Shaft Quality?

[lenoxmjs]

A little off topic but along the same lines:

Some makers tout that their shaft wood has been turned down slowly over a period of 7-10 years . How does this factor into the equation.

I would seem that if a maker were dointg this he would have to stock over a thousand pieces of shaft wood even if he was only building 50 cues a year . Seems like a lot of expense and room for storage would be required.

 

[RFisher]

A little off topic but along the same lines:

Some makers tout that their shaft wood has been turned down slowly over a period of 7-10 years . How does this factor into the equation.

I would seem that if a maker were dointg this he would have to stock over a thousand pieces of shaft wood even if he was only building 50 cues a year . Seems like a lot of expense and room for storage would be required.

I do have shafts that are over 8 years old, I just got 2100 in nov. I've sold some but most will remain with me. We turn a shaft down over 1 year from 1in to .900 then they sit until used. Wood needs to season, age, and move, and it should happen in someones shop, if a shaft is going to warp, I want it to warp in my shop, not in the customers hands. Nothing is ever 100%, it's just a level of quality assurence some use. Alot of the cuemakers starting don't have the option to let shaft wood sit this long because they've decided to "start making money" right away and not slowly easing into building. Hey I and others could talk till we're blue in the face about weather this is right wrong, in the end it's up to the maker, and the customers buying cue's from the maker.

Funny thing is I believe shafts and forearm/handle wood should be cut down over the span of a year, but point wood can just be cut and glued in, so for one process to another I change my thinking. Am I right or wrong? I don't know?

I really need to clean the shop and post pics, my shaft storage holds 1400shafts, and it doesn't look like I have that many, space saving Idea my brother and uncle came up with is awsome, can't wait to post. But it was expensive, lets just say Fisher cue's didn't eat out for a month or 2:thumbup:

 

[qbilder]

A little off topic but along the same lines:

Some makers tout that their shaft wood has been turned down slowly over a period of 7-10 years . How does this factor into the equation.

I would seem that if a maker were dointg this he would have to stock over a thousand pieces of shaft wood even if he was only building 50 cues a year . Seems like a lot of expense and room for storage would be required.

I know within the second cut whether a shaft is good or not. The thing with wood is that it normally does not sit dormant for years as a straight shaft, then warp out of nowhere for no apparent reason. If it does, it cannot be blamed on the builder or the time it took to cut it. Most warpage occurs within minutes to hours to days after a cut. Anything past a month between cuts is not going to hurt, but isn't going to help much, either. It also has much to do with the climatic circumstances the shaft has been faced with before completion. If it has been through the four seasons before it leaves the shop and is straight, then likely it'll go anywhere in the world & stay straight. Much also depends on the care & attention given by the kiln operator. But most importantly is wood quality. It's tough to make good wood warp. Cut it fast, subject it to climatic extremes, whatever. Good wood doesn't move much. Bad wood moves a bunch & you know which are the bad ones very early, so I just throw them out right away & don't even try to make shafts from them.

 

[Getnbzy]

I know within the second cut whether a shaft is good or not. The thing with wood is that it normally does not sit dormant for years as a straight shaft, then warp out of nowhere for no apparent reason. If it does, it cannot be blamed on the builder or the time it took to cut it. Most warpage occurs within minutes to hours to days after a cut. Anything past a month between cuts is not going to hurt, but isn't going to help much, either. It also has much to do with the climatic circumstances the shaft has been faced with before completion. If it has been through the four seasons before it leaves the shop and is straight, then likely it'll go anywhere in the world & stay straight. Much also depends on the care & attention given by the kiln operator. But most importantly is wood quality. It's tough to make good wood warp. Cut it fast, subject it to climatic extremes, whatever. Good wood doesn't move much. Bad wood moves a bunch & you know which are the bad ones very early, so I just throw them out right away & don't even try to make shafts from them.

Great info. eric. BTW please check your PM's when you get a chance. Thanks.

 

[JoeyInCali]

A little off topic but along the same lines:

Some makers tout that their shaft wood has been turned down slowly over a period of 7-10 years . How does this factor into the equation.

I would seem that if a maker were dointg this he would have to stock over a thousand pieces of shaft wood even if he was only building 50 cues a year . Seems like a lot of expense and room for storage would be required.

Can of worms.
If I had all the time and space, I'd rather buy planks undried and let them sit here for years.

 

[qbilder]

Can of worms.
If I had all the time and space, I'd rather buy planks undried and let them sit here for years.

I have come to a point where I am going to begin using shafts that come only from trees I choose, timber, mill & dry. I'll cut one tree per year as I see it now. I made a deal with the Amish colony local to my family's forest & they'll mill & kiln dry to my exacting specifications so long as I bring the log. Everything will be rift sawn to alleviate stress. No more lumber hunts for me. From now on it's tree hunting only. I stumbled upon the deal because I recently cut a giant burl & couldn't mill it on the circular mill because of the size, so I hauled it to the Amish to use a band mill & after some wood talk we struck a deal.