Fyi
Any pictures of the shafts? Do they have the stainless steel plate in the joint like the butt does? Thank you.
FYI Black Boar used brass 5/16x14 inserts. No steel plates on the shafts,
THE Black Boar Shaft
award-winning custom pool cues
As Tony puts it "the shaft is equivalent to the suspension system on a race car." Over 23 years, more thought has gone into shafts than you'd ever imagine.
Black Boar shafts have always been a premium item, such a precious commodity that even though a player may trade their Black Boar cue they’ve always been reluctant to give up their Black Boar shafts. What makes them special is their very stringent production schedule. First, the wood is taken from a very specific (50 square miles) piece of geography. There is currently only one location in the world that you can find wood of this caliber. The wood is true hard rock maple, cut at a very specific time of year and never subjected to extreme temperatures. It is always vacuumed dried (never air dried). Each shaft hand selected for its extremely tight grain, color and low resonant pitch. Tony produces many shafts but very few ever leave the shop, because only a few meet the requirements of Black Boar quality.
The Black Boar shop is carefully monitored for temperature and humidity, which can make a tremendous impact on shaft wood. Nevertheless, Tony finds that "you can't beat a good piece of shaft wood - a good piece cuts straight and always stays straight." Many are cut, but few are chosen.
An Exact Science
award-winning custom pool cues
The pin, the center line of the cue, is one of the most expensive components of a Black Boar cue, custom ground on center, made of 440C stainless- rated at 5.6 Rockwell, another "no compromise" item.
All joints on Black Boar cues are precision threaded to ensure concentricity.
Notice the internal view of the ivory over stainless joint in the background. All major components on Black Boar cues are machine cut and threaded.
Joint selection is an engineering decision based on proper weight distribution. Black Boar Stainless Joints could have any one of 3 weights, 1.3 oz., 1 oz., or .7 oz. The signature Ivory Over Stainless Joint comes in at .7 oz. A Solid Ivory Joint weighs .3 oz. All options have a precision .500 pilot hole.
Certain Black Boar cues demand a change in weight distribution. Notice a Solid Ivory Joint. When Tony did this he did it for a reason.