fact or crap?

ratcues

ratcues

Theewen Custom Cues
Silver Member
For the past two weeks, I've been working a tournament in the evenings and I've had this brought up a few times. First, guys ask me if I can straighten a warped shaft, to which I reply 'no.' They say "well, I used it for breaking. That's probably what caused the warp.'

Is this a common belief? Has anyone else heard this? Does anyone believe that breaking could cause a shaft to warp?

My belief is the shaft warped because it found it happy place, which may or may not be the place that makes the player or maker, happy.



<~~I'm warped and my shafts are straight. Go figure....
 
ratcues said:
For the past two weeks, I've been working a tournament in the evenings and I've had this brought up a few times. First, guys ask me if I can straighten a warped shaft, to which I reply 'no.' They say "well, I used it for breaking. That's probably what caused the warp.'

Is this a common belief? Has anyone else heard this? Does anyone believe that breaking could cause a shaft to warp?

My belief is the shaft warped because it found it happy place, which may or may not be the place that makes the player or maker, happy.



<~~I'm warped and my shafts are straight. Go figure....
Click to expand...

I agree with you Ryan. The wood was probably not properly seasoned in the first place and incrementally reduced in size as most of us custom cuemakers do. However, some wood will do its own thing regardless of what we do and it doesn't always do it while the cue is in the shop. I don't think breaking with a cue has any effect on it staying straight. Leaning it against the wall for long periods, storing the cue next to a heat source or leaving it in a hot car takes its toll on cues.
 
You're right. The shaft has found its happy place and it has always been trying to get there. It is probably and finally home.
 
i've heard this a lot from people too.....i guess it might have some truth if you really abuse the shaft. people who bend the shaft very hard against the table, like the mike sigel break.
 
Ditto. The Sigel break is what came to mind with me also. Another thing is they are more likely to break with it and lean it up. If they play the mud ball on bar tables they may very well be breaking the shaft down if they slam it hard enough into that heavy ball.
 
I've straightened shafts by reverse bending, it never lasts but it doesn't take much to change the wobble. With that in mind, I do see people who break very had and flex the shaft a ton or as someone mentioned, just bend it against the table on follow through. I think it could definately give a shaft an early push to its happy place. It is some pretty heavy wear and tear with some who really crush the ball.

A league guy, big...looks like Bluto off Popeye, damn near snaps his shaft on every shot...yes, like he's breaking every shot. I put many tips on for him and haven't noticed any ill effects on his though, so who knows.
 
A first

I tried to no laugh out loud at this question I got the other night.

this gentleman said his "Guitar Guy" can straighten wood. I had to explain that his guitar neck has a truss rod, and that his guitar guy is adjusting that rod.....still more confusion.....conversation ended when I told him there are no truss rods in his cue.....his reply? theres an adjuster in the bottom of his cue...right under the bumper......I swear you cant make this up. his buddy took it from there. I still dont think he gets it.

So I found the culprit of this viscous rumor spreader....LUTHIERS

:rotflmao1::rotflmao1::rotflmao1:

I might add a footnote that we were at a pub/grub playing pool...Alcohol might have been a factor and I was drinking diet cike.
 
I had a new shaft on my McWorter turn into a banana.

I leaned down on it HARD during a break and the next day it was badly warped. I don't see that as a mere coincidence.

It was left, at the pool hall, zipped in my case. I remember thinking about the exact moment of the ABUSE as I looked at my new boomerang..
 
cueman said:
Ditto. The Sigel break is what came to mind with me also. Another thing is they are more likely to break with it and lean it up. If they play the mud ball on bar tables they may very well be breaking the shaft down if they slam it hard enough into that heavy ball.
Click to expand...

You mention Sigel. I watched him playing once and as everybody knows he would bend the he!! out of the cue. Well it was funny, the wood in the shaft had such broken down fibers from all the stress that before he would break he would just bend it back straight like it was made of clay or something and it had no resilience left at all. It just stayed how ever you bent it.
 
I have seen shafts that warped from guys bending the poo-poo out of them breaking plus they left them in the car day all day.

Now on a lighter note, I did hear about someone soaking them in the bath tub or in a lake bottom for the ultimate in seasoned wood ?!? lol Not very sure about using this method but hey what ever floats your wood.
 
Absolute fact. Jim McDermott had a whole set of stop action pics of the pro players breaking, including the infamous Sigel 45 degree bend. Eventually the wood will break down and become limber. I believe it was the early 80's and the pros were complaining about their cues getting crooked. Soon after all the cue makers had a line of break cues.
 
You put as much stress on a shaft like Siegel did when breaking and it will eventually affect the straightness. I read somewhere all you have to do is steam a bent shaft to straighten it, LOL.
 
Honestly i would believe that you cant straighten a shaft but if i hadnt seen it myself that you can i wouldnt believe it.

I have a 8 year old meucci that i dont use anymore because of the warped shaft (not a center wobble, but tip coming off the table)

I got one of those cue hanger things put the entire cue together hanging from my ceiling with a 5lb weight strung up to it. This was like that for probably 4 months........ finally one day i checked it..........darn tip stayed right on the table....

now there was a tiny center wobble but a lot of cues have that......again, if i didnt see it with my own eyes i wouldnt believe it.....if you have the time i would try it, it worked for me, but i dont guarantee it will work for you.

so far its been still rolling the same way for 2 months now.......hopefully the shaft found its happy place and will stay there....maybe i just got lucky
 
I had a 5280 cue i shot with last year and broke alot with it.I broke and laid a lot of the shaft on the table by the time i followed through then i laid the thing on the table to have a smoke gave it a quick roll and the tip came of the table about a 1/4 or a little more i rolled it 180 and worked the bend out of it and it is still straight.btw that break got s#*t canned when i broke cue where the joint pin was drilled out and the damn thing came back and cut the crap ouut of my thumb. Now the tip never hits the felt.
 
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