Hand-spliced cues...

Flakeandrun

Flakeandrun

Well-known member
There's something beautiful about the curvature of splicing on truly hand spliced cues. Are there any pool cue makers out there doing similar? I only ever seem to see the sharp points associated with Machine-splicing. Here is My Cheshire Ultimate (Made by Steve Spencer) and a 30+ year old Stamford Series 1 belonging to my friend.

IMG_1105 Large.jpeg
IMG_1106 Large.jpeg


Had a few hungover games this weekend, and it was clear to see he didn't take kindly to me mopping the floor with him on the pool table the other day :ROFLMAO: so he crushed my poor hungover brain in a best of 5 yesterday (he won 5-0, and out classed me on all fronts. I did beat him 2 sets to 1 in some best of 7 8-ball after). The facilities here, as usual, are awesome. Heated table, private room, electronic scoreboard and no one really cares if you smoke or drink inside.

It was nice to get on the snooker table after a few months, I thought my game would suffer greatly having spent so much time on the blue felt, but I had a few nice breaks (a couple of 30+ and 47 - my friend had a couple of 50+ breaks) and I generally enjoyed my time back on the green baize. Re-highlighted the immense difference in difficulty between the disciplines

IMG_1098 Large.jpeg
IMG_1101.jpg


Little pic of both sides of the room, during the customary beginning of frame safety exchange.
 
Last edited:
garczar said:
Only snooker cues are made like this.
Click to expand...
I'm not au fait with woodworking, is there a reason for this? So there isn't a pool cue on earth that is spliced in this way? I just think aesthetically the curved splice is so pleasing to the eye.
 
Flakeandrun said:
I'm not au fait with woodworking, is there a reason for this? So there isn't a pool cue on earth that is spliced in this way? I just think aesthetically the curved splice is so pleasing to the eye.
Click to expand...

Lots of pool cues have butterfly points like snooker cues. Check out Mariposa cues.
 
garczar said:
no. its just the way snooker cues, 1 or 2pc, are made. Traditional way they make them. No pool cue maker does this.
Click to expand...
So no one has ever given it a bash? Just think it would be really interesting/aesthetic

Machine splicing doesn't necessarily always affect 'playability' with regard to snooker cues, but aesthetically, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who would choose that over a hand-spliced cue in my experience.
kling&allen said:
Agreed, but they have rounded points if that’s what the poster is looking for.
Click to expand...
I was just curious about the splicing method, as It was a thought that popped into my head yesterday when playing.
 
Flakeandrun said:
So no one has ever given it a bash? Just think it would be really interesting/aesthetic

Machine splicing doesn't necessarily always affect 'playability' with regard to snooker cues, but aesthetically, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who would choose that over a hand-spliced cue in my experience.

I was just curious about the splicing method, as It was a thought that popped into my head yesterday when playing.
Click to expand...
Snooker players(at least the pros) don't give a crap about 'interesting aesthetics', they are just tools to play the game. They laugh at pool players and all their fancy cues and gizmos. They are into very basic, simple cues.
 
garczar said:
Snooker players(at least the pros) don't give a crap about 'interesting aesthetics', they are just tools to play the game. They laugh at pool players and all their fancy cues and gizmos. They are into very basic, simple cues.
Click to expand...
'Playability' that is what they are interested in. They want feel. Most players, even when 'sponsored' are using a handmade cue with whatever badge is paying them fastened onto it (a bit like cricketers and their bats. I used to have my bats handmade and stickers up with Adidas logos when I was playing).

Most snooker players will have had their cue since the dawn of time (although players like Shaun Murphy have been experimenting with this ideology - taking a small quiver of cues for 'different conditions'). You are right about the gimmicks, gizmos and all the other useless ways to throw money away in pool. It was something that really seemed stupid to me when I started playing, and was what influenced me to move away from production line product and spring for a handmade cue that I will never replace.

I think most snooker players opt for minimalist aesthetic, but that doesn't mean people specifically want dull/uninteresting cues. Bingham used to use some crazy cues. I know there's a company in Wales that made extremely interesting jigsaw-esque splices on their butts, and in China companies like LP, O'min (the Chinese, not the Thai version) make some interesting snooker cues.

