Question on Cored Cues

LucasBilliards

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Ok, I am trying to understand the basics of cored cues. The way I understand it is you take the sections of the cue bore out the center and then put a core in the section or the length of the butt if it's a full length core. Is that basically the principal behind coring? The reason I ask is this, I recently had 2 cues made from a cue maker who claimed he cores his cues which I'm really not debating as it's clear there is a core but the odd thing is the exterior wood. The "forearm", "handle", and "butt" appear to be thin veneer(I believe that's what it's called, it's like a thin sheet of wood) wrapped around the "core" similar to how a leather wrap is installed. You can clearly see a seam the length of each section on both cues. Is this normal? I have never heard of or seen this before so I'm kinda baffled. The cues play great and look pretty good too but the construction of the cue is a bit confusing. Also at some of these seams you can kinda feel it, almost like the cue is not exactly round. So, is this normal, is this something someone could explain to me? Thanks in advance for any input.
 
Kent Davis of California is known for his radially laminated forearms and buttsleeves- http://www.superiorcues.com/Davis.html
Here's a picture of pink ivory. It is his own take on coring. The seams are visible mostly because of the irregular figure; he does a really nice job with the joinery.
I'm not aware of other custom cuemakers who do it with their forearms, but Predator has some models that way, too.
Pictures would help us understand what you're talking about, though.
 

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We need pics. I gotta see this.
It sounds as though someone wrapped veneer around a tapered dowel.
That's not a cored cue and that's why we need pics.
 
We need pics. I gotta see this.
It sounds as though someone wrapped veneer around a tapered dowel.
That's not a cored cue and that's why we need pics.

That's exactly what it looks like. I just tried for 30 minutes to get a clear enough picture to post and I can't. My camera will not focus close enough to get a clear picture. My wife is better with the camera than I am so when she gets home I'll see if she can get some pics. But the tapered dowel wrapped with veneer is exactly what it looks like. At one of the rings the edge of the butt sleeve is slightly chipped where it butts up to the ring and you can see right through the space to the "core" it looks like it can't be anymore than like a 1/16 of an inch.
 
Sounds kinda cool. Ideally, it would be great because a guy could use an awesome ugly rosewood but make it look any way he wanted. The joinery would need to be clean & stable, but the idea is pretty neat. I know one builder who does it for building up a wrap groove that's too deep. I did see a Players brand cue with a very thin birds eye veneer wrapped around like that & it was tough to find the seam. The only way I even noticed it was because the eyes went all the way around. Had to search for the seam but wasn't hard to find once I knew to look for it.
 
Sounds kinda cool. Ideally, it would be great because a guy could use an awesome ugly rosewood but make it look any way he wanted. The joinery would need to be clean & stable, but the idea is pretty neat. I know one builder who does it for building up a wrap groove that's too deep. I did see a Players brand cue with a very thin birds eye veneer wrapped around like that & it was tough to find the seam. The only way I even noticed it was because the eyes went all the way around. Had to search for the seam but wasn't hard to find once I knew to look for it.

I read somewhere that someone was doing it to make cues that originally came with a wrap, wrapless. I had never heard of a whole cue being made that way. Like I said it looks good and you can't really see the seam that visibly. The cue plays great, which I figure comes from the solid maple core I was just expecting something different construction wise. I am trying for some pics now I almost got em, stay tuned.
 
Pics

Alright I finally figured it out and got a couple pics. The seam is kinda hard to see but you can tell where the figure changes.

GEDC0608.jpg


GEDC0607.jpg
 
Question on cored cues

Looks like we may have to update the pool cue dictionary.
Would bring some different materials into play. Another use
for the wrap magic.
 
Ok, I am trying to understand the basics of cored cues. The way I understand it is you take the sections of the cue bore out the center and then put a core in the section or the length of the butt if it's a full length core. Is that basically the principal behind coring? The reason I ask is this, I recently had 2 cues made from a cue maker who claimed he cores his cues which I'm really not debating as it's clear there is a core but the odd thing is the exterior wood. The "forearm", "handle", and "butt" appear to be thin veneer(I believe that's what it's called, it's like a thin sheet of wood) wrapped around the "core" similar to how a leather wrap is installed. You can clearly see a seam the length of each section on both cues. Is this normal? I have never heard of or seen this before so I'm kinda baffled. The cues play great and look pretty good too but the construction of the cue is a bit confusing. Also at some of these seams you can kinda feel it, almost like the cue is not exactly round. So, is this normal, is this something someone could explain to me? Thanks in advance for any input.
i havent read the replies yet but did you try to call the cuemaker to discuss this????
seems like the first step i would do
just sayin
 
Looked into doing this on handles when I first started making 6-pie laminated butts years ago. You can get some pretty wild veneer that would look great on a cue. No reason you can not do this on all parts of the cue.

Bob Danielson
www.bdcuesandcomix.com
 
Well, looks to be exactly as you thought, a simple veneer wrapped over the cue. That's not a bad thing, just different. Like I said, I think it's cool.
 
Well, looks to be exactly as you thought, a simple veneer wrapped over the cue. That's not a bad thing, just different. Like I said, I think it's cool.

I don't think it's bad at all, I just never saw it before and was curious. With the way the cue plays and looks I certainly can't complain. The cue really has a solid feel with a nice sound to the hit. Definitely a unique take on cue construction. I like.

Thanks for all the responses, I always get good info from this website.
 
We need pics. I gotta see this.
It sounds as though someone wrapped veneer around a tapered dowel.
That's not a cored cue and that's why we need pics.

I know of one guy who does this, and from what Ive seen, his "cues" are trash. If you spin one on a lathe, you can tell it was poorly made by the way it bounces around and vibrates. Im not sure what the dowel was made of, but Im guessing ramen wood. It doesnt cut, it crumbles.

Joe
 
the guy atleast did a good job on the seam

Yeah the seams are done very good. I had the cues a week before I even realized that they were there. I want to talk to the cue maker before I post his name up.

To the other post that mentioned the ramin wood core cues. I don't think this is the same maker, I'm no wood expert obviously but it appers to be maple.
 
After speaking with the cue maker I won't share names or any info on how it's done. I will say this, the cues play great and unless you were inspecting the cues you wouldn't know they were constructed any different than other cues. I think it's a cool idea and it adds a bit of uniqueness to them. I'm a fan of thinking outside the box and this cue maker definitely did that.
 
After speaking with the cue maker I won't share names or any info on how it's done. I will say this, the cues play great and unless you were inspecting the cues you wouldn't know they were constructed any different than other cues. I think it's a cool idea and it adds a bit of uniqueness to them. I'm a fan of thinking outside the box and this cue maker definitely did that.

Is it cored or the outside wood are inverse-plied then turned round ( no core ) ?
 
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