cuewood.com - cue wood for cue builders

S

szym9341

Registered
Hello. I am the new web guy at Bell Forest Products and I just finished our custom wood site for cue builders. We are still in the development stages, but the basic chunk of the site is now live. The url is www.cuewood.com If you would be so inclined, and have time, would you consider reviewing it for me and letting me know of any problems or suggestions?

All of the site feedback forms are sent directly to me, or you can post here.

Thanks.

-Adam.
 
Very nice site and good idea. If you are looking for suggestions on how to improve, I would like to see all of the wood description on one page (not having to click to open another window on the "more" link). To do this, you might have to eliminate a displayed area. The area I would remove is the "customer favorites" section that appears on the right side. You can just make that a link on the left side underneath the woods section. I would prefer to link to that, as opposed to linking to the wood I am seeking. Just my two cents. Overall, excellent job.
 
looks good

Not a bad "remix" of the existing site. I'm also a web guy as my day job ( I deal with the development side more so than the design however ) so there are a few things I would have done differently and some of which have already been suggested, like a centralized location for the products where you can compare things side by side.

A few other suggestions, especially since this site is going to be specialized for cue builders, is to have some descriptions on the wood detailing it's hardness, weight, and possibly some of the looks of the wood under different common finishes. Maybe even some sample cues that have the wood in their builds to show examples of the wood in a finished product. A way to get return on those is to offer low cost spots where cue builders can show off their cue work under certain woods along with a link to their web site for the equivalent of an ad spot. I know that as a starting out cue builder having an ad spot next to the place where other builders and possibly potential clients looking for wood that would look good in their cues they are looking to get built would be a very big deal for me.

Also since again it's targeted to cue builders some descriptions of how the wood reacts to different common epoxies and glues as well as other facts like that would help to get more information into the community and would provide your site not only as THE PLACE to order wood but also the place to get facts about everything there is to deal with wood and how it should be used in cue making to get a great product.

I have a ton of other ideas for you, but it'd take up this whole page, if you want to discuss more just throw me a line at nick@thedevlounge.com and I can set aside some time soon and give you a few more hints on some methods to get better conversion and get some better SEO work on their so you get more traffic from the major search engines. :)

Nick
 
I got the email from the other forum this morning and checked It out. The site looks real nice. What I miss are the lots of BE dowels that Bell use to sell years back, especially the prices:D I'm blown away by The fact that some BE is selling for as much as some ebony & pink ivory these days. I know It's not just You guys, and they are prime picks usually. I Guess It's just a result of supply and demand, but I can't help wishing I would have loaded up on more back then while I had the chance.
I guess what I would like to see Is BE in lots & possibly priced lower for buying the in those lots or in quanity.

As far as the site goes, It looks Like you are doing a fine job.:)

Greg
 
Cue Crazy said:
I got the email from the other forum this morning and checked It out. The site looks real nice. What I miss are the lots of BE dowels that Bell use to sell years back, especially the prices:D I'm blown away by The fact that some BE is selling for as much as some ebony & pink ivory these days. I know It's not just You guys, and they are prime picks usually. I Guess It's just a result of supply and demand, but I can't help wishing I would have loaded up on more back then while I had the chance.
I guess what I would like to see Is BE in lots & possibly priced lower for buying the in those lots or in quanity.

As far as the site goes, It looks Like you are doing a fine job.:)

Greg
Click to expand...

I don't pay those prices for Ebony and never thought Pink Ivory was worth half of what they were asking for it. In fact I don't even like Pink Ivory.

As far as their Bird's Eye Maple is concerned I think it is grossly overpriced. I have been able to acquire wood that is just as nice for under $30.00 per square.

Years ago I bought wood from Bell and when it arrived only 3 out 10 pieces were as high a grade as they were preported to be. I bit the bullet and did not buy any more from them.

But I guess it is better to pay $40 or $50 for one piece than to buy 10 at a lesser price and throw away 7.
 
nick_s said:
A few other suggestions, especially since this site is going to be specialized for cue builders, is to have some descriptions on the wood detailing it's hardness, weight, and possibly some of the looks of the wood under different common finishes. Maybe even some sample cues that have the wood in their builds to show examples of the wood in a finished product. Also since again it's targeted to cue builders some descriptions of how the wood reacts to different common epoxies and glues as well as other facts like that would help to get more information into the community and would provide your site not only as THE PLACE to order wood but also the place to get facts about everything there is to deal with wood and how it should be used in cue making to get a great product.
Nick
Click to expand...
Great suggestions! I agree!

Zim
 
Bell was a great source in 2004 or earlier.
It's just ok now b/c the prices have gone up and the grading has not stayed the same.
 
Thank you for your responses!

Thank you all!

RE: Specie Information -
Currently we have a 'more info' button that pops up a window and displays a description of that specie with the latin title. This week and next I will be adding many more facts about each specie into our database including density and weight. One suggestion mentioned is to show a specie with different finishes applied, and information about the use of common epoxies. Great idea! I will go to the drawing board to figure out a way to best get that information from you guys, and how to display it.

RE: Pictures of Sample Cues -
Again, another good idea. I am sure many of you wouldn't mind highlighting your finished product. Stay tuned. This site is launched, really, as a first draft. Community involvement is desired.

RE: Prices and Quality -
Thank you all for your honesty and concern about our prices and quality. A major portion of our new site is internal, behind the scenes. We are a small operation of three full time employees, and I am the dedicated web guy, leaving the other two for all other business aspects. As I help to organize our warehouse and online presence, we will address our current pricing structure.

