Part-Time/Day Job Cuemakers

s'portplayer

s'portplayer

Midnight Rambler
Silver Member
I dug around past threads, but didn't find much about cuemakers who have a day-job/primary job and build cues part-time.

I understand that calling it part-time may be an insult to many cuemakers, but for lack of a better term, that's all I could come up with.

Of all the cuemakers out there, who has a day job and builds cues on the side?

How many hours of your week go towards your respective cue business?

Feel free to offer more information that will add to the general theme of my question.

Thank you for participating.
 
You could also use the term "intermittent" cue maker. If some one did it one weekend a month would they be called a reserve? How about those doing it for free? Are they to be called auxillary cue makers?
 
I am part-time cuemaker, I accept this term because is true, no problem.

I have few hours to the week for build custom cues, barely 28-35 hours week for built cues and repair, therefore is impossible built more than 15 cues year for me, barely 10-15 per year but I am happy with my jobs.
 
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Time for a sanity check

I have a full time job 40-50 hours a week and put about 40-45 hours in working on cues. So if you call that part time I am in. Working everyday to be able to drop the day job. Or else looking for a clone....:grin:

John
 
RocketQ said:
I have a full time job 40-50 hours a week and put about 40-45 hours in working on cues. So if you call that part time I am in. Working everyday to be able to drop the day job. Or else looking for a clone....:grin:

John
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John, that's why I was leery about using part-time to describe a cuemaker.

From all of the knowledge I've gained on here and spending time with my local cuemaker, I've found out that it takes an awful lot of time to build cues and do it right.

Good luck in your goal to drop the day job.

Any others feel like chiming in?
 
s'portplayer said:
I dug around past threads, but didn't find much about cuemakers who have a day-job/primary job and build cues part-time.

I understand that calling it part-time may be an insult to many cuemakers, but for lack of a better term, that's all I could come up with.

Of all the cuemakers out there, who has a day job and builds cues on the side?

How many hours of your week go towards your respective cue business?

Feel free to offer more information that will add to the general theme of my question.

Thank you for participating.
Click to expand...
The transition from hobby to full time job takes a leap of faith and sacrifice and there are no guarantees. This is the case in any business. I think most see cue making as what they will devote their most time to in retirement. Except in rare cases, I don't think it can provide the income most would like to live a comfortable life. It is also time consuming and not an absentee owner business. The moments your hands stop moving you are out of business.
This gives me a segway to post this. Sam Maloff died a few days ago, he was 93. He was a full time wood worker who took his simple craft and made a life's work of it. I met him once at a lecture and after hearing him wanted to live a life like his. A life of simplicity doing what one loves to do. He was not that unlike a cue maker. Someone asked him about the sacrifices he made in the beginning. He said "what sacrifices", "I was doing what I loved to do". For a man who in the beginning needed so little to be happy, he in the end gained so much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKIoezZUK6s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBQzli78dFk
 
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I've had at least 2 jobs since I was 13 years old. Even when I was in the Army I worked as a draftsman, from 6-10 at night. In 1984 I started repairing cues & in 1986 I made my 1st cue. I was working as a design engineer & latter as a steelworker, in a factory, but kept making & repairing cues at night. I also had a sideline as a signpainter for 15 years. I've made as high as 72 cues a year, but now that I'm retired I only make 12-24. As long as my health holds out, I'll be proud to say that I am a PART TIME CUEMAKER...JER
 
jeweler

i have built or assembled 276 pool cues in the last 7 - 8 years, and i still think of it as a hobby.
i have been in the jewelry business for about 40 years, and am open at my jewelry store from 9 am to 3 pm, 4 days a week.

every day when i get home i go into my shop for at least a short time to see what needs to be done next. sometimes i'm in there 10 min, sometimes 4 hrs.

i only work in my shop when i feel i can accomplish something positive. i never force myself, because then it would be like work.

chuck starkey
 
Since I don't have another job to go to then cuemaking would be my full time job, but I still don't put in 40 hours most weeks. Last year I made 9 cues, one of which has over 200 hours of work by me, an artist and a scrimmer. This year I hope to make closer to 30 cues and like another poster only try and go in the shop when I think I can do something positive since there is nothing worse than going out trying to get something done and screwing it up because your mind was in the wrong place.

Bob Danielson
www.bdcuesandcomix.com
 
bdcues said:
Since I don't have another job to go to then cuemaking would be my full time job, but I still don't put in 40 hours most weeks. Last year I made 9 cues, one of which has over 200 hours of work by me, an artist and a scrimmer. This year I hope to make closer to 30 cues and like another poster only try and go in the shop when I think I can do something positive since there is nothing worse than going out trying to get something done and screwing it up because your mind was in the wrong place.

Bob Danielson
www.bdcuesandcomix.com
Click to expand...

Is all that work on your site done by you?
 
I wear so many hats that I guess I have a few part time jobs with cuemaking being one of them. I might not do any cue building for weeks at a time then spend many hours a week working on cues for a while. I spend most of my time building cue lathes and doing the things that go along with that.
 
I also would fall in to the part-time cuemaker catagory. I've been in tool & die, and steel all my life. Currently I was laid off from my full time job and have been spending more time building cues. I started repairing cues in 2002 and have made around 25-30 cues per year since 2005. I like the fact that cuemaking is not a job for me, it's a hobby. Doing it this way takes all of the pressure off and lets me build my best cues. I have been although working quite a bit lately since the lay off. If I get frustrated I close up for the night and go back to it the next day. Nice thread!

Jon Spitz
 
Thanks for all of the insight fellas.

I would like to join the ranks of part-timers within the next couple of years. That is of course, if my day job weathers this economic storm were in.
 
Don't forget the Wife-Subsidized cuemakers. PLENTY of those around.
The cuemaker makes just enough to pay for the cuemaking "business".
The wife pays for the mortgage and utilities.:thumbup:

Part-time cuemakers are really full-time job subsidized cuemakers .
 
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