No ferrule plays the best?

[BRKNRUN]

Do you think a shaft without any ferrule would play the best, why?Richard

It may lend some protection on a mis-cue, but I would imagine thats about it.

I know a few people that have the cap portion of the ferrule sanded off so that the wood of the shaft is exposed through the tip of the ferrule...Basically turning the ferrule into a shaft ring.

They SWEAR that the hit and feel is much better that way....

 

[AuntyDan]

Ferrules help control/determine squirt?

Well, yes, but, I used a single ferrule-less shaft for most of my playing for about 20 years. Many times I was hitting the ball as hard as I could for Artistic Billiard shots. As long as I had a fiber pad on the shaft, there was no problem with splitting.

Indeed, and Snooker players have been using very thin brass ferrules or none at all for decades. I grew up in England and when I first saw "The Color Of Money" I couldn't understand why everyone was making a fuss over the Balabushka cue, as the only cues I'd ever seen in the UK with white ferrules on them like that were house cues.

I thought the currently accepted theory is that while the ferrule material has little direct effect on the feel of the hit it does has an affect on squirt (tip-induced cue ball deflection) via the weight - Heavier ferrules produce more squirt that lighter ones. (Hence the light plastic ferrule on a hollowed-out tenon used by Predator shafts)

I assume that the shaftwood (assume Maple) weighs less than most standard ferrule materials (Aegis, Melamine, Ivorine, Ivory etc.) but possibly the same or less than the soft plastic used by Predator and a few others. Therefore a ferrule-less shaft would be low squirt, so desirable if you are a player who likes a low-squirt shaft.

Can anyone confirm this? Bob, is your ferrule-less shaft considered low squirt?

 

[Bob Jewett]

... Bob, is your ferrule-less shaft considered low squirt?

That's certainly how I think of it.