JC
Coos Cues
You click the yellow quote button and then start writing your message underneath what appears without changing anything is a good start.
Cue butt material
- Thread starter EddieBme
- Start date
You click the yellow quote button and then start writing your message underneath what appears without changing anything is a good start.
JC
Coos Cues
The best ebony is jet black according to conventional wisdom.
When you have it on a finished cue next to black juma it looks pretty much identical.
So that's the "look", black plastic. I understand it looks good but not in a "wood" way.
Depends on what you want to achieve, but usually a lighter core in very dense woods and a denser wood in very light woods. Purpleheart and maple might be the two most common woods used, but there is nothing wrong with IPE, hornbeam, Lignum Vitae, Jatoba or Shedua just to name a few..
Lots of ways to do the A joint too. I think whatever core wood/diameter and A joint construction is best left to the cuemaker to decide.
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Nailed it!
Being a cabinet/millwork maker i still have a couple solid ebony 8/4 x 6's on hand & have never been inspired to cut it into cue-size blanks for that factor - looks just like black plastic with any film finish. WTF
African blackwood (a true rosewood/dahlbergia) at least has a little grain and highlights. Cocobola is an old favorite for cues, but another wood that has gotten difficult to source easily in wide widths that i resist cutting it up, too.
Bocote, cocbola, & ebony can be had in turning blanks but the quality and grain run-out keeps getting lower. (Might not matter with good core) Other than accent stuff like snakewood, most other wood is not too difficult to source. If you are looking for a short splice/A joint type cue, the materials cost is much lower than full splice. Depending on fore-arm choice, you can actually just about build a short splice wrap cue on a core, out of the scraps and cut offs from a full splice.
Total price for cue will probably be based on other factors, though.
smt
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Nailed it!
If you are looking for a short splice/A joint type cue, the materials cost is much lower than full splice. Depending on fore-arm choice, you can actually just about build a short splice wrap cue on a core, out of the scraps and cut offs from a full splice.
I think the short splice/A joint would work, (I know exactly what you're talking about, uhmm Not:. I'm more interested in the feel/feedback and sound of the cue, nothing decorative just plain. I have a couple of shafts I like, but they fit a 3/8 x 10 pin.
Wooddatabase.com is your best friend. Compare the shrinkage of African Blackwood and Ebony, then you will understand why I use African Backwood.
Gabon Ebony;
Shrinkage: Radial: 8.3%.
Tangential: 11.2%.
Volumetric: 19.6%.
T/R Ratio: 1.3
African Blackwood;
Shrinkage: Radial: 2.9%.
Tangential: 4.8%.
Volumetric: 7.7%.
T/R Ratio: 1.7
(Please note, storing, drying and properly taking care of your hordes of woods are a different topic and we all understand the shrinkage is BEFORE the cuemaking process.)
Gabon Ebony;
Shrinkage: Radial: 8.3%.
Tangential: 11.2%.
Volumetric: 19.6%.
T/R Ratio: 1.3
African Blackwood;
Shrinkage: Radial: 2.9%.
Tangential: 4.8%.
Volumetric: 7.7%.
T/R Ratio: 1.7
(Please note, storing, drying and properly taking care of your hordes of woods are a different topic and we all understand the shrinkage is BEFORE the cuemaking process.)
Nailed it!
Being a cabinet/millwork maker i still have a couple solid ebony 8/4 x 6's on hand & have never been inspired to cut it into cue-size blanks for that factor - looks just like black plastic with any film finish. WTF
African blackwood (a true rosewood/dahlbergia) at least has a little grain and highlights. Cocobola is an old favorite for cues, but another wood that has gotten difficult to source easily in wide widths that i resist cutting it up, too.
Bocote, cocbola, & ebony can be had in turning blanks but the quality and grain run-out keeps getting lower. (Might not matter with good core) Other than accent stuff like snakewood, most other wood is not too difficult to source. If you are looking for a short splice/A joint type cue, the materials cost is much lower than full splice. Depending on fore-arm choice, you can actually just about build a short splice wrap cue on a core, out of the scraps and cut offs from a full splice.
Total price for cue will probably be based on other factors, though.
smt
African blackwood is great. Cheaper than gaboon ebony too. Easy to find in blanks suitable for cues as it is a prized wood for woodwind instruments. Not sustainably harvested but not currently threatened either. Very stable wood. Problem with it is that it's even heavier than ebony, so that limits how it can be used in a cue of typical weight. Can be cored of course for weight, but then again that's compromising it's quality as a tonewood.
One of the things i have read in the past about African Blackwood was that in the "old days" it was the preferred material & tonewood for anything that needed a black color dense tonewood.
Then it got harvested out, at least as far as they knew then (centuries ago).
So they had to start using that trashwood, ebony.
Then ebony got harvested out, so people besides instrument makers started to discover A.B. again.
Rinse, lather repeat......
OTOH, the Egyptians were using ebony for furniture a few millenia ago. So over history, people tended to use what was local, known, or avialable. But it does seem AB was usually preferred for technical applications. Cuesdirectly succintly explains why. Friend i bought one of the 2 x 6 x 5' ebony blanks from a few years ago said that in his opinion, ebony never actually does stop drying. What he had was much drier than what i had at the time, though, even after a decade in my de-humidified shop.
smt
Then it got harvested out, at least as far as they knew then (centuries ago).
So they had to start using that trashwood, ebony.
Then ebony got harvested out, so people besides instrument makers started to discover A.B. again.
Rinse, lather repeat......
OTOH, the Egyptians were using ebony for furniture a few millenia ago. So over history, people tended to use what was local, known, or avialable. But it does seem AB was usually preferred for technical applications. Cuesdirectly succintly explains why. Friend i bought one of the 2 x 6 x 5' ebony blanks from a few years ago said that in his opinion, ebony never actually does stop drying. What he had was much drier than what i had at the time, though, even after a decade in my de-humidified shop.
smt
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One of the things i have read in the past about African Blackwood was that in the "old days" it was the preferred material & tonewood for anything that needed a black color dense tonewood.
Then it got harvested out, at least as far as they knew then (centuries ago).
So they had to start using that trashwood, ebony.
Then ebony got harvested out, so people besides instrument makers started to discover A.B. again.
Rinse, lather repeat......
OTOH, the Egyptians were using ebony for furniture a few millenia ago. So over history, people tended to use what was local, known, or avialable. But it does seem AB was usually preferred for technical applications. Cuesdirectly succintly explains why. Friend i bought one of the 2 x 6 x 5' ebony blanks from a few years ago said that in his opinion, ebony never actually does stop drying. What he had was much drier than what i had at the time, though, even after a decade in my de-humidified shop.
smt
I have also heard very good things about Cocus wood. Unfortunately I believe that it is also increasingly rare.
Don't forget your Pernambuco Joey.
That or bloodwood, kingwood and African olivewood.
Which Kingwood? The hard to find expensive beautiful stuff (Brazilian) or the super hard to find super expensive super beautiful stuff (Mexican aka camatillo)?
Either one will do./
Got some camatillos too.
More red than the Braz kind. Pretty wood.
JC
Coos Cues
Turns brown on a cue but bleeds purple freshly cut. Which is a problem if there is any light colored wood near by. And it's unstable as hell. Coring only please.
Not a big fan of this wood. If I want a brown finished wood there are a lot of better choices.
I'm glad you posted the picture of the Kingwood butt. I would've thought that to be Rosewood.
Kingwood is a rosewood (both species).
Yep, true Dalbergia