Introduction and a question about suppliers

dakota

dakota

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hello everyone,

I am cue junkie that is hoping to turn into a cue maker over the course of the next few years. I have recently been given the opportunity to work with someone locally that does a lot of repair work and has built between 50-75 cues some while he was working with another cue maker and some while he was on his own. He has mainly been doing repairs lately and almost all of his supplies such as wood stock, veneers, joint pins, etc have all been used up. I offered to buy materials since he had the knowledge and the basic machinery (Porper Model B lathe) to get me started. Up until this point I did some basic repairs on a lathe, but we only had a Unique repair lathe at the pool hall where I work, so it didn't allow for much cue building capabilities.

I have owned a number of higher end cues from makers such as Mike Capone, Mike Bender, SouthWest, and some semi custom cues like Schon and Pechauer. So I am going into this with a good idea of the hit and feel and I would like to accomplish and I really like simple designs with 4-8 points that just let the beauty of the wood and hit of the cue do the talking.

I understand that wood sources and parts suppliers are very important and that most of you guard this information. I was just wondering if any of you could give me any positive or negative feedback on a few companies that I am planning to use for woods, veneers, and basic parts? Here are a few of the companies I am considering as suppliers:

Cue Components
Prather
Atlas
Cue Man Billiard Products (aka Cue Smith)
Bell Forest Products (Wood)
Birdseye Creations

If you want to PM me versus giving public feedback on these companies, I can completely understand. Either way, any feedback or advice that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Dakota
 
I have purchased supplies, and parts from Cue man billiards, atlas, and bell forest. All are excellent to deal with, and have good quality wood(never purchased any shafts from atlas).

I purchased some shafts from cuecomponents, and they were not as described. In their defense, i never tried to contact them to rectify the situation, it was only four shafts, and i just took it as a loss.

If you can, try to find a local place to purchase your wood, that way you can make sure you get what you want. When i first started buying wood, i always bought it on line, and it was good quality, but i found i could get better by hand picking(with some exceptions). I still haven't found a good local source for shaft wood though, so i get most of them from Cue Man Billiards, and have been happy with them.

Rodney
 
dakota said:
Hello everyone,

I am cue junkie that is hoping to turn into a cue maker over the course of the next few years. I have recently been given the opportunity to work with someone locally that does a lot of repair work and has built between 50-75 cues some while he was working with another cue maker and some while he was on his own. He has mainly been doing repairs lately and almost all of his supplies such as wood stock, veneers, joint pins, etc have all been used up. I offered to buy materials since he had the knowledge and the basic machinery (Porper Model B lathe) to get me started. Up until this point I did some basic repairs on a lathe, but we only had a Unique repair lathe at the pool hall where I work, so it didn't allow for much cue building capabilities.

I have owned a number of higher end cues from makers such as Mike Capone, Mike Bender, SouthWest, and some semi custom cues like Schon and Pechauer. So I am going into this with a good idea of the hit and feel and I would like to accomplish and I really like simple designs with 4-8 points that just let the beauty of the wood and hit of the cue do the talking.

I understand that wood sources and parts suppliers are very important and that most of you guard this information. I was just wondering if any of you could give me any positive or negative feedback on a few companies that I am planning to use for woods, veneers, and basic parts? Here are a few of the companies I am considering as suppliers:

Cue Components
Prather
Atlas
Cue Man Billiard Products (aka Cue Smith)
Bell Forest Products (Wood)
Birdseye Creations

If you want to PM me versus giving public feedback on these companies, I can completely understand. Either way, any feedback or advice that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Dakota
Click to expand...

There is one on your list I would certainly avoid. About everything they sell is over priced and mis-represented. You won't have much trouble figureing out who.
Dick
 
rhncue said:
There is one on your list I would certainly avoid. About everything they sell is over priced and mis-represented. You won't have much trouble figureing out who.
Dick
Click to expand...
Yep, can you say "Snake-Oil"? :D
They can't seem to understand leaving me off their mailing list either....
 
Sheldon said:
Yep, can you say "Snake-Oil"? :D
They can't seem to understand leaving me off their mailing list either....
Click to expand...

You have to use those special words when requesting to be removed.
 
I Don't deal with them Myself, but I think I know which one you guys are refering to.

should be fine with
Atlas
Prather
cueman
bell forest

I've dealt with all these,except prather, but have heard nothing good things about them, so would'nt hesitate Myself.

Welcome to the board and good luck. Warning once you get into cuework, It can get addicting, and you may never shake It :D .

