How to remove and re-install butt cap

This cue is one solid piece of ebony so there are no screws or pins holding the handle together. There is no ring work at the butt sleeve area either. I talked to Dan and he said that there is only a small brass insert holding the screw of the bumper in place. There is nothing under the bumper except a recessed delrin area and a small brass insert to accept the small allen screw. The man Dan bought the cue from knew Bill McDaniel and asked him to build him a solid ebony cue so that's what he did. At least that is the information I have.
 
Last edited:
This cue is one solid piece of ebony so there are no screws or pins holding the handle together. There is no ring work at the butt sleeve area either. I talked to Dan and he said that there is only a small brass insert holding the screw of the bumper in place. There is nothing under the bumper except a recessed delrin area and a small brass insert to accept the small allen screw. The man Dan bought the cue from knew Bill McDaniel and asked him to build him a solid ebony cue so that's what he did. At least that is the information I have.
Since he's insistent, tell him to drill the bottom and plug it up then.
 
Then you consider incorrectly. He used a joint collar that was thinner than
those shown in the pics - at least on the 4 or 5 that I have seen up close and personal,
and the one I sorta owned for a month or 4, as do I.

Dale

I've owned 12 and had more than 50 in my hands as well as more than 100 from his acknowledged successor ..SO obviously you don't understand what I mean and that's just fine. NP... Sorry to ruffle your feathers... let the thread continue...

Skins ----------- is sometimes thin brained...
 
Last edited:
If the cue is solid Ebony then tell him to get an air cooled gun drill and drill away on his lathe. A regular drill will produce too much heat. Since he is a machinist I am guessing he has access to a metal lathe, but let him know to make delrin or other plastic collets to protect the cue in the chuck and that the butt needs to be held in two places with no wobble allowed. This is not a hand drill job.
 
If the cue is solid Ebony then tell him to get an air cooled gun drill and drill away on his lathe. A regular drill will produce too much heat. Since he is a machinist I am guessing he has access to a metal lathe, but let him know to make delrin or other plastic collets to protect the cue in the chuck and that the butt needs to be held in two places with no wobble allowed. This is not a hand drill job.

I can only imagine how thin the butt plate tenon will be.
He might just drill it out and spin the buttsleeve.
 
If the cue is solid Ebony then tell him to get an air cooled gun drill and drill away on his lathe. A regular drill will produce too much heat. Since he is a machinist I am guessing he has access to a metal lathe, but let him know to make delrin or other plastic collets to protect the cue in the chuck and that the butt needs to be held in two places with no wobble allowed. This is not a hand drill job.

Or this.

http://www.technidrillsystems.com/gundrill.htm

Dale
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TwoRailDave View Post
...changing out a g-10 pin would be lighter. That also seems like a ridiculous thing to do to a McDaniel cue in my opinion but no one's saying anything about that.
Yeah, that would just be insane!

Having a 22 ounce cue that you had custom made seems a far more insane to me. Some of my big fat 1970's baseball bat cues are only 21 oz and they are way to heavy in my opinion.Trying to fix the mistake he made is a matter of doing whatever is possible without ruining it to make a playable cue . He already made an expensive mistake. It aint rocket science. If he likes it ...fix it. if wants to do it himself...well he did order a solid ebony cue once, so we know he makes some bad decisions on occasion. If a friend who is a cue-maker? tells him not to attempt to resolve this mistake on his own and he insists anyway, then at that point Oh well.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TwoRailDave View Post
...changing out a g-10 pin would be lighter. That also seems like a ridiculous thing to do to a McDaniel cue in my opinion but no one's saying anything about that.
Yeah, that would just be insane!

Having a 22 ounce cue that you had custom made seems a far more insane to me. Some of my big fat 1970's baseball bat cues are only 21 oz and they are way to heavy in my opinion.Trying to fix the mistake he made is a matter of doing whatever is possible without ruining it to make a playable cue . He already made an expensive mistake. It aint rocket science. If he likes it ...fix it. if wants to do it himself...well he did order a solid ebony cue once, so we know he makes some bad decisions on occasion. If a friend who is a cue-maker? tells him not to attempt to resolve this mistake on his own and he insists anyway, then at that point Oh well.

Good grief. If you actually read my post, it says that Dan got the cue from someone else who had it custom made. He gave Dan a very good deal on it so he was okay with the weight at first. Now that he's playing more again, he'd like to make it lighter. My point was that everyone was up in arms at the idea of Dan boring out a half inch hole but you suggested to change out the pin and change the joint to ivory, which besides being a much more significant modification and being much less McDaniel-like, would result in a very butt heavy 20 oz. cue. It would ruin the balance as it already has a heavy ebony butt and it would cost a bunch of money instead of being free. If you're going to have a 20 oz. cue I think it should be forward weighted, but that's just my opinion. An opinion that seams to be held by a lot of others who prefer more weight on their bridge hands. You seem like you just enjoy getting into pissing matches with people. You admitted you're no cuemaker. This isn't your thread and you have no business antagonizing myself and others in mine. Ask yourself this question...am I contributing to this forum, or am I just irritating people by constantly arguing, swearing, and prodding people? Also, do you really feel like you actually offer any knowledge that the cuemakers cannot? I can assure you that everyone in this thread already knew that changing out a steel pin and brass insert to g-10 would be lighter.
 
