Predator Ikon and Blak Series: Real inlays or Decals?

wilkamania

wilkamania

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
A friend was showing me his Predator and everything looked a bit too "clean" to be inlays. I always feel like if you look extremely close at the outline of inlays, you can see the little "furry" pieces the wood inlays. That being said, some of the predator inlay edges look a bit too clean and neat that they seem like decals. I had an old 8pt sneaky in the past and i always felt some of the smaller points looked a bit painted.

Just wanted to see if anyone knew for sure. I tried to do a search but couldn't find anything of the sort (other than an old thread about one of the sneakies having a painted butt). I'd be pissed if I paid $1400 for stickers on a cue.
 
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wilkamania said:
A friend was showing me his Predator Ikon 4-5 and everything looked a bit too "clean" to be inlays. I always feel like if you look extremely close at the outline of inlays, you can see the little "furry" pieces the wood inlays. That being said, some of the predator inlay edges look a bit too clean and neat that they seem like decals. I had an old 8pt sneaky in the past and i always felt some of the smaller points looked a bit painted.

Just wanted to see if anyone knew for sure. I tried to do a search but couldn't find anything of the sort (other than an old thread about one of the sneakies having a painted butt). I'd be pissed if I paid $1400 for stickers on a cue.
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All CNC inlay work afaik. I saw a video one time about the factory where they are made. ROWS of CNC equipment with well trained operators.
 
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In my experience Predator uses the term inlay pretty loosely. A lot of the white/creme/black is a putty fill, so yes, a channel is cut and material then fills the cavity, but its not your traditional inlay - meaning two hard materials precisely milled to fit together, but not decals.
 
wilkamania said:
A friend was showing me his Predator Ikon 4-5 and everything looked a bit too "clean" to be inlays. I always feel like if you look extremely close at the outline of inlays, you can see the little "furry" pieces the wood inlays. That being said, some of the predator inlay edges look a bit too clean and neat that they seem like decals. I had an old 8pt sneaky in the past and i always felt some of the smaller points looked a bit painted.

Just wanted to see if anyone knew for sure. I tried to do a search but couldn't find anything of the sort (other than an old thread about one of the sneakies having a painted butt). I'd be pissed if I paid $1400 for stickers on a cue.
Click to expand...
I have a Ikon 2-5 that I can definitely feel the inlays are popping through the finish. I'm too lazy to get it refinished but I can at least say they are inlays. This is the cue with turquoise and silver inlays.
 
Most have real inlays. Some do not. The SP series points are painted on. Maybe that's what the P stands for? :P
 
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