Our wood, especially the Birdseye, is sold all over the world to many woodworkers. Birdseye supply is very delicate. We have been working very hard to bid on the best logs and take the most care when processing them. Our buying, cutting and kiln process will be going through some revisions this spring, once the snow melts. Out of those changes we anticipate a rock solid grading structure and prices that find the balance between being competitive and profitable.
 
I may have missed it, but I didn't see any straight grain maple for handle stock!

Thanks! Again, site is on the right track!
Zim
 
Straight Grain Maple - Handle Stock

Zim,

I just added it to my list. We currently have a list started with products that customers would like to see on this site. I created the site with the bulk of what we sell, now comes the fun part of growing the products and features. Thanks for the post.

-Adam
 
Valley Forge

by the way, Eric and Boone are in booths 111 & 112 at Valley Forge, if you will be there this week(end)
 
Arnot Wadsworth said:
I don't pay those prices for Ebony and never thought Pink Ivory was worth half of what they were asking for it. In fact I don't even like Pink Ivory.

As far as their Bird's Eye Maple is concerned I think it is grossly overpriced. I have been able to acquire wood that is just as nice for under $30.00 per square.

Years ago I bought wood from Bell and when it arrived only 3 out 10 pieces were as high a grade as they were preported to be. I bit the bullet and did not buy any more from them.

But I guess it is better to pay $40 or $50, for one piece than to buy 10 at a lesser price and throw away 7.
Click to expand...


Yeah I guess that's true the reserve stock is more then ebony. As far as pink Ivory i don't use alot of it either, just used it as an example. I like the color of tulip better, and The cost is less.

I had good luck when I bought My lots. They were all usable, although some had alot more figure then other, and some had areas figured high enough that I could get some nice sleeves from them If nothing else. I picked Mine up when they first started selling on ebay, so I only picked up lots that looked good to me in the pictures. That was probably in 2004-2005 like Joey mentioned. I think I only paid 30-35 a lot, so with todays costs, If I only got 3 top picks out of a lot, I would still be ahead. I had some with tight grain patterns too, so I was happy, but as more people started finding them on there, the prices they sold for started to rise quickly.

I would probably pay 25-30 for a highly figured, tight grained piece of BE, just have a hard time bringing Myself to $40-$50, or more per piece. Supply and demand though, as long as so many people are buying, then the prices will continue to go up I imagine. Heck right now the price of everything is going up anyway. The gas prices are effecting everything now days. Just saw yesterday that Gold is going for over a grand a ounce now.

Greg
 
Originally Posted by Arnot Wadsworth
I don't pay those prices for Ebony and never thought Pink Ivory was worth half of what they were asking for it. In fact I don't even like Pink Ivory.

As far as their Bird's Eye Maple is concerned I think it is grossly overpriced. I have been able to acquire wood that is just as nice for under $30.00 per square.

Years ago I bought wood from Bell and when it arrived only 3 out 10 pieces were as high a grade as they were preported to be. I bit the bullet and did not buy any more from them.

But I guess it is better to pay $40 or $50, for one piece than to buy 10 at a lesser price and throw away 7.
Click to expand...

those pieces are a little long too,whic i know is useless to cumakers but you havw to figure that they might be $35 if they were 17-18".

i have bought lost of Birdseye boards from Bell and it has been wonderul,all 4A and up and after breaking down the cost per square it is rather cheap.$10 a square or less.also a few of the boards i got are producing squares with 60+ rpi.i have a cue i am making for smokey right now and the joint is .880 and still has 40 rpi.i don't know if it's old growth or not,but it is the nuts either way.

i bought 4-5 squares from them in Valley Forge yesterday that was incredible for $15.i can't figure out why you are knocking these guys when you buy Birdseye squares here at AZ for $50.

i might have been just getting lucky,but the Birdseye boards i have bought have been the nuts.i also got a real nice 100% heartwood square form them with many large eyes and 4 sided figure for $20.

i hate to see these guys getting hammered when i have had such good luck with them.you guys should give them a try.real nice guys too.asa far as getting AA grade Ebony for $25,i doubt it.i know Ebony is out there at $25,but it isn't the top grade stuff.
 
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i forgot to add they also have some freaky East Indian in stock right now,with wild colors.reds,pinks,yellows,oranges and purples.
 
I was one of Boone's first buyers when he started listing wood on eBay. At that time it was reasonably priced and I knew that. I spent literally 100s of hrs. in front of the PC 'sniping' bids to make sure that I got what I wanted and in the process, maxxed-out at least 2 credit cards. As a result, I now own more hi-fig. BI than a man has a right to own. I won't live long enough to use all the BI that I have.

Their prices have risen substantially. I can no longer afford to buy their wood so I'm very happy that I bought what I did. My 'river' is very wide & very deep.

On way to look at this is, the more we have to pay for the mtrls. to build our cues, the more we'll have to charge for our cues. That's not a good thing in an already depressed market and a weak economy. If Bell's prices are indicative of, or reflective of the pricing across the board from the other suppliers, then a lot of CMs may be in trouble. Just raising yours prices to off-set the increased cost of matrls. does not necessarily improve the bottom line. In effect, you're spending more to make the same.

The solution here is (and I know this is a big pill to swallow), raise the price of your cues proportionately. Cue makers need to come to the realization that hand-made by an American craftsman means something. We build the best playing, best looking cues in the world, at any price.

The BIG mistake here would be to think that, if I lower my price to under-cut the guy next to me, I'll get the sale. What you're actually doing is setting the stage for yourself to go OUT of business just that much quicker. The price of poker just went up. Ante-up gentlemen.
 
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I also was one of their 1st customers. I bought wood from them at a pool tournament in Chicago, before they were even on the internet. After buying squares on line that were smaller than advertised & squares that only had eyes on 2 sides, I stopped buying from them. Not giving what is advertised & higher prices....I'll stay away...JER
 
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