HOLLY USED IN Qs???????

B

BLACKHEARTCUES

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have used a lot of different woods in making my Qs, but I have never used Holly. I have some & it seems verry light in weight. How stable is it & would you recommend coring it?...JER
Maybe I should add, that I have 2 customers, one wanting a forearm & the other wanting a handle, made from this wood. That is the reason for my asking the question. THANKS
 
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BLACKHEARTCUES said:
I have used a lot of different woods in making my Qs, but I have never used Holly. I have some & it seems verry light in weight. How stable is it & would you recommend coring it?...JER
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I have some that I cut in slabs, and use for inlay. The supplier I got if from back when told me it is also called ivorywood because of the simularity in looks. It is really light weight as you mentioned, so not sure how stable It would be in a forearm or in the structure of a cue in general. I made a bunch of joints caps that I inlayed with It a few years back, and they all sold, so It does seem to be good for inlay is all I can say for sure. It was very easy to work with, but not very dense. Good luck with it please let us know how It turns out. Greg
 
Jer,

IMHO, no matter how you core it, or what you core it with, the cue will end up hitting like a marshmellow.

Holly is way too soft, and not very dense.

Keep it for your inlays.
 
HOLLY IN Qs

I'm disapointed in how few Qmakers responded to this plea for help. Maybe there just isn't a Qmaker here, who has used Holly in either the handle or forearm of a Q before. Well I'm going to core it with laminated handle stock & hope for the best. Wish I had more feed back???????????...JER
 
BLACKHEARTCUES said:
I'm disapointed in how few Qmakers responded to this plea for help. Maybe there just isn't a Qmaker here, who has used Holly in either the handle or forearm of a Q before. Well I'm going to core it with laminated handle stock & hope for the best. Wish I had more feed back???????????...JER
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The best part about being a real cuemaker is to experiment.
 
HOLLY IN Qs

Michael Webb said:
The best part about being a real cuemaker is to experiment.
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I've been experimenting since 1986. When did you start? Thank you for your NO HELP. I've always tryed to help people, in my life. Obviously from your favorite saying, you don't feel that way. Maybe no one ever helped you. Too bad, Your lose...JER
 
I know, sometimes I'm a smart ass but seriously I don't know any one whose ever done a holly forearm which is probably the reason no one answered.
Sorry.
 
Michael Webb said:
I know, sometimes I'm a smart ass but seriously I don't know any one whose ever done a holly forearm which is probably the reason no one answered.
Sorry.
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All cuemakers are smart asses at one time or another. We are thin skinned, don't take criticism well but extremely good looking. We also like dogs. :)

My experience with holly wood is that it is one of the most unstable woods I have ever encountered. It shrinks, twists, and checks during the curing process. It takes years to stabilize and then I would only use it for inlay material in pockets where it is glued in with epoxy and it cannot move. Once inlayed it looks great and stays in place fine.

I personally would not use it for any other purpose.

Good luck,
 
Arnot Wadsworth said:
All cuemakers are smart asses at one time or another. We are thin skinned, don't take criticism well but extremely good looking. We also like dogs. :)

My experience with holly wood is that it is one of the most unstable woods I have ever encountered. It shrinks, twists, and checks during the curing process. It takes years to stabilize and then I would only use it for inlay material in pockets where it is glued in with epoxy and it cannot move. Once inlayed it looks great and stays in place fine.

I personally would not use it for any other purpose.

Good luck,
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I have to agree with Arnot here...about the holly, I'm not touching the "extremely good looking" part! You might want to check with Jim at Wildwoods to see about some stabilized pieces. It would have to be cored but it may help you get the look that you're after.
 
BLACKHEARTCUES said:
I have used a lot of different woods in making my Qs, but I have never used Holly. I have some & it seems verry light in weight. How stable is it & would you recommend coring it?...JER
Maybe I should add, that I have 2 customers, one wanting a forearm & the other wanting a handle, made from this wood. That is the reason for my asking the question. THANKS
Click to expand...

There is a thread in the Cue Gallery forum area with a link to pictures of some new Jack Madden cues, several of which use holly.

http://www.azbilliards.com/vbulletin/upload/showthread.php?t=11504

Dave, not a cue maker
 
BLACKHEARTCUES said:
I'm disapointed in how few Qmakers responded to this plea for help. Maybe there just isn't a Qmaker here, who has used Holly in either the handle or forearm of a Q before. Well I'm going to core it with laminated handle stock & hope for the best. Wish I had more feed back???????????...JER
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Jer....

I rarely read this forum but your plea caught my eye....

Here's an answer which may help. When sanding holly, it is notorious for picking up foreign matter. As such, it is a real problem to keep clean even when using an air hose while sanding. To avoid the problem, when using holly for inlays or points, it should be stabilized. Taking this one step further.... in my experience, stabilized holly will weigh the same as dry ebony (same length and diameter). That bit of info should allow you to determine when, where and how to use it.

Now, all that is fine as long as you have quality stabilized holly. Since holly is white, it picks up color from the acrylic resin used in the stabilizing process. If the acrylic resin is not new and fresh, you will be wasting your time and money stabilizing the holly. You have to work with a company that will stabilize your holly when they are using fresh acrylic resin. And even then, you will still get waste.

Additionally, stabilized holly is worse (IMHO) to work with than ebony and cocobolo combined! And, if you have to cut it, use a good carbide!

I hope this helps.

--
Kind Regards,

Joe

Cue Components
Post Office Box 232398
Las Vegas, NV 89123

Phone: 702-617-3115
email: info@CueComponents.com
Web Site: www.CueComponents.com
 
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