Cortland #9 vs Other Irish Linen

[HawaiianEye]

Aloha all,

Not quite sure what forum this should be posted in, so I'm posting it here so it will get the widest exposure and hopefully provide me some infromation. Other than being from the Cortland company, what are the differences between Corland linens and any other quality linens that are being used on modern cues?

I know that the #9 seems to be the number of individual strands that are wrapped together to make the cord...how many strands are used in the others? Are they "thicker" or "thinner" than Cortland?

How is the "feel" or "texture" of Cortland compared to the others?

If one were to pick up a cue wrapped in Cortland and another cue wrapped in another brand/type of linen, would the difference in materials be "readily" noticeable?

Thank you in advance for any information you may provide.

Happy Holidays to all.

 

[WildWing]

Cortland is a little bit thinner than other linens. Also, Cortland, to my knowledge, was only manufactured in a white with green spot, while the modern ones are any color combination you can imagine. Also, Cortland is a light green spot, not the harsh dark green spot of some of the modern. Finished Cortland wrap is very smooth to the touch. The modern ones don't quite finish as smooth. The first photo pictures a brand new Cortland wrap on a cue. The second photo pictures a somewhat more worn one. Hope that helps.

 

[PDX]

Super old thread resurrection.

FYI
Cortland is commonly seen as white with green spec, but they also did a white with blue spec. Since it was fishing line, the green spec designated salt water line whereas the blue spec was fresh water line.

 

[Bavafongoul]

Cortland Is The Premium Wrap.......It's My Favorite.

The uniformity of the individual strands that were hand twisted manually, unlike other linens that are
machine braided, was exceptionally great. The line operator would literally run the stands through
their fingers and would stop the line when there was variation in the flax and linen strands. Cortland
also placed a premium on the different flax quality available and was extremely fussy about their
suppliers. It was the only hand woven fishing line produced unlike the other Cuttyhunk lines of that era.

Cortland #9 was the most popular (white with green speck) which was the favorite linen wrap that
George Balabushka favored and it came in several color variations which was the result of the lbs.
strength rating of the specific Cortland fishing line. #12 is pretty rare to score and sometimes the
quality is suspect. I spent $150 for 50 yards of #12 three years ago and it had to be junked because
Jerry Rauenzahn said the line was too brittle and dry to use and he could not salvage it to use on my
cue he was making. Jerry discarded the #12 line and he substituted #9 instead.

During my search efforts for #12, I came across a even more scare version of Cortland Linen. It's a
brown speck which I have never seen before. Unfortunately, the CA ivory ban has prevented me from
ordering any more custom cues so this brown speck Cortland linen may never get used.....ugh. I am
a Cortland Linen admirer and as you can see from the below photos, it's my preferred choice for my
pool cues' wrap. I've never found any current linen wrap that is comparable and close in quality to
Cortland so for my cues, the wrap is either Cortland or a high quality leather. 2 of my 6 cues in the
photo use elephant leather since Cortland #9 just wouldn't have looked good with the cue's design.
The appearance and feel of the wrap is very important to me and regularly burnish my Cortland wraps.



Matt B.

 

[TILT9]

Blue Mountain

you find "blue mountain" at prathercue.com,
it's not "cortland" (nothing is like cotrland) but i think you might like it.
http://prathercue.com/irish_linen/irish_linen.html

 

[pwd72s]

Very informative thread here. Glad it got bumped back up.
So, can I assume the wrap on my old Palmer model M (2nd catalog) is Courtland? I've had this cue since new, so I know it's not refinished or re wrapped.
When I bought the cue, I was told the wrap is "Irish Linen"...

 

[WildWing]

Very informative thread here. Glad it got bumped back up.
So, can I assume the wrap on my old Palmer model M (2nd catalog) is Courtland? I've had this cue since new, so I know it's not refinished or re wrapped.
When I bought the cue, I was told the wrap is "Irish Linen"...

Not likely. You can post a picture to be sure, but those second catalog pictures that were advertised as "irish linen" were actually a dacron. You might have one that is a rare exception, but I would doubt it.

A lot of Palmer experts have been fooled on the second catolog irish linen.

All the best,
WW

 

[pwd72s]

The pics I took wouldn't show, but I can assure you the wrap isn't Dacron or nylon,,

 

[pwd72s]

My point & shoot takes lousy close-up, but here you go...

 

[WildWing]

Sorry, but not Cortland. You have no idea how many have asked me on this.

All the best,
WW

 

[classiccues]

This thread has most the info you'll ever need....

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=81742

JV