part of my custom cue research.....what about woods?

scottycoyote

scottycoyote

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
id like to thank everyone for helping with my other post on componets for my custom cue.....its helping me to nail down what i want. Also thanks to some of the cuemakers who have messaged me, I hope in the end i can get one of you to build me what i want.
Ok that being said........which wood? I know its about personal preference, but the problem is I dont have any. I cant go out and hit with a bunch of different cues because of my location, and honestly I wouldnt know the different woods if you were hitting me over the head with them.
From a looks standpoint, Im fond of rosewood, but is there a harder more stabile wood I should be looking at? Do some play better than others? Is woodchoice all about looks or is playability a factor? Im probably going fullsplice cue, will my wood choice matter with that? I dont mean to obsess over this, but I figure if im going to spend what looks like about $1000 to get this made, i want to think out every aspect and get whats best for me. So how about some opinions?
 
If you are going with a full-splice, bocote would be a great choice.
It's a 10 in either the looks or the hit/playability.
 
I would avoid doing the forearm out of ebony. Most cuemakers will core it because its a little less dense than other woods. I had an ebony Skip Weston once that I sold because it hit like a hollow reed. It looked great. i just didn't play that well. It was a bit of a disappointment for me.
Burl is also beautiful. Its my favorite. But its soft and just about every cuemaker will tell you the same thing: it should be cored for stability. But coring works. And thus, you can have an attractive wood and a cue that still plays well.
Personally, I think purpleheart is a good choice. Not only is it attractive but it is very dense and as a result, it yields a very solid hit. And, depending on the piece it can range from genuine purple to a nice, wine-colored burgundy. JUst food for thought.
 
Pharoah68, i don't mean to offend you, but you have it backwards. Ebony is one of the denser woods used in cue building. It is actually 1.5 times as dense as water (not sure if dense is the word here). The only thing i can think of off the top of my head is snakewood. I have a cue with a ebony forearm that plays spectacular. Everyone i let hit with it loves it. Maybe it wasnt the ebony forearm that changed the hit? Although i have heard the negatives of having an ebony forearm, in my experience, they are untrue. I like a stiff hitting cue and my ebony cue has a fairly stiff hit.

ScottyCoyote,
If you are concerned with resale value and having a great hit, snakewood might be your choice for the forearm. I think, not 100% here, but i think it is the most dense wood there is. Snakewood is very, very expensive though. The wood used to make your forearm out of this is worth about $250, but it is definetly worth it. A snakewood forearm transfers the balance of the cue as far forward as you can, using wood alone. I would bet that most people on this forum havent ever seen or hit with a snakewood forearm cue. I have only ever seen one, made by Doug Foster, that a friend of mine owns. It hits like a dream, but it has a slightly smaller diameter. I am sure you could build one with a normal diameter butt. Look into snake wood though. Here is a very poor quality picture. http://www.fostercues.com/Hardwoods.html
 
The snakewood should be cored.
It can actually shatter.
It's not very stable at all.
 
Yeah im not sure if it was cored in my friends cue, but it makes sense its very brittle. But From what i understand it is still the best choice for moving weight up front.
 
well i like a stick that has a little weight forward feel to it.....but shattering would not be good lol.

as far as resale value im not worried, this cue will basically be my cue for life unless im unhappy with it, im not much of a cue trader.
 
I have a Mike Bender cue with an ebony forearm and it plays fantastic. One of nicest hitting cues I have in my collection. Its definitely a denser wood as the cue weighs 19oz and I can feel it more towards the nose of the cue. I have two cues on order with ebony forearms and I'm confident they play just as good. Good luck!
 
Actually I was wrong. I just email Doug, and the snakeood forearm cue i was thinking of was not cored, and also it is not shattered. From what i understand, now, snakewood is not to brittle, and it provides the best 'Hit' of any other forearm wood i have tried. I like the hit to be on the stiff side though, i guess it would depend on your preference. My next cue will definetly have a snake wood forearm and a HEX butt.
 
Last edited:
fxskater said:
Pharoah68, i don't mean to offend you, but you have it backwards. Ebony is one of the denser woods used in cue building. It is actually 1.5 times as dense as water (not sure if dense is the word here). The only thing i can think of off the top of my head is snakewood. I have a cue with a ebony forearm that plays spectacular. Everyone i let hit with it loves it. Maybe it wasnt the ebony forearm that changed the hit? Although i have heard the negatives of having an ebony forearm, in my experience, they are untrue. I like a stiff hitting cue and my ebony cue has a fairly stiff hit.

