Hi,
I love cuemaking and azbillards forums and I thank all you guys who weigh in and teach your experience. Over the years I have been a beneficiary of the great stuff posted here.
This is my first posted thread and I hope the carbon fiber pin guys sell a million units to those in the market for new products. However, I must ask the question to you Cue Makers, " Is there something magical about these composit materials that make a cue feel or play better"? If there is not, is this not just a reinvent of the wheel or a cosmetic change for change sake.
If carbon fiber pins are lighter that brass, alum., or stainless I would question why do I want to make my cue lighter on the front end of the butt.
As it is, in most cases I have a hard time getting my cues to weight over 19 oz. with an .845 joint and a 1.250 butt. I core every cue from the A-Joint to the butt with a 3/4" purpleheart or laminated maple dowel and use my lighter shaftwood for lower priced sneakys and plain janes. When a customer insists on a heavy cue I have to put in a 1/2" diameter A-Joint connecting pin.
It seems to me that once and great mechanical interlock and precision facing occurs, the pin is only a function of weight at the joint. After experimenting with other materials, I use G-10 / Garlock inserts in my shafts because it's tensile strength and ductility is off the scale compared to the wood fiber, it machines well, the threads look good and won't turn into a spiral groove over time. To me, this seems to be the perfect use for this type of material.
It is my philosophy that each cue should have it's own weight based on the construction and materials used. I have a weight bolt threaded recess area in my butt but I don't sell any cues with a weight bolt. If the customer wants to have one in there I will supply him with whatever he wants. I truly believe that putting more weight in the butt to reach a weight goal is messing with the natural balance of that specific cue. The moment arm envelope shifts dramatically with loading at the farthest point aft of a fulcrum. Conversely taking weight away and the farthest point forward does the same thing.
I have only been building cues and doing cue repair for a total of 7 years and am still refining my process to reach 100% repeatability in each phase of my operations. The weight & balance process is something that I want to have as much control over as possible but I understand that the wood species all have different specific gravities and the density varies from piece to piece. One constant I can count on is the weight of my pin.
I now use a chrome plated brass 3/8 x 14 truncated pin that I have had manufactured on a screw machine and am changing over to a Stainless unit made on a CNC Lathe by Lee Malakoff. I don't think there is a appreciable difference between brass and stainless concerning weight, but I think the a stainless precision pin presents the product with a better first impression to the end user. To me, the Carbon pin only distracts form the beauty of the cue.
If there are some other attributes to the cue that these high tech materials bring with reference to the pin, please weigh in.
Rick Geschrey
I love cuemaking and azbillards forums and I thank all you guys who weigh in and teach your experience. Over the years I have been a beneficiary of the great stuff posted here.
This is my first posted thread and I hope the carbon fiber pin guys sell a million units to those in the market for new products. However, I must ask the question to you Cue Makers, " Is there something magical about these composit materials that make a cue feel or play better"? If there is not, is this not just a reinvent of the wheel or a cosmetic change for change sake.
If carbon fiber pins are lighter that brass, alum., or stainless I would question why do I want to make my cue lighter on the front end of the butt.
As it is, in most cases I have a hard time getting my cues to weight over 19 oz. with an .845 joint and a 1.250 butt. I core every cue from the A-Joint to the butt with a 3/4" purpleheart or laminated maple dowel and use my lighter shaftwood for lower priced sneakys and plain janes. When a customer insists on a heavy cue I have to put in a 1/2" diameter A-Joint connecting pin.
It seems to me that once and great mechanical interlock and precision facing occurs, the pin is only a function of weight at the joint. After experimenting with other materials, I use G-10 / Garlock inserts in my shafts because it's tensile strength and ductility is off the scale compared to the wood fiber, it machines well, the threads look good and won't turn into a spiral groove over time. To me, this seems to be the perfect use for this type of material.
It is my philosophy that each cue should have it's own weight based on the construction and materials used. I have a weight bolt threaded recess area in my butt but I don't sell any cues with a weight bolt. If the customer wants to have one in there I will supply him with whatever he wants. I truly believe that putting more weight in the butt to reach a weight goal is messing with the natural balance of that specific cue. The moment arm envelope shifts dramatically with loading at the farthest point aft of a fulcrum. Conversely taking weight away and the farthest point forward does the same thing.
I have only been building cues and doing cue repair for a total of 7 years and am still refining my process to reach 100% repeatability in each phase of my operations. The weight & balance process is something that I want to have as much control over as possible but I understand that the wood species all have different specific gravities and the density varies from piece to piece. One constant I can count on is the weight of my pin.
I now use a chrome plated brass 3/8 x 14 truncated pin that I have had manufactured on a screw machine and am changing over to a Stainless unit made on a CNC Lathe by Lee Malakoff. I don't think there is a appreciable difference between brass and stainless concerning weight, but I think the a stainless precision pin presents the product with a better first impression to the end user. To me, the Carbon pin only distracts form the beauty of the cue.
If there are some other attributes to the cue that these high tech materials bring with reference to the pin, please weigh in.
Rick Geschrey
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