feeling points and inlays

[ct111]

if i place my hand around the forearm of a quality cue and spin it should i be able to feel the points or inlays?or is that a sign of poor workmanship?

 

[JoeyInCali]

How's the finish?
Wood swells due to humidity.
Wood shrinks due to dryness.
Green woods move more than seasoned woods.

 

[manwon]

if i place my hand around the forearm of a quality cue and spin it should i be able to feel the points or inlays?or is that a sign of poor workmanship?

The problems you are having can be from many things. The first thing that many people do not understand is temperature control.

Cues should never be left in a Garage, inside your car, or inside your trunk.
Where ever, you have different materials joined together, either through inlay, doweling, or splicing, the hardness will very seldom be the same at the joined area.

So the contraction and expansion at those locations will not be the same due to the different materials used.

For instance, if you inlay Ebony into maple, through time the ebony will expand and crack the maple if the cue is not keep in a temperature controlled environment.

These problems become very obvious when you look at old cues, many times the inlays are cracked, uneven, or broken like the cue you are talking about.

These problems can also come from substandard materials such as, woods that have to high of a moisture content or inlays with the same problem.

If the cue you talking about was made in Asia these problems could be any of the above.

If the problems are caused by a lack of temperature control in most cases a re-finish will take care of the problem.

Hope this helps

Craig

 

[ratcues]

if i place my hand around the forearm of a quality cue and spin it should i be able to feel the points or inlays?or is that a sign of poor workmanship?

Materials also sand at different rates and can cause this. For example, MOP is much harder than wood so extra caution must be taken to ensure everything is smooth and "on the level."