How to spot a good shaft wood

[Kevin Lindstrom]

I thought I saw something here before but can't seem to find it now about shaft wood. I want to know how to spot a good shaft. I have heard about grain tightness but would love to see a picture(s) of a great shaft so I know what to look for. The reference said something to the affect of xx number of rings per inch. Can someone explain this in detail and or provide a picture or link to somewhere that really can clear this up for me.
Thanks for any help.

 

[vapoolplayer]

I thought I saw something here before but can't seem to find it now about shaft wood. I want to know how to spot a good shaft. I have heard about grain tightness but would love to see a picture(s) of a great shaft so I know what to look for. The reference said something to the affect of xx number of rings per inch. Can someone explain this in detail and or provide a picture or link to somewhere that really can clear this up for me.
Thanks for any help.

put this in the "ask the cuemaker" section. i'm sure you'll get alot of responses. if you're in the cuebuilding business, then you'll need to know this. from a players point of view, just buy a shaft from a well known maker and don't worry about it, as most if not all of them take great pride in their work and use the best materials.

thanks

VAP

 

[bruin70]

i ask for wood with a dark reddish grain. with just this guideline, i can pick a good break stick from a rack of house cues. a few cuemakers told me that they usually use the clean "white" stuff because people like their shafts to look cosmetically clean. so usually the dark reddish shafts are put aside,,,they're the "ugly" woods.

a couple of cuemakers have also told me that they believe the lighter density shaft woods have more action.

check your pm's

 

[Kevin Lindstrom]

i ask for wood with a dark reddish grain. with just this guideline, i can pick a good break stick from a rack of house cues. a few cuemakers told me that they usually use the clean "white" stuff because people like their shafts to look cosmetically clean. so usually the dark reddish shafts are put aside,,,they're the "ugly" woods.

a couple of cuemakers have also told me that they believe the lighter density shaft woods have more action.

check your pm's

If you have sent me a PM I have not rececived it, could you please resend.
Thanks

 

[mjantti]

Of course shaft should be free of all imperfections. The grain or the growth rings of the shaft should go pretty straight from top to bottom (IMO) but if the shaft has been made and dried properly, I don't see that as a must. One of my shafts on my Tim Scruggs cue has almost dead straight grain all the way from joint to ferrule. Looks very nice when aiming

Also, there is a way to determine the density of the shaft is by counting the growth rings from half a circle, easier to do near the joint. Normally there should be at least 5 growth rings (never seen less) and usually the maximum number is 10 rings. More growth rings means that the shaft wood has been growing more slowly and the wood is more dense which usually means a stiffer shaft. I've heard there are some shafts with way over 10 rings within half a circle but they are quite rare. Also heard that most of the dense wood go straight to furniture industry and the cuemakers are overlooked here.

Btw, my friend received a couple of shafts just a week or two ago from Edwin Reyes for his ER cue. The other shaft was quite dark, almost reddish, and Edwin had said it was made from a tree of over 100 years old. I counted the growth rings and there were 17 of them !! Or something around 17, the rings were so close to each other that it was easy to lose count Anyway, my friend told me that particular shaft hits extremely stiff.

My $0.02

 

[Blackjack]

I thought I saw something here before but can't seem to find it now about shaft wood. I want to know how to spot a good shaft. I have heard about grain tightness but would love to see a picture(s) of a great shaft so I know what to look for. The reference said something to the affect of xx number of rings per inch. Can someone explain this in detail and or provide a picture or link to somewhere that really can clear this up for me.
Thanks for any help.

About 10 years ago American Cueist magazine had a series on wood selection and IIRC it was written by Dennis Diekman. Perhaps somebody that has some old magazines laying around can verify that. It was a very good series of articles. If not, try to contact Dennis Diekman. He is very knowledgable about all different types of woods. Also get with Ronnie at queperfect@queperfect.biz, he is also very good resource.