Ivory ferrrules: IMO Still the best

[Bavafongoul]

It's so pleasing to read the posts about ivory ferrules & especially, ivory cue joints.

 

[BooRadley]

Well I myself have had a vintage cue I inherited that had ivory joints and ferule, and yea it played great, (also was a Gina so..) But honestly since nobody else has ill just say that I'd rather use a ferrule almost as good than directly or indirectly support the ivory trade. Now I am not judging anyone and don't really have a problem with older items containing ivory but unfortunately ivory is still in high demand and poaching is still a major problem, and I love pool but for me possible improvement is not worth it.

Billiards has an painful and interesting history with Ivory, they would use one tusk on average to make 3 balls (cringe) - but it was the need to replace the ivory that led to a new age of plastics. (Ironically the plastics will probally kill us in the end...hmm maybe just use the Ivory in that case at least you'll play better pool before the end!)

https://www.connellytucson.com/content/how-billiards-changed-future-plastics

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/...se_of_plastic_on_99_invisible_with_roman.html

 

[rjb1168]

My Tascarella is the first playing cue I have owned with Ivory ferrules. I am liking them very much and love the Tascarella.

 

[Bavafongoul]

The illegal trading of ivory is horrible and really should be forcefully discouraged.
Ca enacted stringent laws & so have several states; import & export is also banned.

However, the genuine irony is that cue-makers do not use illegal ivory; all of it is pre-ban 1978.
When was the last time, or better yet, when was any cue-maker charged with using illegal ivory?

Now Ernie G. was charged with breaking the Federal law prohibiting the export of ivory products.
He made cues using ivory, the buyers were from overseas & he knew where the cues were bound.

The ivory used in those cues, and I submit ivory used in basically all pool cues, is pre-ban 1978.
That's ivory forty (40) years old at the miniumum and likely a whole lot older so how does this ivory
contribute to the illegal traffic in poached ivory? There is no correlation whatsoever & remember, this
is "legal" ivory already here in the USA. Unfortunately, I reside in a state prohibiting the use of ivory.

Any cue-maker that does not reside in a state that restricts the use of ivory, and every cue buyer that
also doesn't reside in a restrictive state, is entitled to build and own pool cues that uses pre-ban ivory.
And as you've read from some of the posts, ivory makes a very unique pool cue ferrule & cue joint too.

Ergo, this does not increase the demand for poached ivory because all the ivory used in pool cues is legal
and until someone identifies a USA cue-maker building cues using poached ivory, there isn't any cause.

 

[Nick B]

Of the top 20 cue makers, I have owned about a dozen of their cues...
....had the ivory ferrules taken off every one of them...can’t stand them.

I’ll confess I left one on a Tad shaft because I was hooked to breaking with it...
...but eventually I cracked the ferrule.

I feel the same way about British brass ferruled snooker cues....
...why are they still being used when there are all these magic materials around?

I’ve had cue maker’s tell me I’m going to devalue a cue by losing the ivory...
....I would tell them that it would be an exercise in futility to retain the collector’s value....
....and lose my bankroll.

That's my first move. Off comes the brass for a black fiber ferule. Never had one crack or fail.