I know nothing about cues - help me understand

Tony Zinzola said:
I'm still waiting for your address.

I will buy you a full splice blank and I will send you everything you need to build a cue (rings, phenolic joint and butt collars, joint pin, a shaft dowel, ferrule, a tip and a square piece of wood to use for the butt section). You claim to be an award winning woodworker, I'd like to see some of your work.
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Sorry Tony - unlike Dave38, I do have a life outside of this message board. Next time I am at my mother's house, I will take a picture of the walnut table I built in the 8th grade and post it here. It has stood up quite well the past 25 years.

I have sent you my address. Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I went to Florida for the 4th of July. If you want proof, I'll send you a pic of my tan as well.
 
Tony Zinzola said:
I don't know why you could consider yourself a hack. It looks to me like you do good work and probably know a lot more about cues than most of the posters here, myself included.

I wouldn't send him one of my blanks, that would involve too much effort on my part for something that will likely end up trash.
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Oops, I didn't see your follow up post before I sent you my address.

I think it is more that I will either prove you wrong. Oh well, nice try crawdad.

Hey Dave38 - is Tony the crawdad one of the most respected posters you were talking about? Kind of hard to be respected when you don't keep your word.
 
I said I would send you a blank and I will. I'm just not going to waste my time making you a blank.

Here are my conditions. You send me $50 for the blank and all of the materials. I will have more money than that into it. Once you post photos of your completed cue or give up and admit it's not as easy as you think, I will return the $50 to you. What kind of lathe will you be working on?

The $50 is only insurance so that I get to see the photos of your work. If you're not willing to do that, then I can't help you.
 
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Quote Tony Zinzola "I'm still waiting for your address.

I will buy you a full splice blank and I will send you everything you need to build a cue (rings, phenolic joint and butt collars, joint pin, a shaft dowel, ferrule, a tip and a square piece of wood to use for the butt section). You claim to be an award winning woodworker, I'd like to see some of your work."

I missed the $50 part.
 
The $50 is the only way I can be assured we will see the finished product. I don't want the $50, once I see the cue, I'll send it back.
 
watchez said:
Oops, I didn't see your follow up post before I sent you my address.

I think it is more that I will either prove you wrong. Oh well, nice try crawdad.

Hey Dave38 - is Tony the crawdad one of the most respected posters you were talking about? Kind of hard to be respected when you don't keep your word.
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Hey Watchez, your a real piece of work, Why don't you do your part to help with the Global Warming problem and just unplug your computer, nothing productive is coming out of it except a bunch of fertilizer anyways. Tony has more integrity than you seem to, your plea for help "Help me understand" but you have rebuffed and insulted some very good people that attempted to help you understand. The people that I am referring to were Tony, Chris Hightower from Hightower cues, Eric from Sugartree cues, Craig Rittel from Fullsplice, and Willie, and others. If you don't know who they are and have no respect for them, then you sir have no business being in this area of the forum, Just My opinion! I've gotten to know Tony alittle and damn glad to have made his aquaintance. All the above have earned the respect that is given to them, they have class, and have made contributions to make this business a better one.
I'm done wasting my time on your thread, I have to go get alife, so I guess I better get going before the stores close....
Dave
 
Tony Zinzola said:
Send me your address. I will send you a premade blank so that you can build a cue on your lathe. I'm anxious to see the results. will buy you a full splice blank and I will send you everything you need to build a cue (rings, phenolic joint and butt collars, joint pin, a shaft dowel, ferrule, a tip and a square piece of wood to use for the butt section).
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Where in this post does it say anything about $50? Not that $50 means anything to me but it must to you for you to reneg on your initial offer. You really must be a cuemaker, you have proved that. What is next, I send you the $50 and then you state that now you want $100, $200, $300. Or I make such a great cue that you will reneg on your $50 refund because you feel that I definitely got my moneys worth?

Southbend lathe, is that ok?

Tell you what, I'll send you the $50. But this is the end of the story & holding me hostage. Give me your paypal address. And I'll be looking for my cue parts by the end of the week?
 
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I"m not holding you hostage. I just want to ensure that I see pictures of your work. My paypal address is tony@zinzola.com

I will box up the parts coming from me tomorrow. I will have a blank shipped directly to you and if I can't do that, I will have it shipped to me and then ship it your way.

What color do you want for your joint and butt and what color for your rings?

Like I said, I don't care about the $50. I won't even take it out of my paypal account. When you post your results or give up, I'll refund your money.

I'm not saying you can't make a cue. I just don't think it's as easy as you think, even from a blank. I for one have never made a cue from somebody elses blank, but most have and it's a good way to start. You could be off to a great career.

I will even help you if you have questions.

Also, if you didn't sound so argumentative in your posts, people probably wouldn't be jumping down your throat. You don't know anything about cue making, yet you want to insult the people that try to answer your questions. It doesn't hurt to suck it up and be humble once in a while. When I ask a question here, I appreciate the people who take the time to try to help me, I don't jump down their throats. Maybe that's not your intention, but that is certainly the way your posts appear.

Good luck.
 
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What are my options in colors? I like dark woods. Pick me out something nice. Something to liven it up with the rings. Red/yellow maybe to go along with my Ragu line. I would say a black joint for sure and black butt.

