kind of wood. Especially maples! Most cuemakers would starve if they had to rely on that.
jazznpool said:Hey Ralph, How about the case where the forearm square, dowel, or tapered cone is highly figured and beautiful in all respects except it is very thuddy in tone? IMO, thuddy tone is an indicator of realtive wood weakness, deadness, or poor integrity. Great shafts cannot compensate for this IMO. This is a situation where I believe coring would be of great help--assuming the core wood is good. This is not to say that a thuddy forearm or thuddy shafted cue won't pocket balls. BTW, you can let a thuddy piece of wood "season" for decades and its not going to get appreciably better. Assuming the wood is dry enough to begin with, allowing wood to acclimate to a particular environment for several months makes total sense. IMO (always have to add this around here
Martin
Martin. In that situation I would say core it. If it's an absolutely beautiful piece of wood that just doesn't meet the tone grade, by all means.
Part of a player's percepion (at least mine anyway) is what the cue sounds like when impacting the cue ball. When I perceive a satisfying tone, then the cue tends to go away after a while. A lot easier in my mind not to think about the insturment that you're playing with and let the subconcious part of your brain pocket the balls. Another part of the coring thing is in the initial selection of the wood it's self. The weight, the sound, ect. And knowing from experience what that type of wood will feel and sound like when it's finally finished. Cored cues can play and sound awesome. I personally play with a Cochran. I know for a fact Mike cores everything down there. Lots of benefits to the core. And I also have some cues that I play with that are completely uncored, still dead straight and also hit like king kong. These type of cues werent just made yesterday though. Like I said before, It takes a lot more time for the wood to season and stop moving before you can use that kind of wood. Especially maples! Most cuemakers would starve if they had to rely on that.
Like I said before, It takes a lot more time for the wood to season and stop moving before you can use that kind of wood. Especially maples! Most cuemakers would starve if they had to rely on that.
Maple is easy.
Try olivewood, madagascar rosewood, tulipwood and ebony.
Those who core bocote and purpleheart, err nuthin.
Maple is easy.
Try olivewood, madagascar rosewood, tulipwood and ebony.
Those who core bocote and purpleheart, err nuthin.
buy kiln dried wood that is ready to use.
also if you have the wood in small pieces say 1.5" square there is no way it taks 20 years to dry.it doesn't take the small pieces that long to dry.
i was never doubting the benefit of coring for straightness.if you don't mind the hit and feel of laminated Maple in all of your cues then by all means core everything.
also if you have the wood in small pieces say 1.5" square there is no way it taks 20 years to dry.it doesn't take the small pieces that long to dry.
i was never doubting the benefit of coring for straightness.if you don't mind the hit and feel of laminated Maple in all of your cues then by all means core everything.