My first tip install

SSDiver2112

Escott Cues
Well, the last post said about everything, so I'll just highlight a few things and post some pictures of the pair.

These two cues were running parallel until the epoxy delamination fiasco. I sanded both back down and decided to put this one aside until I got the finish right on the other. Once it was done I started back on this one.

Also a fat old cue I had to reduce the taper the same way I did the other. The process is a pain but has worked on these.

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There was plenty of length, so I was able to make the tenon for the butt sleeve from the existing cue's butt. I thought the Red Palm wood was a nice match to the cue's Brownheart handle and I used Wenge as a nice contrasting wood.

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It was very satisfying to rescue these from the island of misfit cues and restore them into something that will be used for many more years. I know they have flaws an experienced cuemaker would find immediately, but I am pretty proud of these cues. It will be bittersweet to see them go. Onward and upward!

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JNBBALL

New member
As a "soon to be" Mid America lathe owner, you are making me very nervous :) I have loved reading this thread. The pictures help a lot as well. I just wish you had "how-to" videos, specifically tips and ferrules.

I think I've watched every YouTube video out there for changing a tip. They help, but for the most part it is just video, no speaking. Normally, I do not mind just watching. For this I would prefer to hear someone talking/explaining what it is they are doing and why.

I may have a pretty good idea on the process from watching videos, but I have a sneaky suspicion I'm going to mess up quite a bit until I get it correct.
 

GoldCrown

Pool players have more balls
Gold Member
Silver Member
As a "soon to be" Mid America lathe owner, you are making me very nervous :) I have loved reading this thread. The pictures help a lot as well. I just wish you had "how-to" videos, specifically tips and ferrules.

I think I've watched every YouTube video out there for changing a tip. They help, but for the most part it is just video, no speaking. Normally, I do not mind just watching. For this I would prefer to hear someone talking/explaining what it is they are doing and why.

I may have a pretty good idea on the process from watching videos, but I have a sneaky suspicion I'm going to mess up quite a bit until I get it correct.
Use junk cues. Getting started is the teacher. There are no mistakes... you learn from doing. Try whatever you want to learn... post your results... you learn what to look for the next round and so on. You bought a quality lathe. Quality tools makes a difference. Please... wear safety glasses and abide by the rules of safety when using a lathe. You're in for years of fun... It's a great hobby (if not profession). In the future you can turn canes, joint protectors, pens, etc.
 
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muskyed

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Jnbbl, you can just practice your ferrules and tips on a piece of wood dowl also.
Just use an inexpensive triangle or something like that for a tip, and a inexpensive ferrule. You would only be out 5 bucks or so.
 

7stud

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
As a "soon to be" Mid America lathe owner, you are making me very nervous :) I have loved reading this thread. The pictures help a lot as well. I just wish you had "how-to" videos, specifically tips and ferrules.

I think I've watched every YouTube video out there for changing a tip. They help, but for the most part it is just video, no speaking. Normally, I do not mind just watching. For this I would prefer to hear someone talking/explaining what it is they are doing and why.

I may have a pretty good idea on the process from watching videos, but I have a sneaky suspicion I'm going to mess up quite a bit until I get it correct.
How about watching Dr. Dave's video on changing a tip without special tools?


Use a $5 cue while changing a few tips by hand following the video, then you will be able to appreciate how your lathe will make the steps easier to accomplish.
 

GoldCrown

Pool players have more balls
Gold Member
Silver Member
Jnbbl, you can just practice your ferrules and tips on a piece of wood dowl also.
Just use an inexpensive triangle or something like that for a tip, and a inexpensive ferrule. You would only be out 5 bucks or so.
The dowel will used over and over... the $5 will go a long way.

Also I bought a cheap junk 2 piece with a screw on tip... removed tip ferrule used that cue to learn ferrule. . Eventually the cue became a bridge.
 