Last edited:
Good grief. If you actually read my post, it says that Dan got the cue from someone else who had it custom made. He gave Dan a very good deal on it so he was okay with the weight at first. Now that he's playing more again, he'd like to make it lighter. My point was that everyone was up in arms at the idea of Dan boring out a half inch hole but you suggested to change out the pin and change the joint to ivory, which besides being a much more significant modification and being much less McDaniel-like, would result in a very butt heavy 20 oz. cue. It would ruin the balance as it already has a heavy ebony butt and it would cost a bunch of money instead of being free. If you're going to have a 20 oz. cue I think it should be forward weighted, but that's just my opinion. An opinion that seams to be held by a lot of others who prefer more weight on their bridge hands. You seem like you just enjoy getting into pissing matches with people. You admitted you're no cuemaker. This isn't your thread and you have no business antagonizing myself and others in mine. Ask yourself this question...am I contributing to this forum, or am I just irritating people by constantly arguing, swearing, and prodding people? Also, do you really feel like you actually offer any knowledge that the cuemakers cannot? I can assure you that everyone in this thread already knew that changing out a steel pin and brass insert to g-10 would be lighter.

I think everyone who responded was trying to say that ruining the cue made no sense and some alternate ideas were thrown out on the table for consideration.
 
Last edited:
TwoRailDave;5042509. My point was that everyone was up in arms at the idea of Dan boring out a half inch hole but you suggested to change out the pin and change the joint to ivory said:
The moment a drill enters the rear of that cue, it has become anything other than a McDaniel's. To compare the two ideas presented, an experienced cuemaker/repair person changing the joint pin with G10 pin, and SS collar to an Ivory, or any other material for that matter, vs a nobody drilling a 12" long x .750 hole in the ass end of an expensive ebony cue which may crack just by trying to doing it............
which sounds more insane????
Jayman may not have been eloquent about how he said it but what he said is not incorrect. Either do it right or not at all.
IMHO, as a builder/repair person, Your buddy should sell it for what it's worth and move on, period. Anything else done by just him is bastardizing/damaging what was a wonderful and expensive cue for no damn good reason to a point that no one will be able to enjoy that cue again.
Just My take, I don't own it, but would be a damn shame to hear it was ruined...
dave
 
The moment a drill enters the rear of that cue, it has become anything other than a McDaniel's. To compare the two ideas presented, an experienced cuemaker/repair person changing the joint pin with G10 pin, and SS collar to an Ivory, or any other material for that matter, vs a nobody drilling a 12" long x .750 hole in the ass end of an expensive ebony cue which may crack just by trying to doing it............
which sounds more insane????
Jayman may not have been eloquent about how he said it but what he said is not incorrect. Either do it right or not at all.
IMHO, as a builder/repair person, Your buddy should sell it for what it's worth and move on, period. Anything else done by just him is bastardizing/damaging what was a wonderful and expensive cue for no damn good reason to a point that no one will be able to enjoy that cue again.
Just My take, I don't own it, but would be a damn shame to hear it was ruined...
dave
A .750 hole at the bottom will really be interesting when it goes through a .750 tenon.
The sleeve will be grabbing air for dear life.
 
Does nobody actually read the posts? I said a .5 inch hole. Not .75. And you're no one to say that my friend is a nobody. You have no idea of his experience working with wood and metal lathes. He wanted to know how to remove and reinstall the butt cap. It was supposed to be a simple question. How about we just let this thread die? He never received the info I told him he might find.
 
Maybe worth a reread:

"The cue currently weighs 22 oz. and has one solid plain piece of ebony for a butt
with a standard-sized delrin or delrin-like butt cap."

If what was written is correct, there is no butt-sleeve.
If the Delrin butt-cap is currently sitting on a 3/4" tenon,
it will have to be content sitting on a 1" tenon.

Mr. McDaniels may have built this cue but he no longer owns it. He sold it.
To be blunt, he no longer has say over what's done with this cue.
The cue belongs to it's current owner and he's free to do with it as he wishes.

I believe that the task of lightening this cue can be accomplished if done correctly.
There has been a lot of speculation and assumption made in this thread, not to mention bickering.
Pics were asked for a week ago and we're yet to see this mystery cue.
I have nothing more to add to this thread other than, a 1/2" hole won't do it.

KJ
 
I think everyone who responded was trying to say that ruining the cue made no sense and some alternate ideas were thrown out on the table for consideration.

........................ wrong post.......
 
Last edited:
Does nobody actually read the posts? I said a .5 inch hole. Not .75. And you're no one to say that my friend is a nobody. You have no idea of his experience working with wood and metal lathes. He wanted to know how to remove and reinstall the butt cap. It was supposed to be a simple question. How about we just let this thread die? He never received the info I told him he might find.

Tho Jay might not have ever built a cue(?) he is a knowledgeable fellow who
has a ton or two of experience with them. I'm assuming your friend wants to
keep the cue because he likes the way it plays, so I feel his suggestions for
changing the joint, pin, and so on, not only won't reduce the weight enough,
but will result in a cue that plays radically different than it does now... maybe.

In keeping with my ongoing inclination to promote the utilization of arithmetic,
KJ has wisely pointed out - even if he can bore out the hole, it will not reduce
the weight enough.

The bigger picture:

Yes indeed - you asked for some simple advise. What you may not realize, is all
us guys have a story or three about some one who wanted to do some
modification to a cue that just was beyond the pale... a few who were so
determined as to see the project thru, often regretted it severely.

If there has ever been a candidate for a project likely to have disastrously unintended
consequences - this is it.

Dale
 
"If there has ever been a candidate for a project likely to have disastrously unintended consequences - this is it."

^^^^^ ditto ^^^^^

Gary
 
Back
Top