Old growth shafts

[Sloppy Pockets]

And to all of THAT you can add the Janka scale of hardness for determining the hardness of various species. However, even that scale is an average and doesn't take into consideration all the variables Mother Nature can throw at you in any given species. I completely agree with a qbilder up there who listens to the piece of wood. Believe it or not to the trained ear that information tells the whole story. At least to me it does......

I've been a pro in the violin trade for over 30 years. I really respect a guy like Eric who actually cares about going for the tone he is looking for in a cue.

 

[LAMas]

Kiln drying can accelerate the evaporation of liquid making the wood more dense.

Drop the shaft on it's end on a hard surface and the dense wood will ring at a higher pitch.

 

[JoeyInCali]

Kiln drying can accelerate the evaporation of liquid making the wood more dense.

Drop the shaft on it's end on a hard surface and the dense wood will ring at a higher pitch.

That's a whole can of worms.
Take your shafts to the pool table and lay them on the felt.
Grab the tip and lift it about 4 inches and drop it .
Listen if they sound different from each other.

 

[Chess_Jerk]

Man. great stuff here!

And the OP thought it was a dumb question... LOL, thanks for asking bud.

Thanks I was scared to ask lol. Anyways Steve Klapp has old growth maple lumber from a building that was built in 1870. So the wood has been seasoning indoors for roughly 144 years on its own not to mention the tree was probably 150+ years old when it was cut down over a century ago. He is going to build me a shaft just sent the payment tonight. I think it will work out nice hopefully it has a nice sound when striking balls.

 

[qbilder]

I could go on & on about maple. It's kinda my thing LOL But to keep it short, maple is naturally bright white. It's the handlers that change the color & it's because they either don't care or they don't know what they're doing. Whether the tree is 10yrs old or 300yrs old, it will have bright white sapwood, and you'd never be able to identify the tree's age by looking at a finished shaft. Brown wood is either heartwood, or the log sat too long before milling, or else the kiln overcooked the lumber early in the drying process. In either case, it's pallet grade wood. The log that sat too long can still make good shafts, but they'll be yellow. The heartwood technically 'could' produce some good shafts, but the wood will be very heavy, hard, stinky, & brown. The wood ruined by the kiln is trash, pallet lumber, a step below railroad ties, too low quality to be worthy of pool cues. White wood is what you want in a shaft, IF it's dried properly. Even proper air drying leaves the wood its naturally bright white color. Maple that is handled properly will be as white as holly, even if it's old growth.