SSDiver2112

Escott Cues
As a "soon to be" Mid America lathe owner, you are making me very nervous :) I have loved reading this thread. The pictures help a lot as well. I just wish you had "how-to" videos, specifically tips and ferrules.

I think I've watched every YouTube video out there for changing a tip. They help, but for the most part it is just video, no speaking. Normally, I do not mind just watching. For this I would prefer to hear someone talking/explaining what it is they are doing and why.

I may have a pretty good idea on the process from watching videos, but I have a sneaky suspicion I'm going to mess up quite a bit until I get it correct.
Keep searching for videos and not just on YouTube.

Don’t start practicing on a real cue. Get some crappy cues to practice on. If you don’t have any then just get a dowel rod and some cheap ferrules on eBay or Amazon. Some inexpensive tips like triangle and practice if you are unsure of your ability.

Nervousness can be a benefit in the beginning. Slow and cautious is best. Patients is truly a virtue here. Go fast or cut too deep and things will get out of hand quickly.

Anything new, practice first. This is a very unforgiving hobby. You will fail, learn, try again, and when you finally succeed be happy and proud.

Enjoy the ride, but it is a Sunday dive not a drag race.
 

JNBBALL

New member
Use junk cues. Getting started is the teacher. There are no mistakes... you learn from doing. Try whatever you want to learn... post your results... you learn what to look for the next round and so on. You bought a quality lathe. Quality tools makes a difference. Please... wear safety glasses and abide by the rules of safety when using a lathe. You're in for years of fun... It's a great hobby (if not profession). In the future you can turn canes, joint protectors, pens, etc.

I have 4 2-pc. house cues that I got free when I purchased my table years ago. I figure I would start with those and try to do a couple tips.

I try to convince myself that all I am going to do is tips/ferrules for myself and maybe some friends once I get more proficient, but I know I'm going to want to try other stuff, joint protectors especially. I think that's why I just jumped right in with buying a lathe vs. going the homemade route first.

I am nervous but excited to get started. I can't wait!!
 

JNBBALL

New member
How about watching Dr. Dave's video on changing a tip without special tools?


Use a $5 cue while changing a few tips by hand following the video, then you will be able to appreciate how your lathe will make the steps easier to accomplish.

I love Dr. Dave's videos. I've done tips by hand. I think that is where the "urge" for a lathe came in. I put a new tip on a Viking cue I have and on the second hit the tip went flying. I know what I did wrong. I didn't rough up the ferrule and tip enough.
 

muskyed

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Probably not because of not roughing the tip and ferrule enough.
More likely glue related and or surfaces weren't flat.
 

tg_vegas

Well-known member
in that small room you need some kind of air scrubber. you can make one yourself. a shop vac removes the big stuff but the small stuff that can hurt you a shop vac actually spewes in the air.

look on youtube and you will find some simple desighs that you can ues little more then a box fan and a filter.

here is some food for thought

And add a cyclone bucket to your shop vac.. cheap at home depot.
 

SSDiver2112

Escott Cues
Well here is my next first. As described in my post about the cue conversion. I had to do the taper manually. I have since added a router/auto feed and offset tail stock. Due to limited space and $, this was the best option at this point (someday).

I have a handful of broken or warped shafts to practice diameter reduction and tapering. The same lesson tops the list and showed itself quickly. Patients and no shortcuts.

A new shaft square or round has no finished ends and can be easily mounted between centers. My practice shafts or a shaft someone wants reduced cannot be mounted this way, so I needed a way to hold each end.

If the tip is to be replaced I suppose I could just remove it and glue a piece of wood in its place to put on the center. In order to preserve the tip I made a clamp out of delrin rod and nylon thumb screws. I made a match for the joint end as well until I can make something like a joint protector to screw into the shaft.

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The first shaft was going along swimmingly until…

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I bit a little too deeply where the taper grew quickly in the center of the shaft.

A nano-second later I had kindling.

