Now what?

[j2pac]

The butt on this cue weighs about 13oz, so not that great either. I wish I'd weighed some things as I went along so I'd have an anchor for the future. I also used 3/8-16 set screws for weight bolts. Total mistake. 6" of 3/8 set screws weighs about an ounce. Not much help. So right there, I learned three big lessons!

I think what I'll end up doing is redrilling for 1/2-13 screws. I'll drill maybe two inches longer than I normally would, and then turn down a bit of brass threaded rod to just under the tap drill size, leaving a few threads at the top. I'll slot the top and voila, I have a weight bolt I can set in there permanently. Maybe I can save myself some time by finding a long enough brass set screw.

If I could find a long enough 1/2-13 tap, I could just skip the extra machining all together, but I can't find an appropriate tap longer than 7". I'll be lucky to get 6" of usable threads from that. I think 2 inches of brass threaded rod should weight just about 1.5oz. 14.5oz isn't two terrible for a butt. Steel weight bolts will get it the rest of the way. I have to say, though, that I normally play with a 19.5oz to 20.5oz cue, but after playing with mine for an hour or so, I was really starting to dig it! Playing is kind of effortless. I was actually playing extremely well with it, and so was everyone else that tried it. There's a lesson in here somewhere too. I just need to find it! Maybe it has something to do with the balance.

Anyhow, I definitely know to be a lot more careful about that next time! It was just dumb luck that this didn't end up as firewood, right next to all the vaguely guitar shaped pieces in my kindling pile.

It has everything to do with the balance.
Always be mindful of the diameter of your butt end weight bolt John. In a perfect world, your cues would all be naturally weighted, with a balance point of somewhere between 18, and 20 inches, approximate, depending on you, and your customers desires. Even though I don't build cues, I have been around it long enough to offer a few tidbits of somewhat useful advice. There are ways to get a properly weighted cue butt, by using different wood combinations, different a-joint pins, coring, etc. The rear weight bolt, should be used as a way to fine tune the final weight of the cue, it should not be relied upon as a panacea in my very humble opinion. Anyway, just two cents from a know nothing. Hope you find something useful from this post. Good luck with your future builds.
Best regards.
Joe P.

 

[Kim Bye]

Damn! Your quick
I've had mine for over a year and haven't made anything bigger than a few extensions and some shafts...

 

[john coloccia]

It has everything to do with the balance.
Always be mindful of the diameter of your butt end weight bolt John. In a perfect world, your cues would all be naturally weighted, with a balance point of somewhere between 18, and 20 inches, approximate, depending on you, and your customers desires. Even though I don't build cues, I have been around it long enough to offer a few tidbits of somewhat useful advice. There are ways to get a properly weighted cue butt, by using different wood combinations, different a-joint pins, coring, etc. The rear weight bolt, should be used as a way to fine tune the final weight of the cue, it should not be relied upon as a panacea in my very humble opinion. Anyway, just two cents from a know nothing. Hope you find something useful from this post. Good luck with your future builds.
Best regards.
Joe P.

Well, you're right of course! I'm just looking for a way to save this particular one. Hopefully it wont become a habit.