shaft dowels

Q

qbilder

slower than snails
Silver Member
My friend & I are selling some shaft dowels. My name is Eric Crisp, of Sugartree Customs. My friend is Wes Hunter of Hunter Custom Classics. The two of us pulled a trailer up to U.P. Michigan in search for shaft maple. We had planned to get around 1500+bf of lumber but only came home with 500. We literally hand picked through tens of thousands of bf of maple lumber, taking only the very few select boards that we both agreed would be phenominal shafts. We spent nearly a week zig-zagging our way south from Lake Superior to southern Wisconsin, hitting nearly every sawmill and lumber yard that sold maple. We exhausted the one area of the world that is known for the highest grade maple, and only brought back 500bf. Our initial plan was to become low volume/high quality shaft wood suppliers. We thought it would be a home run, two respected cuemakers actually hand picking the lumber & doing all of the leg-work. However, we might just have been too picky & there simply is not enough great maple to fill our plans. So we'll sell what we got, anyway. That is some history on the wood. Now for the nuts.

There are three grades. We call them "Diamond", "B" and "C". All began as 1" but some may be as small as .930".

Diamonds are superb, as close to perfect as possible. They have minimal to no sugar or mineral, extremely straight grain, clear & even color, and range from 12-40 grains per inch. These are 100% yield, no throw away & are high enough quality that i'd put them up against ANY maple shaft dowels from any cuemaker or supplier in history, except for my own which are the pick of the litter of these :) These sell for $1 per grain line, and yes we are counting every single grain line on every diamond shaft, even the ones that require a magifying glass.

"B" grade is one step below diamond because of sugar or mineral or slight grain run-off. These are top choice grade by any supplier I have personally dealt with, just not good enough for our diamond grade. These are $10ea.

"C" grade has some sugar, mineral and/or grain run-off. They are not the best shafts but are still from the same 500bf we hand picked. They are great for sneakies or replacement shafts for production cues. These are $5ea.

All dowels have been milled & doweled by us, then most round pole sanded to further judge clarity & cleanliness. We know shafts & these grades are accurate. Our grading is not inflated to keep up with the market. I'm giving it straight & honest. You can PM me or email Wes Hunter at hunterclassics@netmdc.com . I'll be leaving town for a few weeks but Wes will be around to handle any questions & transactions. Thanks for looking.

example pic of three grades. Top is "C", middle "B" and bottom "diamond"
shaft4sale.jpg
 
Excellent Shaft Wood

This shaft wood is truly very nice as I saw what a friend of mine purchased from Mr. Crisp. Good luck with the sales!
 
Welcome to the AZ posting population Eric. I hope you stick around here some as well as EPT.

Nice shaft wood, good luck with it.
 
Thanks, guys. I lurk here often & privately communicate with a few folks, but mostly keep to myself. Keeps me out of trouble :) And yes, I have alrady kept a few of these but will be picking through to save some more for myself.
 
Can't wait for my 10 sample diamond shafts...they look great in the pics.

Regards,
Duc.
 
You'll not be dissapointed, Duc. I have cut some pretty amazing shafts & these are as good as it gets. I reserve the best for myself, and believe me when I say that it's difficult to decide which ones are the best. It breaks my heart to sell any of them, but only half are mine so I have no choice. I might just decide to keep my half, though :) These things mean more than money to me.
 
PM sent. Awaiting your reply by phone or PM. Don't mean to bother you. :)


Thanks,
Josh Hillard
 
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Eric,
Also good to see you here on AZB. I've exchanged posts with you at EPT way back before you started to really sell your cues. (wish I had ordered one from you back then).
It's a pleasant surprise to hear you know and do some business with Wes. My main play is a Hunter, and based on how my two shafts appear and play, I've always suspected that I must have gotten some pretty nice grade shafts, and I've always felt that Wes is one of those guys that knows a little bit about shaft woods. Knowing that the two of you teamed up to search for some great shaft wood confirms my suspicions that Wes is another one of those makers that really knows his woods.
Keep up the great work.
dave
 
Shaft

I received many dowels from Eric and I must say they are worth the money. Eric put me down for the same order. I will send the same amount once I here from you.
Richard
 
When did you take the trip, when were the dowels turned, how old are they, how were they dried, are they ready to turn into shafts?? Email sent for a matched pair. :p
 
Hello, Dave, nice to hear from you. Yeah, the cue thing kinda snowballed me, got big fast. Wes & I live about 5 minutes apart & share wood & other materials often. He & I are good friends, try to play one hole at least once a week but usually get caught up in cuemaking conversation instead :) He is a superb builder & a class gentleman. You are fortunate to have his cue. I, too, have one on order. There are not many living cuemakers I want a cue from, and he is one of them.

Rayjay, the wood is old stock lumber we pulled from a mill's warehouse. Minus a few boards here & there that we picked up elsewhere, most of the lumber came from one of the biggest & most specialized maple lumber-jacks in the USA. It is all traditional kiln dried, not vacuum. We brought it back a few months ago. The wood, however had been sitting in the warehouse for years & years. I'm not exactly sure how long as even the employees didn't know. But there was a load of it & we picked only a few boards. We broke down pallets of 1000bf & from each pallet we averaged two boards that we kept, which is roughly 3bf out of every 1000. I have been using the same wood from this sam supplier for years & my shafts all weigh an average of 4.0oz-4.5oz. It's good wood, no question. I'm not thrilled about any other cuemaker using the stuff I use, but nobody else is supplying good wood like thi. This is the very stuff everybody says does not exist anymore. But like ANY shaft, caution should be taken during cutting. Internal stress will cause warpage if cut to fast. At these prices, any cuemaker who bus them will likely know how to properly process them. They are not exactly cheap, so I expect only serious builders to buy. We also are going to sell some old growth shafts (limited supply) for $40 each.
 
Thanks, Eric. Wes responded to my email and I told him to go ahead and pick me out a matched pair of diamonds with 25+ grain lines. I have also recently ordered a primo birdseye dowel from Markus at Eurowest (see the thread in the cuemaker's forum), so will be looking for a cuemaker in a few months to put their special magic into some very special wood. These shaft dowels came along at just the right time. Too bad you're so backlogged, as I'd love one of your cues. Thanks again! :p
 
Eric,


Your PM box is full. Please delete some messages so I can PM you about your last message.


Thanks,
Josh Hillard
 
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