My Dufferin: A small stupid Journey :-)

[wilkamania]

As you can see from my signature I've had a lot of cues in my short time playing. I've gotten a feel for different cues, with my most expensive being a Cog. However, at the end of the day, the only one that is left is my Dufferin.

After some changes, it is by far the best playing cue i've had, and suits my style.

Originally I received this dufferin from another AZ member as a trade for a Huebler.

Stage 1: Disappointment
Much to my dismay, it arrived with no tip, a loose ferrule, slightly warped forearm, expanding splices, and a messed up finish. All things I didn't expect. The shaft was perfect.

The plan was to use it as a 3 Cushion and Break Cue, so I had a new ferrule installed, the shaft retapered, and a milk dud (Pooldawg8) placed on the cue. For some reason it ended up in the case for a long time.


Stage 2: Redemption
One day for some reason I decided to bring it out, with the intention of leaving it in my car as a backup cue. It played well, and I decided to explore more options.

I brought it to my cue repair guy, and he told me he had some Westinghouse Micarta in stock. Yes I asked him 100 times to confirm it. Of course now it was time to tune it further. One new micarta ferrule, joint refacing, Kamui Medium tip, and a 30 year old dufferin pristine dufferin butt (extra stock at the pool hall) later, I had my super sneaky. This played better than any cue I've ever owned. A fellow leaguer took to cue to demonstrate something and said it had a hit similar to his Runde. I also thought it was similar to my friend's R-6 Schon (more feedback w/out metal joint). Go Micarta!

Stage 3: Final Tuned
So here I was playing with my perfect sneaky, thinking life's just grand. The only problem is I have to break it down when I'm not playing so someone doesn't mistaken it for a house cue. I started noticing fancy sneakies, and the Dufferin returned to my Cue guy. The goal was to put on phenolic rings and a delrin butt with a new Schon style bumper. We used whatever was in his shop (choices were limited), and he tuned my dufferin.

The result was excellent. The cue isn't the best looking so it won't draw attention, but it's fancy enough that I love it. I love the crude effect of the cue too. This has truly been customized completely to my specs. The delrin butt increased the length by 1.5 inches. The only thing that I'd like is a trim ring above the buttcap, but we didnt' have one (god forbid I WAIT for an order ).

Oh, and the phenolic joint made the hit a bit crisper :thumbup:

Thank you for following along! I know it's not prettiest, but I love it. Sometimes you can't beat simple aged wood over a decades. And I would never sell it because it truly is custom to me, and no one would probably pay more than $50 for it :grin:

 

[ShaunTanYK]

I absolutely love your dufferin. Simple and classic sneaky petes make me happy!!

 

[Chopdoc]

Evolution!

I dig the story, and I dig the cue. :thumbup:


Thanks for sharing!

.

 

[JAMSGOLF]

For me, a post like this is just as much fun as seeing some of Tikkler's newest additions! Thanks for taking me on the journey! :smile:

I can tell from the account, there's a lot of love in that cue...and that's pretty cool! :smile:

 

[acedonkeyace]

Thanks for the Awesome Story and life of your Dufferin,

I now have a small Pro-Shop in largo, fl, and I always am looking for dufferin cues. I grew up with out family business, which is a Carpentry and Upholstering business that has been in my family and in the same location for over 100 years, so I can appreciate quality wood and aged woods as well. Anyway, the sad story with Dufferin, is that they really had the cat by the tail and had a great niche in the cue building world, they owned their own forests, they owned their own processing mills, transporting companies, production plants, all the way to completed products and also a supplier, one of the best of quality blanks and shafts as well as finished pieces. They were not fancy but the components were all of good quality. And then they even had the Dufferin Sports and Recreation in malls across canada and the united states. Then younger generations of family take over the day to day operations and business and within 20 years the company is sold to a foreign company and the units are now made in China, SAD SAD SAD,

So, I cherish all the pieces that I can get from the 70', 80's and 90's, all those beautiful honey-patina woods and solid conical tapers that hit like a tank and those unique wood to wood and pin in the shaft pieces and even the unique aluminum joints (that I dont like for regular players) but still make for a solid joint, as long as you dont have it just a little loose and then break and then seize the aluminum joints.

Anyway, I wish more people took a little money and truely made custom cues for themselves through a cuemaker or woodworker that has skills and really enjoy the process of customize a cue to an individual and you dont have to spend, 1000 dollars in the process.

Enjoy and kudos for you for saving a piece of history and making it your own, now run a few racks, or snap a couple of 8-balls, the Dufferin doesnt mind!!!!

All the Best!

Mike 'acedonkeyace' Kennedy

 

[TSW]

Thank you for sharing. That's a great story. This cue is more custom-made than most $1000+ custom cues turned out today. I also like that you kept the Dufferin logo when you had the buttcap added. Definitely never let it go.

I have a a real soft spot for Dufferins. I learned to play on a Dufferin sneaky pete (pin in the shaft), and now have another Dufferin sneaky being tweaked by a cuemaker. That one may become my new playing cue once it comes back home.

 

[Tro]

I have an old Meucci Original that I feel that way about...tons of cues pass through my hands, but that one is off limits and it's one old piece of ugly.

Good for you in finding a cue that's perfect for you.

 

[wilkamania]

Thanks for all the kind words everyone.

Just wanted to add that my "tools" have been complete. (The left cue in the picture) I purchased another Dufferin off ebay that had a hairline crack in the shaft (by the pin).

Took it to my cue guy to fix the joint with the original intention of this being a "backup shaft" for my main dufferin.

The butt of the dufferin was in immaculate condition, perfect finish, straight, and it was stunning. It was also the larger butts of the 80's or 90's? But it was fat.

None the less, since this shaft now had a linen joint to reinforce it (combined with a linen ferrule and old lepro tip) why not make it my break cue?

And thus, the twins were born. Pictured below is all I have left of my collection and my players, but I don't think I will be needing another cue for a while

The three dufferin butts:
Left is original butt that was warped. Left in car as "bat" substitute. Middle one is the break cue butt in perfect condition, and right is my playing butt.