The cue I play with is ebony and purple heart. Again, I like dark cues.

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watchez said:
What are my options in colors? I like dark woods. Pick me out something nice. Something to liven it up with the rings. Red/yellow maybe to go along with my Ragu line. I would say a black joint for sure and black butt.

The cue I play with is ebony and purple heart. Again, I like dark cues.

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Put me on your list, first, I presume.
 
Anyone else that would like to make a donation to my cue project, please feel welcome.

Willee - I know you have some nice Ivory laying around you could send me. You can keep the blue, purple, and green plastics in your shop.

Dave38 - You can just sit back & watch. I don't want you to hurt yourself & am seriously hoping you find a life. On second thought, if you have some duck tape and some super glue, send it to me. In your mind, I am probably gonna need it.

-This project might take me several weeks only because I am on assignment for work right now & out of town during the week til the end of July. A few good weekends and I should have this done.
 
There probably aren't a lot of options for cheap full splice blanks. I was going to order it from Schmelke. Probably just Bubinga and Maple or something similar. You don't want to do your first one out of something expensive. My first cue was built 100% out of scrap wood. Now if you want to cut your own points and do a short splice, I'll send you whatever you want (within reason), but your probably best starting with the full splice blank. Your main goal should be to build a straight cue and get the points as close to even. I don't use Fiber or Nickel Silver Rings anymore and I have a ton, so I'll send you an assortment and you can choose what you want to use. I'll send you black Phenolic pieces for the joint and butt. I will send you a couple 3/8-11 pins because I have several and don't use them.

Just to let you know, I had some wood working experience when I started building cues too, but there is a lot more to it than that. You said you have a Southbend Lathe, so you might have some experience, so this may not be too difficult for you. When I set up my first lathe, I had no idea what anything was. I can assure you I still have a lot to learn and I use my lathe almost every single day.
 
watchez said:
Anyone else that would like to make a donation to my cue project, please feel welcome.

Willee - I know you have some nice Ivory laying around you could send me. You can keep the blue, purple, and green plastics in your shop.

Dave38 - You can just sit back & watch. I don't want you to hurt yourself & am seriously hoping you find a life. On second thought, if you have some duck tape and some super glue, send it to me. In your mind, I am probably gonna need it.

-This project might take me several weeks only because I am on assignment for work right now & out of town during the week til the end of July. A few good weekends and I should have this done.
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It should take you more than a couple of weeks. Of course, my first couple were built fairly quick because I couldn't wait to get them done.
 
Tony Zinzola said:
There probably aren't a lot of options for cheap full splice blanks. I was going to order it from Schmelke. Probably just Bubinga and Maple or something similar. You don't want to do your first one out of something expensive. My first cue was built 100% out of scrap wood. Now if you want to cut your own points and do a short splice, I'll send you whatever you want (within reason), but your probably best starting with the full splice blank. Your main goal should be to build a straight cue and get the points as close to even. I don't use Fiber or Nickel Silver Rings anymore and I have a ton, so I'll send you an assortment and you can choose what you want to use. I'll send you black Phenolic pieces for the joint and butt. I will send you a couple 3/8-11 pins because I have several and don't use them.

Just to let you know, I had some wood working experience when I started building cues too, but there is a lot more to it than that. You said you have a Southbend Lathe, so you might have some experience, so this may not be too difficult for you. When I set up my first lathe, I had no idea what anything was. I can assure you I still have a lot to learn and I use my lathe almost every single day.
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Sounds good. I definitely want the Full Splice Blank because this is what my original question was about.

If the cue doesn't come out straight, I can always soak it in water and then put some heavy bricks on it to straighten it out.

Don't forget the shaft. I like a thick shaft. 13mm. Something bigger than that so I can turn it down & use a taper. Someone give me the taper of a Southwest cause I want my cue to hit like a Southwest.

By the way Tony, no offense, but what is the name of the cues you build? Sorry I have never heard of you. Website please.
 
Tony Zinzola said:
My website is under construction. Here are a few of my more recent cues:

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=99859

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=103309&highlight=zinzola

By the way, I didn't get an email from paypal, so I just logged on. Nothing showing yet. Maybe they are just slow. I'm not doubting you sent payment. You had all of my info.
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I put the confirmation on here for all to see. Here is more from Paypal showing the payment.

You have sent a payment! Secure Transaction


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You have sent $50.00 USD to tony@zinzola.com. An email will be sent to the recipient.

 
I like the 2nd cue - rings and butt better than the first. Nice points. You don't see a lot of cues like that anymore.

If you made that all yourself, excellent work.
 
Paypal payment has arrived.

All of my cues are made by me. The Braz on Braz is my favorite cue that I have built to date. I have so many in the works that should surpass that one though. Here are the few I posted the other day that are only just started.


07-05-08-001.jpg


07-05-08-003.jpg


I will order your blank in the morning. The rest will also ship tomorrow (if I'm not too lazy to get to the Post Office). Regardless, you'll have the kit in a few days.
 
Ok, don't expect veneers. But I will make a nice cue out of the Full Splice. I wonder if Willee will let me put it on his website & sell it for about $550.
 
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