17 cues last year
How many cues do you make a year?
- Thread starter gh8st
- Start date
So far this year, I have made around 12 cues, and I am working on 4 more
I know I'm going to open up a can of worms here but....If there is no money in building cues, why are so many people getting into the business. I don't know of many business where you can spend $100
on materials to build a cue and sell it for $600 - $1000 for a few hours work. My 401k isnt that strong.
I'am doing for the love not the money. Do what makes you happy. You will enjoy life alot more. My 1st cue will be done some time this year. Hope to do a lot more if the money holds out..
I think that's exactly the thought of a lot of people that buy a machine and think they're going to be the next big thing. I haven't produced that many cues, but the money from every single one of them has went back into supplies and equipment. I've spent probably $5000 of my own cash, plus most everything I've made back into supplies. The only thing I make cash on that doesn't all go back into supplies is repairs, and even then the majority goes back into supplies and equipment. About the only time it doesn't is when someone pays me at the bar and I use it to buy some beers.
And if I had $5000 more I could spend it without even having to think about what I'd buy.
I got into this because I loved doing repairs, so I started upgrading equipment and decided to build some cues. Now I'm hooked on that. I've decided my goal is to try to go full time at this by the time I'm 50, and I'm 31 now. The ultimate goal would be to have the business successful enough that my son can work full time with me after college. He was born in December. Maybe I'm not pushing hard enough, but I have a great job and providing for my family worry free is all I can ask for at the moment. I believe I've set a goal that can be accomplished, because I've set it far enough out that I can prepare for that moment.
Well, you've got a point, maybe. There's a couple of misconceptions however. It's true there isn't that much money involved in materials in a cue if you don't count wastage that is. I've had hundreds of pieces of wood that I've bought mail order that was not up to snuff as far as looks or checks or such things. Very expensive firewood. Most cue makers are hobbyist so they just don't have the knowledge nor equipment to speed up operations so that so much time is needed to complete a task. There are not many small, part time cue makers getting 600 to 1000.00 for a cue. Why not drop that estimate down to a more realistic 150 to 600.00. I don't know exactly what you call just a few hours to build a cue either. Do you mean 2 or 3 hours or 50 or 60? I know one cue maker who probably puts a 100 hours in a plain cue that he may get 400.00 for. He is very particular over the hit and he may make 20 trips to a pool hall testing the hit before finally deciding it's what he's looking for. You've also got to cover your overhead. There's rent, utilities, phone, insurance and of coarse about 30% going to Uncle Sam. There's the damage to your health from exposure to the toxic woods and chemicals. There's a reason that hard woods can grow in rain forests and not rot and that reason is they have bug killers in their make-up. I'm on oxygen 24 hr. a day from breathing so much dust and vapors. Plus you've got the hours of up-keep on machinery, testing new theories or applications, cleaning shop and equipment, constantly talking on the phone to potential customers and then convincing someone who believes you've got 100.00 and 3 hours in building the cue to buy your effort instead of just purchasing a Chinese cue down at the flea market.
Dick
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Many Doctors make $500,000 a year with even less raw material, than a cuemaker. I think both are paid for what they know & their workmanship, not their raw material...JER
I have made about ten in the last 12 months. Zero before that. Hope to make just afew this next year. Want to see how the ones I have made hold up before making many more.
Don't even want to think what I spent to make these 10 cues. But if I didn't spend a dime on tooling and materials. I feel lucky if I made $3 an hour labor on the few I have sold.
According to zx24
Making a cue $100
Selling a cue $600 to $1000( Most I have sold one for is $350)
According to 63Kcode
Putting C. J. wiley out of a tournament with a cue you built yourself. PRICLESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We don't do it for the money!!!!!!!
Larry
Don't even want to think what I spent to make these 10 cues. But if I didn't spend a dime on tooling and materials. I feel lucky if I made $3 an hour labor on the few I have sold.