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The second faired a bit better. The shaft was 13.15mm and had a decent warp to it. I took it to 11.8 and got rid of the warp. The pro taper is tricky though and the transition is not as smooth as I would like. A little more practice I think.

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I will be trying it out on a butt I am building soon. I am very exited and very nervous, but that will be for my next post which has some more big firsts.
 
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SSDiver2112

Escott Cues
I started a different thread about this first because I was looking for some help. But I would like to finish it up here since it is another one of my “firsts”.

Thread 'Cutting a butterfly splice'
https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/cutting-a-butterfly-splice.561116/

I have a few projects I have been working on lately that I will post about eventually.

I acquired a couple of old Ebony and Holly Dufferin house cues. At 21 and 17oz these will make some nice blanks. The first step is the design phase which can be tricky. I came up with some ideas for both, but I will put the 21oz aside for another day.

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The 17oz is much thinner so I had to extend the butt much further in order to get the right thickness and joint size. I had a small piece of Thuya Burl I wanted to use along with some Purpleheart. As the plan for this one was developing it became clear to me, I was going to be making it for me.

This was my first butterfly splice and was proving to be quite a challenge. The piece was short which makes the splice shallower. However, being more of a decorative piece than structural, as well as being back in the butt area, I wasn’t worried about strength, especially since it was cored.

I sectioned off the end of the cue and layered back in some Purpleheart rings before splicing the piece of Burl on (see link). Added another piece of Ebony with Purpleheart rings to further extend the butt to get it to the right length. Lastly is a phenolic butt plate. The butt is threaded for the option of a weight bolt, but I designed the cue to be 19oz without any weight added for my preference.

Wow that Holly is pretty without that yellowed finish!

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I decided to try out a new bumper for this one. It is threaded 3/8-16 which is much smaller hole than the one I was using before. I think this strengthens the butt plate and is much easier to design not having to accommodate the larger hole. Another advantage is I can easily swap it out with an extension bumper later if I want.

The joint is black phenolic and Purpleheart with a 5/16-14 pin. I don’t have stockpiles of shaft wood, so the shaft will have to come later when they are ready. For now i will use a spare shaft from my Pechauer.

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Building this was challenging but fun. The hardest part has been the finish. I will admit it took me three tries to complete the final finish. It is not as perfect as I want and I may redo someday to get rid of some flaws I can see in the bright light, but for now I will make this my new player.

This is also the first cue with my SS Cues logo.

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I took my new cue to league last night to give it a spin. I am using my spare shaft which is the exact same shaft as the Pechauer I normally play with. I made some shots back and forth between the two cues for comparison. The Pechauer has a little stiffer hit, which my guess could be attributed to the stainless-steel joint collar. I have never compared cues in this way before. My new cue had a little softer feel and different sound, but it wasn't bad just different. I may have some bias, but I enjoyed playing with it. I plan to put many more miles on this one.

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ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Gold Member
Silver Member
Looking good!

I suspect you already know but nice white Holly makes one of the better looking imitation ivories.

Looks like the bug has bitten you pretty hard, not that it's a bad thing.

Hu
 

SSDiver2112

Escott Cues
This is my first full custom build complete with screwups, redos, patience testing, and making lemonade out of lemons. Built with Love and determination for a very special person in my life.

I am inspired by the craftsmanship and skill I see in the professional cue makers here on AZB and other places on the web. I appreciate that they are willing to share with us to learn from. Being new to this I do not have a stock pile of wood to work with, nor the time to wait at my age. As I slowly attempt to build up a small amount of wood, I have been using old cues for some well-seasoned blanks and parts to help me get started.

Disclaimer: For all of you non-readers that do not like long posts, just look at the pictures and skip to summary ;)

My journey thus far has included repairs, butt sleeve upgrades, and one-piece conversions. This cue is what I would consider my first full custom-built cue. Using the full splice butt end of a one-piece cue as a blank has been a great way to build my experience building cues. This cue is different because I am assembling a forearm, handle, and butt separately. This is also my first linen wrap and butterfly cut.