ScottyCoyote,
If you are concerned with resale value and having a great hit, snakewood might be your choice for the forearm. I think, not 100% here, but i think it is the most dense wood there is. Snakewood is very, very expensive though. The wood used to make your forearm out of this is worth about $250, but it is definetly worth it. A snakewood forearm transfers the balance of the cue as far forward as you can, using wood alone. I would bet that most people on this forum havent ever seen or hit with a snakewood forearm cue. I have only ever seen one, made by Doug Foster, that a friend of mine owns. It hits like a dream, but it has a slightly smaller diameter. I am sure you could build one with a normal diameter butt. Look into snake wood though. Here is a very poor quality picture. http://www.fostercues.com/Hardwoods.html
Click to expand...
somewhere thru time i had heard that snakewood can be brittle..that is if hitting hard with it that may create a problem depending how it is built....
 
fxskater-

no offense taken. i was just relaying what i thought i had remembered through conversations with other people. but i probably got it mixed upo somehow. Not only am i wrong a lot (which my ex-girlfriend will vouch for) but i also have a terrible memory (she'll agree to that too)! :D
I had posted on an earlier thread my distrust of Skip Weston cues because of how my ebony Skip played and i thought people had responded that it was because of the ebony and something about density. won't be the first time i was wrong or the last.
 
within any wood type you will see varying degrees of quality, and a lot of that depends on the cuemakers choices. some have better taste or are more discerning than others.

cocobola can look great, it can look average, but i think it's hit sucks. it feels dull and thuddy. i'm not a fan or purpleheart, but curly purpleheart looks cool.

i have a spectacular bubinga.

bocote can range from crappy to great. the good stuff has fine black grain with veins of "gold". and two cuemakers i've talked to says the hit is very sharp,,,,,they like the hit. a super combination is bocote nose and highly figured birdseye grip.

fiddleback maple looks great but the hit isn't as snappy as birdseye.

i tried a capone with ebony/amboya(sp) burl and the hit was REALLY nice. the best on any capone i've hit with.

and in general,,,the tighter the grain(on any wood) the better. i think the wide grained stuff looks ugly,,,,like the side paneling of a cheap kitchen cabinet from home depot.
 
Last edited:
If you are going full splice and don't want any coring done or much of a weight bolt, you should probably stick with maple in the forearm and Rosewood, or Purple Heart or maybe Bocote in handle and points. If you plan on having a wrap then Bocote could be on the heavy side as it takes more Bocote in the handle area to move the points up to the right spot to accept a wrap.
Chris
www.hightowercues.com
 
dscn0786_large.jpg

I like my collection so far. :D
 
cueman said:
If you are going full splice and don't want any coring done or much of a weight bolt, you should probably stick with maple in the forearm and Rosewood, or Purple Heart or maybe Bocote in handle and points. If you plan on having a wrap then Bocote could be on the heavy side as it takes more Bocote in the handle area to move the points up to the right spot to accept a wrap.
Chris
www.hightowercues.com
Click to expand...

Chris,

The bocote doesn't have to be that way :D .
You can take a standard bocote blank.
Chop off some of the front, say 5" or so.
Install a new maple tenon in the back as deep as you would want.
Then, go with some ringwork on both sides of your new bocote sleeve.
Or, if it's wrapped, go with a spain style full splice (butterflied maple handle.)
Or, chop off some of the back as well, and install a maple handle around 6-8" back from the points, and then a bocote sleeve.

That is... if it's wrapped.
 
I'm not an expert, & this is not a scientific study,,,wonder if anybody has weighed the same size cuts of different woods to get a close average to compare different weights ??.. DID that today before the pool room opened, I had 12 different sets of pen blanks, all were 3/4" x 5-1/2" (lots of ten) some of these may not lend themselves to cuebuilding, but here they are :
butternut 240 grams
cedar 269 g
ash 336 g
sassafras 336 g
walnut 359 g
sycamore 373 g
maple 393 g
coffee tree 400 g
elm 402 g
canarywood 430 g
hickory 533 g
bacote 580 g.............again this was (10) penblanks of each type wood
(the only 12 types I currently have)

...may or may not help anyone decide which wood to use, but does show a lot of difference in weights !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top