You don't say that you have or haven't done this yet but my recommendation would be to
start by turning 'house-cues' into 2 pc cues. You wouldn't be wasting any purchased wood.
It would allow you to develop your jnt-work skills and keeping things centered.
Deliberately plan on a 29" shaft, 30" if you're brave enough. Now you've got a 26"
handle to contend with. You can leave it as-is or start working on how to extend it.
In that thought process, consider how to do a wght. system that doesn't compromise the butt.
Once you've mastered that you'd probably want to move into adding ring-work and 'bling'.
At this point you're building a cue but still haven't spent a dime on purchased wood.
Most house-cues are stable enough that you could begin as soon as you have the cue.
With the purchase of virgin wood there may be some 'wait & hang' time until it's seasoned.
You may be tempted to forge ahead with your newly purchased wood and learn to regret it.
Turning squares to rounds isn't done all in one session. There's hang-time btwn cuts.
If your newly turned wood starts to move, it goes into the 'questionable' category.
The 'fair price' you paid for the wood doesn't seem so fair anymore. Some will be waste.
That's part of the learning process though. Now you have to mentally learn to deal with that.
Do the house-cue trip for about 3 yrs. purchasing small amounts of wood as you go.
Start the turning process soon after purchase if their moisture content allows.
Let them hang btwn cuts to acclimate to their environment.
Continue this throughout your cue-building career. Your goal is to establish a 'river of wood'.
Or you could decide to stay with the house-cue gig and never have to buy any wood.
At some point you'll come to the realization that there's little to no money in building cues.
Couple that with the fact that there are already 2,000 doing just that, making an attempt.
But then this is a hobby right ? Meaning, your overall financial structure will dictate what
you can and can't do. If you have family and/or other responsibilities, think long and hard.
It never ends and it only gets more expensive. Have I made you more informed yet ?
I've been doing this for 26 yrs. I have no family and I'm financially comfortable.
I'm one of the lucky ones. I get paid by the world's largest Predator dealer to repair cues.
The money I make goes into my cue-building endeavors so I can afford it. Not everyone can.
Can you ? Don' forget, some have become world renowned just building sneakies from house-cues.
KJ
Back to the original post: Play around with house cues and never mind the other woods. You need to be able to center, drill, tap, turn and have a straight butt and shaft. Raw woods require acclimation, level of dryness, time between cuts, wood stabilizers, tapering, on and on and lots of waiting time. Hard to build anything if you don't even know what tools you need or basic knowledge of how to use them.