Would love to see this kind of splice on a pool cue, just think it would look pretty. Not much more to it than that. I guess the time taken to produce such a thing would also be far greater, and impacts a makers choice.
 
Flakeandrun said:
'Playability' that is what they are interested in. They want feel. Most players, even when 'sponsored' are using a handmade cue with whatever badge is paying them fastened onto it (a bit like cricketers and their bats. I used to have my bats handmade and stickers up with Adidas logos when I was playing).

Most snooker players will have had their cue since the dawn of time (although players like Shaun Murphy have been experimenting with this ideology - taking a small quiver of cues for 'different conditions'). You are right about the gimmicks, gizmos and all the other useless ways to throw money away in pool. It was something that really seemed stupid to me when I started playing, and was what influenced me to move away from production line product and spring for a handmade cue that I will never replace.

I think most snooker players opt for minimalist aesthetic, but that doesn't mean people specifically want dull/uninteresting cues. Bingham used to use some crazy cues. I know there's a company in Wales that made extremely interesting jigsaw-esque splices on their butts, and in China companies like LP, O'min (the Chinese, not the Thai version) make some interesting snooker cues.

Would love to see this kind of splice on a pool cue, just think it would look pretty. Not much more to it than that. I guess the time taken to produce such a thing would also be far greater, and impacts a makers choice.
Click to expand...
Nothing stopping them from making a cue with a pool-sized shaft. Some of the Ch8b players use cues like this with 10-11mm shafts.
 
garczar said:
Nothing stopping them from making a cue with a pool-sized shaft. Some of the Ch8b players use cues like this with 10-11mm shafts.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know that, I play Chinese-8 using my Mezz CP-21 and an ILC shaft. Previously was using a nice O'min with a 10.5 tip, which I sold to a friend. One-piece is pretty inconvenient to travel with.
Older snooker cues are pretty girthy, and essentially sized like a pool shaft (12/13mm - my grandad had a nice 12mm tipped one-piece which he used for English billiards and snooker).
I was more thinking of it the other way around, as in, a pool cue butt that is spliced this way would look pretty cool. So I was curious why it is not common. I think It is probably a lot more time consuming, and offers fewer stylistic options. Perhaps that is factor.
 
The only rounded splices I've seen on American pool cues are decorative, and are what the Americans refer to as "butterfly" splices. This has different meaning when referring to snooker and English pool cues, though, such is what's seen on Kevin Deroo's cues.

It would be an interesting concept, though, but as far as I know, a lot of American cues are made using CNCs and other precision machines to make cues. The tradition of hand-splicing butt wood to shaft wood will forever be a snooker and English pool tradition.

I have never been a fan of hand-splicing on 3/4 cues, though. It's somethiing about the short, stubby splicing that turns me off them, aesthetically. To me, true beauty lies in one-piece hand-spliced cues.
 
Last edited:
Greg M said:
The only rounded splices I've seen on American pool cues are decorative, and are what the Americans refer to as "butterfly" splices. This has different meaning when referring to snooker and English pool cues, though, such is what's seen on Kevin Deroo's cues.
Click to expand...
Love KDR's work. I considered a cue from him, and if it wasn't for the fact I was in Thailand, and watched my cue being made, I'd probably have gone with one of his.
Greg M said:
It would be an interesting concept, though, but as far as I know, a lot of American cues are made using CNCs and other precision machines to make cues. The tradition of hand-splicing butt wood to shaft wood will forever be a snooker and English pool tradition.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I see that. It's what prompted my question really. I guess it just serves as a way to save time, and produces more repeatable results
Greg M said:
I have never been a fan of hand-splicing on 3/4 cues, though. It's somethiing about the short, stubby splicing that turns me off them, aesthetically. To me, true beauty lies in one-piece hand-spliced cues.
Click to expand...
Think we are cut from the same cloth here Greg. My dad has a 3/4 that he'll openly admit is not a 'looker'. Doesn't stop him giving me a good battering with it though
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top