Nice Wood...

[Buddha's Belly]

maybe this one is not rotten

I see - if you use only lightly spalted wood and core it you get a "half rotton cue".

Don't kid yourself - rotton is rotton - even it it looks pretty to you. To me it is ugly and unsuitable for a cue regardless of who made it.

It is beyond me why any cuemaker would use spalted wood when there are so many wonderful woods readily available that look beautiful and are durable.

Spalted wood is NOT

Good cumaking

HI what do you thing of this wood? preety sure is not rotten ( but i,m not expert )

 

[cueaddicts]

I see - if you use only lightly spalted wood and core it you get a "half rotton cue".

Don't kid yourself - rotton is rotton - even it it looks pretty to you. To me it is ugly and unsuitable for a cue regardless of who made it.

It is beyond me why any cuemaker would use spalted wood when there are so many wonderful woods readily available that look beautiful and are durable.

Spalted wood is NOT

Good cumaking,

Guys, in theory I agree with Arnot. Rotten is rotten. But, with all the modern cuemaking techniques and adhesives, a cue made out of spalted maple should not "fall apart" if made by a competant cuemaker, let alone a master cuemaker. They would absolutely have to be cored and surely treated with stabilizers, as well. Seen several that were 5 or so years old and they are still holding up fine. IMO it's still very ugly.....

Sean

 

[cue-healer]

smaltic maple

Spaltic does mean disease. More spacific it is a fungus that grows in the tree. I use spaltic maple to make ink pens and they turn out very nicely. The black ring growth is the fungus. When turning or sanding make sure that you are wearing as respirator. Fungus in the lungs is very difficult to treat.

One other note. Just because someone has a lung condition doesnt mean that his heart couldnt be use as a doner. Just because wood has a fungus doesnt mean that it cant be used effectivly.
john

 

[Chris]

For more info on spalting:

http://www.hiltonhandcraft.com/Articles/Spalting_a_Fungus_Amongus.asp

 

[Arnot Wadsworth]

Ziracote?

I see - if you use only lightly spalted wood and core it you get a "half rotton cue".

Don't kid yourself - rotton is rotton - even it it looks pretty to you. To me it is ugly and unsuitable for a cue regardless of who made it.


HI what do you think of this wood? Pretty sure is not rotten ( but i,m not expert )

From the picture it looks like Ziracote to me. If it is Ziracote it should work fine provided it is seasoned properly.


good cuemaking,

 

[Arnot Wadsworth]

Rotton Wood

Guys, in theory I agree with Arnot. Rotten is rotten. But, with all the modern cuemaking techniques and adhesives, a cue made out of spalted maple should not "fall apart" if made by a competant cuemaker, let alone a master cuemaker. They would absolutely have to be cored and surely treated with stabilizers, as well. Seen several that were 5 or so years old and they are still holding up fine. IMO it's still very ugly.....

Sean

You are not agreeing with me - you are just putting some spin on it. Everything you say indicates that you do not agree with me except to say that you also think it is ugly.

There is nothing I know of that can change something that is rotton to Un-rotton. Coring just removes some of the rotton material and replaces it with good material. The remaining wood is still rotton and unsuitable for a cue in my opinion. Modern adhesives will not help glue something that is rotton to start with and the skill of the cuemaker will NOT compensate for spalted wood.

The real reason some cuemakers use spalted wood is because those cues looke nice to some people and they sell good because they are unusual.

The reason they are unusual is because the vast majority of reputable cuemakers DO NOT use spalted wood because it is rotton wood and unsuitable for cues.

Just because some cuemakers have built spalted wood cues is not justification for building a cue with rotton wood in my opinion.

Good cuemaking,

 

[Penrose Cues]

Referring to what Arnot is telling us, I would say he's absolutely right to give the information about what "spalted wood" actually is. It is essential to know what you're working with and because many people just don't know that much about wood, it's better to avoid using it.

But, if treated well, with sulfuric acid damps for example (ask an instrument maker about this process) or just Super glue treatments (Cyanoacrylate glues), there's no problem working the wood. It needs an expert though to recognise well treated wood.

But after all, let's not forget that all the figure of the "spalted wood" is mainly chosen because of the esthetical appearance and not usability.
And as with all extremely figured woods, I always recommend to core the wood before assembling it in a cue.

Tom Penrose