sometimes in an old building I will put my hand on a handrail where millions of people have passed, It's been finished likely with an oil finish and handled lots, the result is a beautiful finish that's soft to the touch and somehow just feels nice in your hands. in woodworking this is called a "below the surface finish"
You'll find similar if you pick up a hammer or similar that's just very well used. It has a much nicer feel than a plastic handle. this has a lot to do with porosity. if you run your hand along a older cue you can probably feel some texture because the grain shrinks and the surface is not mirror smooth, It has a more natural feel to it.
I like to touch such surfaces and carbon fiber, fiberglass or epoxy coatings are not the same.
next compare to how your hand slides down a glass handrail, what happens, your hand sticks to it, because glass has no porosity.
Does the nice feel that wood has, affect your game? I dont know but I'd rather have a wood cue. Use what you like I just prefer touching wood. many like wearing gloves to reduce the problem of the cue sticking because it has no porosity. It is a way to deal with the problem and I'm sure many feel its best to. Maybe I'm not so serious or experienced as others, I don't choose to wear a glove. Its a personal preference I guess.
If you close your eyes and touch a bunch of wood objects and compare the substances that are man made and non porous, you can easily note the difference in how it feels in your hands. I think it has a lot to do with how the perspiration and oils are either absorbed by the object, or not. also wood rarely has a real pianno finish, it naturally changes and there are normally high and low spots caused by the wood movement. the softer parts of the grain shrink and the other parts dont so there is a natural consistency and unless it is completely sealed up, it is not a mirror finish.
wood can take on and give off moisture and true most are so sealed up with an epoxy resin or similar ( an above the surface finish) that you cant' actually touch the wood with your hand. It still has a "plastic" feel to it.
I think real wood as a certain charm that is hard to replace even though man made substances may stay straighter end react less because they do not have any ability to absorb. wood always has imperfections, its a natural product. I think it also has a certain natural feel to it.
slightly different topic but:
A thing I just began doing, which appears quite idiotic is just to take a cue and bump it against my own head. Its surprising how you can hear it "ring" every cue has a different ring to it too.
Its because the sound vibrations travel better through solids ( like my noggin ;-) than they do through air. Sometimes I'll note a bad ring, often a loose ferrule or the stick is loose or has a crack or something on it is loose.
the effect is quite noticeable , sometimes I'll be building with lumber and pick up a cracked board, I can feel the crack through the wood's resonation , or lack of resonation sometimes. Another place this applies is when mounting a grind stone. it is often suggested to take the stone and suspend it by a wire or put a nail through the hole and tap it with something. a cracked wheel will not ring normally, it will have more of a "thud" than a true ring, as expected. this is done to prevent a newly mounted stone from exploding in your face.
although it looks a bit funny to watch, just tapping your cue against our skull can actually be an easy way to detect and issue. I think it's an interesting thing you can compare as you check out cues. If you try this with a few cues I bet you can hear differences.
any object has a natural frequency so what you are doing here is sensing the natural frequency of a particular cue. pretty much any modification will affect it's natural frequency.
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