Cutting groove for wrap?
- Thread starter Belford
- Start date
You can offset the tailstock on your lathe to do a fixed taper. I eventually bought a second tailstock so I could keep my original tailstock at center.
Coos Cues
Coos Cues
To me this is preferable to using a taper bar. Tapers can vary but parallel never lies.
Different Butts, different taper ratio's.
A Dial indicator is your friend.
A Dial indicator is your friend.
The big difference between the the two is if you turn a taper with tailstock offset then you have to turn between centers. A taper bar allows you to chuck up any place on the cue and cut your taper. So for cutting a wrap groove you can chuck it up just above the A joint, and have it well supported. If you try and cut your wrap groove between centers then any runout at the A joint will make your groove non concentric with the cue. So if the cue has been sitting a while or isn't a fresh build it is quite common to see some run out at the A joint. I usually cut my wrap groove at the same time as doing the final taper on the cue. Then it is just cleaning up, or cutting the ends after finishing.
What if the handle has a curved or dual taper?
In the case of a wrap groove. If you set up your dial to run along the side of the cue, then as long as the dial reads the same just above and just below the wrap the rest don't matter. I usually dial in my tail stock by first doing the math and offset the appropriate amount then tweaking it while I run a dial along the side of the cue. You just have to be sure your dial is on center or you will get a false reading.
The offset on the tailstock would be the same as when you cut the full butt.
This post is in response to, if the butt of the cue didn't have a consistent taper and you were to cut the wrap groove after the fact. I don't use a combination taper on my cues but there are builders who do.
So if you have a compound taper on the butt, would that compound taper also be on the wrap?
Most builders use a compound taper in order to have a slimmer butt or to minimalize the taper growth in the grip without compromising the stiffness of the cue. So from what I have seen the taper changes where the wrap begins to a shallower taper. It doesn't have to be a lot in order to change the diameter at the butt sleeve. I don't think there would be any point in introducing a compound taper over the handle but who knows, there are no rules.