This cue started with an old cue I found for free. It was a cheap, possibility Asian cue that seemed destined for the trash bin. Noticing what appeared to be Birds Eye maple under the crappy finish, I started peeling down the layers to see what, if anything was worthy of saving. The butt was made of low-quality wood and had a big chunk of metal buried inside for weight, so it had to go. The forearm gave me some hope and a starting point.

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I wanted to have rings between the forearm and handle, so I turned the handle down to the core and bored out a new handle from another broken cue to sleeve it with the rings.

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I set this aside and began working on the butt. From the beginning the theme of this cue was going to be the color green. Wood does not really come in the color green, so I started looking into using green material like malachite or juma to accent the cue. In my search I found some green epoxy impregnated Poplar Burl that looked perfect to incorporate in the butt sleeve. I ordered a 4.5” x 1.5” piece to make a butt sleeve. Unfortunately, I assumed it was 1.5” square, but when it arrived it was 1.5” x 1”. Now what?

I really loved the green burl so rather than wasting time and shipping cost I decided to keep it and come up with a new plan. I did not want bits and pieces of it, I wanted it to stand out. A butterfly cut seemed like the best option. I only had one shot at this or the piece would be wasted. I made a jig and tested it on some scraps first. Satisfied, I decided to go for it. I took a piece of lacewood and made the cuts. First attempt was bad with uneven wings, but my second try was spot on.

I sandwiched a thin piece of Padauk between the lacewood and green burl. After a rough turning it actually started looking like this might work. I made some rings out of Chakte Viga wood and scraps from the green burl. Added them to the butt with a brown phenolic butt plate.

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After completing the butt, I assembled all the pieces together. It looked great. I was feeling good about it until I realized the cue was not perfectly straight. The flaw was in the existing handle’s core. My inexperience led me down the wrong path. So let’s just ignore the first part and move on to how I should have done this in the first place. I cut off the butt and bored it out for a new tenon. Then I parted off the forearm, drilled out the existing A-joint pin and bored it out for a new one. The new handle came from an old Dufferin that had a cracked forearm. The handle is Sapele wood which helped add some weight I needed. This time with careful assembly I now have a nice straight cue.

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The forearm diameter was only a couple thousands bigger than I wanted for the final diameter. The cue needed to be assembled as straight as possible so it could still be tapered. Until now I was tapering the cue by hand as discussed in an earlier post, but now I have my new router to make this easier. Definitely easier but way scarier. One tiny error and all that work would be gone in a nanosecond. Working slow and steady I watched excitedly as the cue took shape.

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The ends of the cue were the next step needing my attention. Setting the 5/16-14 joint pin went extremely well. Dead nutz.

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The butt end gave me a little more trouble. I bored the butt in order to thread it for the bumper. Unfortunately, Lacewood is not very conducive to threading with a tap and no live threading here yet. To fix the stripped-out hole without compromising the support for the butt plate, I bored it out a little bit more and inserted a phenolic piece and threaded that.

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I had one more touch to add before applying the finish. The future owner loves turtles. I cannot do inlays yet, and since I was planning to try out making some waterslide decals for my logo, I figured I could try applying turtle images to the forearm just above the handle.

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With assembly complete, the cue gets an epoxy base and Solarez topcoat finish.

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Lastly comes my first linen wrap.

More Pictures in the next post.

Summary:
  • Need to build a green cue
  • Ohh! Birds Eye hidden in a crappy cue
  • Build butt and add to cue
  • Crooked! No good. Chop off forearm and butt. Reassemble with new handle.
  • Taper
  • Finish
  • Wrap

Turtle cue:
  • Birds Eye Maple forearm
  • Sapele handle with black and green speck linen wrap.
  • Lacewood butt with Padauk and green epoxy Poplar Burl butterfly accent and brown phenolic butt plate
  • Chakte Viga and green Burl rings
 
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