Rolls Straight!?!?

I’m not trying to be funny here. If it rolls straight it rolls straight. A consistent roll is “straight”. A lot of cues don’t roll on the table due to their tapers. They roll off the table a bit at the same height when rolling across it.


Now I am being funny. If the guy rolling isn’t handing out massages to other dudes. That would be rolling straight.
 
Friend showed me the McDaniel way. You lay it across the rails and then roll it. IIRC his actually had a dip that stayed picture perfect as the cue rolled. Mine are too stiff to do that but any cue with a bend will oscillate at the joint. Another good one is to roll the cue with the entire shaft out in space over the rail. The slightest imperfection will show up at the ferrule. I think I got this on on AZB. (thanks whoever posted it)
One shocker is many a cue that rolls flat on the slate will wobble in the air.
 
No matter what anyone tells you - there are very very few all wood cue butts and all maple one piece shafts that will remain perfectly straight over a multi- year time frame - all wood moves at some time or another - especially shaft wood that has not been cut several times/ fully naturally dried in between cuts and comes out perfectly straight after all of that trauma- truly rare and it may not stay that way forever.

Roll an all wood cue butt on a slate table and watch the top 18 inches towards the joint end of the cue butt for any wobble. Attach the shaft to the cue butt and sight it like a rifle as you slowly rotate the cue in your hands - You will see any lack of straightness and can judge how acceptable it is to you. It is way more subjective than most admit.
A straight shaft does not have to lie 100% on a slate table through it’s entire length when rolled to be Playable straight.
 
Honestly unless it's some WC Fields type crooked I don't really care. If I'm buying I want it to be dead straight, but a slightly not straight cue makes very little difference. I have a McDermott from the early to mid 90s and it's still dead straight. I kept it in my trunk through a decade of Iowa winters and summers before I knew any better. But it never did warp. They used to have one hell of a drying and aging process on their shafts, IDK if they keep that kind of inventory on hand anymore but at one time they had probably acres of wood in an aging and drying process.

 
garczar said:
Well i for one hate crooked joints. Don't smoke near as well. ;)
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You don't crown your joints? Just as in framing a wall and crowning the studs. Guess it separates the amateur from the pros. 😉
If you don't crown the studs the sheet rock guy will take you off his Christmas list. 🤷‍♂️
 
mikemosconi said:
No matter what anyone tells you - there are very very few all wood cue butts and all maple one piece shafts that will remain perfectly straight over a multi- year time frame - all wood moves at some time or another - especially shaft wood that has not been cut several times/ fully naturally dried in between cuts and comes out perfectly straight after all of that trauma- truly rare and it may not stay that way forever.

Roll an all wood cue butt on a slate table and watch the top 18 inches towards the joint end of the cue butt for any wobble. Attach the shaft to the cue butt and sight it like a rifle as you slowly rotate the cue in your hands - You will see any lack of straightness and can judge how acceptable it is to you. It is way more subjective than most admit.
A straight shaft does not have to lie 100% on a slate table through it’s entire length when rolled to be Playable straight.
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I have a Biagio cue made by Adam probably in the 80's and the points are a little raised and it rolls 95% straight,not bad for a 40 year old or so cue.
I do play with it and it hits solid.
 
One needs to take into account the small variances of the Farrel and tip alignment to the shaft. The wood shaft could be perfectly straight, But if those are off even little ; its gonna have a minor roll.
 
measureman said:
I have a Biagio cue made by Adam probably in the 80's and the points are a little raised and it rolls 95% straight,not bad for a 40 year old or so cue.
I do play with it and it hits solid.
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Great to hear! We have a Biagio cue as well in my son’s collection - someone here asks about buying it from time to time but he always runs away when it is time to actually pay for it - really nice cues that we would sell at a very fair price.
 
It’s too ambiguous a term in the pool world.

Some people will say it rolls straight if the tip does not lift off the table.

You must specifically ask as a buyer if the light gap changes between the cue and the table as rolled. And the seller should provide this information for the shaft by itself, the butt by itself, and the entire cue screwed together.

Also videos are so easy to make these days. Put the phone on the table pointing to the light gap and roll the cue. Then there are no surprises.
 
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