Full spliced sharp point up and down

[RingKing]

Many sneakypetes and one piece bar cues especially modern cues have a flat blocked off bottom point. I notice this on TS sneakies as well.

The following pic is of some old brunswicks I just bought.

Is this a sign that the splices were hand cut or is there a mechanical way to get the sharp points up and down.

 

[Greg M]

Nope, I think both styles are machine spliced through CNC - certainly the one shown in the first pic, anyway. The butt and shaft are joined together. Hand spliced cues would have rounded splice points through planing and would have the shaft wood running all the way down the cue to the butt, with the butt timber spliced around it. I suppose you could achieve a look of a machine spliced cue by hand, but a machine is far more efficient.

English pool and snooker cues can be made the same way. Peradon have a video showing the two methods. A still of the machine spliced cues showing the flat bottom can be seen at 2:12, but I'm sure there are machines that cut butt timber in the same fashion as the cues in your second pic.

I have never seen or heard of any American pool cues being hand spliced/cut, but I could be wrong.

 

[RingKing]

English pool and snooker cues can be made the same way. Peradon have a video showing the two methods. A still of the machine spliced cues showing the flat bottom can be seen at 2:12,

Cool video. The machine method of having a four point male and female fit together is my idea of a full splice cue.

I have always imagined making the male or x shaped portion on a router table and the female cavity end with a band saw but to get the sharp point I figured I would have to hand saw the last bit with a very thin saw.

Does it matter which way the pieces fit. Seems to me the x or male splice would be more robust and be better as the handle portion of the cue.

 

[Greg M]

Honestly, plain, full-spliced, one-piece house cues are my favourite look for any American pool cues, especially if the butt is made out of something nice, like cocobolo or padauk. I hate inlays on cues. I think they look tacky.

I don't think it matters which way they fit, but, again, I could be corrected by someone more knowledgeable about American cue manufacturing than me.

 

[RingKing]

I would imagine if the x or male portion is used as the butt end then the chance of having even points as you taper the forearm of the cue would be greatly improved.

 

[alstl]

Nope, I think both styles are machine spliced through CNC - certainly the one shown in the first pic, anyway. The butt and shaft are joined together. Hand spliced cues would have rounded splice points through planing and would have the shaft wood running all the way down the cue to the butt, with the butt timber spliced around it. I suppose you could achieve a look of a machine spliced cue by hand, but a machine is far more efficient.

English pool and snooker cues can be made the same way. Peradon have a video showing the two methods. A still of the machine spliced cues showing the flat bottom can be seen at 2:12, but I'm sure there are machines that cut butt timber in the same fashion as the cues in your second pic.

I have never seen or heard of any American pool cues being hand spliced/cut, but I could be wrong.

That's an interesting video. He appears to be using some sort of a plane on the hand made cue. I wonder if it has a concave shape.

 

[Greg M]

That's an interesting video. He appears to be using some sort of a plane on the hand made cue. I wonder if it has a concave shape.

Not sure. I think most hand planes used for cue production have straight blades.

Mike Wooldridge sometimes uses an electric plane for his cues, and his are regarded by some as the best in the world, so he must be doing something right. I know the videos below show shaft preparation rather than splicing, but I suppose the two processes are somewhat similar.

 

[alstl]

Not sure. I think most hand planes used for cue production have straight blades.

Mike Wooldridge sometimes uses an electric plane for his cues, and his are regarded by some as the best in the world, so he must be doing something right. I know the videos below show shaft preparation rather than splicing, but I suppose the two processes are somewhat similar.

At 1:45 he is planing the cue but you can't get a very good look at the plane. I'm guessing in order to get a round cue you would want a concave plane but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Dead Money]

Nope, I think both styles are machine spliced through CNC - certainly the one shown in the first pic, anyway. The butt and shaft are joined together. Hand spliced cues would have rounded splice points through planing and would have the shaft wood running all the way down the cue to the butt, with the butt timber spliced around it. I suppose you could achieve a look of a machine spliced cue by hand, but a machine is far more efficient.

English pool and snooker cues can be made the same way. Peradon have a video showing the two methods. A still of the machine spliced cues showing the flat bottom can be seen at 2:12, but I'm sure there are machines that cut butt timber in the same fashion as the cues in your second pic.

I have never seen or heard of any American pool cues being hand spliced/cut, but I could be wrong.

That is a cool video. A simple concise way of explaining and showing how it is done.

 

[DeeDeeCues]

Nope, I think both styles are machine spliced through CNC -.

This is not correct. CNC is not required, and arguably a less efficient way to do full splice cues.

 

[Greg M]

This is not correct. CNC is not required, and arguably a less efficient way to do full splice cues.

I see. Cheers for the correction.

 

[kling&allen]

I see. Cheers for the correction.

Both butterfly points and basic full splice v points can be made with a jig on a bandsaw or table saw. One major challenge is making sure the cuts are sufficiently even, otherwise your points won't be even and you have to hope you can fix them by additional tapering / sanding. It's amazing the precision that good cue makers achieve. And how easily the rest of us can make firewood.

You might have seen videos of people using routers on indexing lathes (often CNC) to cut v-grooves into forearms. I won't wade into the debate as to what's meant by "full splice" and if inlays/recuts meet that definition.

 

[Thunder Thighs]

Manufacturing methods for most snooker cues are ancient compared to the current American pool cue.

 

[Greg M]

Manufacturing methods for most snooker cues are ancient compared to the current American pool cue.

Hand splicing is still traditionally the preferable method, yeah, but I think machine-spliced cues are becoming popular for both snooker and English pool - just from what I've observed.