Greg
 
Michael Webb said:
You have to use those special words when requesting to be removed.
Click to expand...
Or when someone forwards theres to you (so you can both laugh at the BS that is printed to try and make a sale) and instead of replying to me, you accidentally send it to the company of which it originated from.
That would work as well...

Thanks,

Jon~*~True Story :D :D :D
 
Thanks!

I just wanted to thank everyone for the feedback and the warning about the one company. And Greg, thanks for the warning, but I think I am already addicted.

So far I have only turned down wood to be used in forearms and butt sleeves, but I am already excited and looking at different woods that I want to get for points and what veneers that I might want to use as well. I have high expectations and high end taste when it comes to cues, so its hard for me to slow myself down and make the first few cues really basic.

Either way, thank you all for you feedback and I look forward to talking to each of you in the future.

Thanks,

Spencer
 
dakota said:
I just wanted to thank everyone for the feedback and the warning about the one company. And Greg, thanks for the warning, but I think I am already addicted.

So far I have only turned down wood to be used in forearms and butt sleeves, but I am already excited and looking at different woods that I want to get for points and what veneers that I might want to use as well. I have high expectations and high end taste when it comes to cues, so its hard for me to slow myself down and make the first few cues really basic.

Either way, thank you all for you feedback and I look forward to talking to each of you in the future.

Thanks,

Spencer
Click to expand...


Hi Spencer,

My experience with wood suppliers is very surprising... Not many woodsellers pick out the wood you're looking for. They just take some from a bunch and ship it. Because I'm a true wood freak, I attach much importance to service and quality.

If you'ld ask me, I would especially recommend Bird's eye creations, Righteous Woods (Look for them on google...), Cocobolo inc. , Gilmer woods and West Penn Hardwoods.

Those suppliers hand pick the pieces you want and the prices are very fair (except Gilmer Woods maybe, but they have pics of the pieces on the net which gives you the exact idea of what you're purchasing).

Please let me know about the way you were treated as a new client...

Good luck with it,

Tom Penrose
 
Penrose Cues said:
Hi Spencer,

My experience with wood suppliers is very surprising... Not many woodsellers pick out the wood you're looking for. They just take some from a bunch and ship it. Because I'm a true wood freak, I attach much importance to service and quality.

If you'ld ask me, I would especially recommend Bird's eye creations, Righteous Woods (Look for them on google...), Cocobolo inc. , Gilmer woods and West Penn Hardwoods.

Those suppliers hand pick the pieces you want and the prices are very fair (except Gilmer Woods maybe, but they have pics of the pieces on the net which gives you the exact idea of what you're purchasing).

Please let me know about the way you were treated as a new client...

Good luck with it,

Tom Penrose
Click to expand...

Tom,

Thanks for the feedback and recommendations. When I ordered a few pieces of cocobolo from Bell Forest I told him exactly what I wanted (darker orange / red color with a lot of figure). The guy I worked with said he would hand pick pieces to my spec for $2 more a piece and I was really impressed with the wood I received. In fact the guy I am working with said two of the three pieces are some of the nicer cocobolo he has seen. I am now looking for a good source for some Ebony squares and also Ebony for points. I noticed that Cue Man and Cue Components had ebony turning squares for $25 and everyone else was around $35-$45. For point material, do you usually buy your wood in small flatter pieces? This is what I was looking at, but I am not sure what size pieces will yield a good number of points versus produce a lot of scrap? Would I want the wood to be at least 1/2" thick or can I get away with slightly thinner for router cut points. Thanks again to everyone, I really appreciate all the help.

Spencer
 
The size square you use would depend on the pocket you are cutting.
Dept of pocket plus 1/16 to 1/8 for turning and width across the widest point.
 
Michael Webb said:
The size square you use would depend on the pocket you are cutting.
Dept of pocket plus 1/16 to 1/8 for turning and width across the widest point.
Click to expand...
I bought some hardrock maple that is 4.5x1.5x31 ins.It has tons of growth rings and looks very straight grained,it is a lot of work to cut it fr that point to round,and to make sure its dry,hope its worth the extra effort.I also buy birdseye square,1.5x1.5 x18.
 
almer said:
I bought some hardrock maple that is 4.5x1.5x31 ins.It has tons of growth rings and looks very straight grained,it is a lot of work to cut it fr that point to round,and to make sure its dry,hope its worth the extra effort.I also buy birdseye square,1.5x1.5 x18.
Click to expand...

Those are good sizes for cues but Dakota was referring to points, For forearms, you really only need 1 1/4, Let your table saw or band saw do the rough cuts, it saves time.
 
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