Reduce cue weight by drilling out wood?

VTEC John

VTEC John

Active member
I have an older Schmelke weighing a bit over 19 oz. that I would like to reduce by 1/2 oz to 3/4 oz. The butt is one-piece solid bocote and there is no weight bolt. I'm wondering if it's practical to drill up into the butt to reduce the weight by removing some wood. I'd do some tests on another piece of wood to determine how many inches of removal would give me my target weight reduction. Three questions: 1) Is this totally nuts or a reasonable thing that can be done carefully?; 2) would the cue then be so grossly forward-weighted as to wreck it?; 3) what kind of wood that's reasonably accessible is enough like bocote to work for my test, e.g., oak? Many thanks in advance.
 
muskyed

muskyed

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Just for a point of consideration I took a cue that I liked the weight of but didn't like the balance. I added apx .3 oz to the joint area of the shaft and took about the same .3 oz out of the butt weight bolt. If I remember right, it moved the balance forward apx 5/8". Can't imagine doing what you want would move the balance more than 1/2", probably less. A bigger issue might be if there is no hole there now, does your bumper just screw into the wood? if so, how do you plan on handling that.
 
3kushn

3kushn

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
years ago I commissioned a very light cue. He sent me 2 to try out for a while.
One butt he sent a drill through the entire length of the butt. Hollow.

Drilling the length of the butt shouldn't change the balance point.

Then there's the problem of too much weight being removed. The smaller the drill the more likely it will want to wander off course.

Earlier he sent me a drilled butt where the drill wandered completely out. He repaired the damage with a small inlay. You would never know unless he told you. Which he did.
 
jayman

jayman

Hi Mom!
Silver Member
aphelps1 said:
Taking out 3/4 oz of bocote would take a 5/8 bored hole approximately 5 1/4 inches deep, or a 1/2 inch hole 8 1/4 inches deep.

Alan
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Put that way, It seems very doable and as easy as drilling a hole. I've taken out weight bolts physically bigger than that.
 
Sheldon

Sheldon

dontneednostinkintitle
Silver Member
Done this lots of times. You often don't get as much weight out as you would think (maple) but the bacote is a bit heavier so it will work nicely. Balance will shift slightly, but not much.
 
S

Ssonerai

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
As has been stated in other words..... :)
Bocote weighs only a few grams more than 1/2ounce/ inch^3.

A small hole drilled more deeply would have the least effect on balance. Except that the deeper you go, the more rigid the requirements for doing it accurately. Without the drill going sideways as has been mentioned above. Which could throw off your balance sideways depending which orientation the cue was held.

For instance, with the cue accurately fixtured in a lathe outfitted for gun drilling, 3/8" gun drilled about 9-1/2" deep would also reduce the cue by about 1/2 ounce. Or a hole 1/4" x 21" deep..........how good is your luck?
 
T

tg_vegas

Well-known member
If you go for the deeper hole with smaller diameter, your impact on balance point will be minimized. Agreed with Sheldon, no way I'd do this other than a gun drill and a lathe.
 
T

tg_vegas

Well-known member
What would differ between drilling to remove weight after the fact and gun drilling required for a full length cored butt?
 
S

Ssonerai

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I tried it a couple of times with a gun drill and the last time the cue exploded about 12 inches up from the butt.
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Did it have A or B joints in it?
That is a good point - even if no metal in the butt to ruin your drill, there is probably a depth that could compromise the construction, if you don't actually know what the construction is. The few i make are FS so i don't think about that.

Beyond that, the ones that were successful, did the customer like the result?
 
jayman

jayman

Hi Mom!
Silver Member
aphelps1 said:
Taking out 3/4 oz of bocote would take a 5/8 bored hole approximately 5 1/4 inches deep, or a 1/2 inch hole 8 1/4 inches deep.

Alan
Click to expand...
Coos Cues said:
I tried it a couple of times with a gun drill and the last time the cue exploded about 12 inches up from the butt.
Click to expand...
tg_vegas said:
If you go for the deeper hole with smaller diameter, your impact on balance point will be minimized. Agreed with Sheldon, no way I'd do this other than a gun drill and a lathe.
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aphelps1 Thank you.

Coos cues ?? Why?? I did one 30 years ago with 5/8" a paddle bit around 10 inches to make a 15 oz cue. I was kinda lucky but I am pretty skilled as well. What happened?

tg_vegas 5/8 drill 5.25 deep. I would not be scared to do that on the golden Balabushka free hand. I truly would not be afraid. But I would sure be careful!

Why must the stupid easy shit always be some hard rocket science? save it for the harder things. No one minds changing a weight bolt. 99% of the time they are only put in to make a cue weigh what will sell anyway. I generally remove most of the weight so a cue is not overly back heavy. but god help you for suggesting you actually remove a bit of wood. It's a piece of wood and a drill bit. use any amount of caution and go for it!
Oh dear, NO its a stick of pretty wood made to hit pool balls with NOOooooo don't mess with it..............
There is a lot to making a kick ass cue. Not much beyond tight tolerances and good construction practices. Like many trades. Having all the special tools and learning how to use them is part of the learning process and a large investment in time and money. But. Drilling a reasonable sized hole int a piece of wood to a reasonable depth and pretending it is special CAUSE IT'S A POOL STICK.... is just ridicules.

To the OP. send it to me, I will drill the 5/8 hole 5.25 deep for free. if I damage the cue I will buy it for twice it's market value.
 
Coos Cues

Coos Cues

Coos Cues
jayman said:
aphelps1 Thank you.

Coos cues ?? Why?? I did one 30 years ago with 5/8" a paddle bit around 10 inches to make a 15 oz cue. I was kinda lucky but I am pretty skilled as well. What happened?

tg_vegas 5/8 drill 5.25 deep. I would not be scared to do that on the golden Balabushka free hand. I truly would not be afraid. But I would sure be careful!

Why must the stupid easy shit always be some hard rocket science? save it for the harder things. No one minds changing a weight bolt. 99% of the time they are only put in to make a cue weigh what will sell anyway. I generally remove most of the weight so a cue is not overly back heavy. but god help you for suggesting you actually remove a bit of wood. It's a piece of wood and a drill bit. use any amount of caution and go for it!
Oh dear, NO its a stick of pretty wood made to hit pool balls with NOOooooo don't mess with it..............
There is a lot to making a kick ass cue. Not much beyond tight tolerances and good construction practices. Like many trades. Having all the special tools and learning how to use them is part of the learning process and a large investment in time and money. But. Drilling a reasonable sized hole int a piece of wood to a reasonable depth and pretending it is special CAUSE IT'S A POOL STICK.... is just ridicules.

To the OP. send it to me, I will drill the 5/8 hole 5.25 deep for free. if I damage the cue I will buy it for twice it's market value.
Click to expand...
The cue handle was made of ebony which is brittle and I got greedy trying to lose weight. The further you drill the thinner the wood. I was actually redrilling out the core I had installed previously. Not sure what exactly happened I think it hit a knot or hard spot in the wood and BANG.

I wouldn't leave a cue hollow though. I was going to recore it with some very light weight wood.

I had done this successfully more than once but am a bit gun shy now.
 
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