According to zx24
Making a cue $100
Selling a cue $600 to $1000( Most I have sold one for is $350)
According to 63Kcode
Putting C. J. wiley out of a tournament with a cue you built yourself. PRICLESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We don't do it for the money!!!!!!!
Larry
Seems like it's always a race....a race to meet the deadline. I apparently am not much of a racer anymore.
Well, I had written a different post until I read what others have said since yours. I think you get the gist.
What I will say though is that if you believe that a quality cue can be built in a few hours, you're dreaming. Mine take considerably longer, much longer. Several months to a year on average.
More than half the people making cues aren't doing it as a business.
These are the hobbyists, part-timers and those that just want to dabble occasionally.
If someone is building for a living, they've got a tough row to hoe and a stout nut to crack every month on a business that's 'iffy' at best.
Stick with your 401 because there is no security in building cues.
Working at Starbucks is more profittable than making cues.
If you don't believe me, you are more than welcome to try it.
I try to keep it at a reasonable number. I have a CNC machine that I named Rumpelstiltskin. In the evening after supper, I put wood into the CNC machine and go to bed. When I wake in the morning, I go downstairs and there is a new cue waiting for me.
OK, I hope you guys can see my tongue in cheek when I posted this, right?
OK, I hope you guys can see my tongue in cheek when I posted this, right?
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KJ, I also think he should stick with his 401K, because obviously he doesn't understand how to plan for retirement anyway, a 401K isn't what it use to be!!!!!:smile:
I wonder what his 401K is worth today, I think he would be better off buying lottery tickets, it least then he have as much security as the average cue maker!!!!
pics??????????????
I make sooo much money building cues, that I'm thinking of ways to use my stuff to build turkey calls for my buddies and I. I'm lucky in that I'm only about $12,000 hooked right now.
I'm thinking it would be much easier to persuade that Boss Tom turkey to leave those 8-10 hot and horny hens, than to persuade some poolplayer that my plain cue with 2 shafts is worth $350 of his hard earned dollars.
I'm also thinking on a design for a supermodel decoy. A hen that the Tom just HAS to have. I'll post updates.
Or how 'bout a jump/break/hunting cue with a quick release joint and leather wrap?I'm even thinking of changing the name of my business to ThunderChicken Cues! Pool cues for the serious turkey hunter.
Sorry for going off, but The point I was trying to make is that profitable cuebuilding is a tough nut to crack. It takes lots of investment and it can be kinda frustrating when you figure how much money you're actually making for your labor after you figure the waste, utilities, etc. It's rewarding for me though when someone makes a score or wins a tournament with one of my cues. Good luck.
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No matter how many months you hang your wood or how many cuts you make, it still only a few hands on hours on a cue. Its still an awesome return on your money.
I understand your point but you still need to be able to build enough AND sell enough. Just because a person can build 250 cues a year doesn't mean someone will be knocking his door down to buy them.
profit
Ok, so maybe the gross profit is decent. BUT!
I'm of the belief that Gross Profit is stupid term invented by some idiot who didnt understand or couldnt figure out what his real costs were. And in turn couldnt figure out why he wasnt well off when he was spending a 100 and selling for 200. This usually only works when you sell mega volume, mega fast. The opposite of what cuemakers do.
Not to beat the Dale Perry thread to death or change the subject, but i think he figured this out the hardway. If i had to guess, he probably has/had a few thousand cues stock piled and is trying to move them on the fast and cheap.
JMO
Ok, so maybe the gross profit is decent. BUT!
I'm of the belief that Gross Profit is stupid term invented by some idiot who didnt understand or couldnt figure out what his real costs were. And in turn couldnt figure out why he wasnt well off when he was spending a 100 and selling for 200. This usually only works when you sell mega volume, mega fast. The opposite of what cuemakers do.
Not to beat the Dale Perry thread to death or change the subject, but i think he figured this out the hardway. If i had to guess, he probably has/had a few thousand cues stock piled and is trying to move them on the fast and cheap.
JMO