shafts?

player52 said:
Where is the right place to buy some high quality shafts?
Cue components?
Click to expand...

Hi,

I never bought shafts from Joe so I can't comment. Everything else I have bought from him has been high quality.

In my view, if you buy from the shaft merchants you will have little control over the consistency of you end product. In order to have that control you must become you own shaft merchant. I have seen ads for people selling shaft wood for 30.00 per unit as AAA grade. (Why would I pay 30.00 for something they make broom stick out of). My friend bought some of these and they were very good but some were just ok in my opinion and experience.

For the first 2 years of making cues I bought my shaft wood and was not happy with the results. I then started buy my own raw stock and dowel all my wood with my own doweling machine.

As far as shaft wood goes, one thing I have observed is that 5/4 vacuum kilned dried hard maple planks seem to produce better ( more stable ) shafts than 4/4 stock and the cost difference is very small per unit. I think the thicker planks hold their structure and straightness better through the drying process.

I have talked to my supplier's source in Northern Michigan and they told me that after they vacuum kiln the wood down to 4% moisture they re-hydrate the chamber back up to 6 to 7% moisture load. The re hydration is a tempering process.

I hand pick my quarter sawn planks at my hardwood supplier. I am lucky because they store all of their hardwood indoors, not outside or in cold storage. I call them a day before I get there and they have a bunk of wood for me to pick through. When I first started doing this I was buying small amounts of 4/4 stock enough to do about 30 shafts at a time. Most of the boards I picked out had a slight curve or crown to them and I was not happy with many of my finished shafts. These shafts were still better than dowels on the internet.

After cutting them on the band saw and turning them down to 1" dowel in my doweling machine I store dowels in an open barrel. In 2005 I asked for a bunk of 5/4 stock for me to pick through. To my suprise, I found that many of the planks were straight as an arrow in both axises. Many of the boards are like T squares. I can get about 6 perfect planks out of about 200 boards.

So my job became much easier because I hand picked all the perfectly straight planks and put them in a stack. I then classify the stack and reject boards that are not 1/4 sawn or have too much sugar.

After I put the squares through the doweling machine there is a much greater degree of straightness from the 5/4 stock dowels when I roll them. Over 90% of my shafts do not oscillate in the center at 1500 rpm and many can go up to the highest speed when I put them between centers on my wood lathe for sanding and sealing. The ones that do vibrate are due to lighter density and I reject them.

Remember, even with great wood you will still get units that are not good because it is from a certain part of the log. I have learned to spot them and get rid of them as early on in the process as possible. The main thing is to also get rid of and dowels that have run out before you taper them and waste your time.

My point here is that picking your shaft wood is just as important as how you store them. Since I got my doweling machine and hand pick 5/4 planks, my shaft wood is high quality and the cost is less than $3.25 per unit with factoring in the rejects without costing my time. This also includes a .50 charge for the planks to be rip cut at the yard. They give me cut offs at 30" x 5/4 x 5/4 squares ready to go when I come the next day for pick up.

I think that most of the dowels I bought online where someones cast offs. Now that I control the entire process, I know my shafts are all top quality. I think most cue makers will agree that the shaft is the most critical component of the cue concerning the hit.

About 90% of my shafts are over 4 oz. when finished at .511 & .845. I don't use metal inserts.

Bottom Line: If you want the best possible shaft wood you need to be at the front of the line to get the pick of the litter. Be your own merchant!!!

Good Luck,

Rick Geschrey
 
scdiveteam said:
Hi,

I never bought shafts from Joe so I can't comment. Everything else I have bought from him has been high quality.

In my view, if you buy from the shaft merchants you will have little control over the consistency of you end product. In order to have that control you must become you own shaft merchant. I have seen ads for people selling shaft wood for 30.00 per unit as AAA grade. (Why would I pay 30.00 for something they make broom stick out of). My friend bought some of these and they were very good but some were just ok in my opinion and experience.

For the first 2 years of making cues I bought my shaft wood and was not happy with the results. I then started buy my own raw stock and dowel all my wood with my own doweling machine.

As far as shaft wood goes, one thing I have observed is that 5/4 vacuum kilned dried hard maple planks seem to produce better ( more stable ) shafts than 4/4 stock and the cost difference is very small per unit. I think the thicker planks hold their structure and straightness better through the drying process.

I have talked to my supplier's source in Northern Michigan and they told me that after they vacuum kiln the wood down to 4% moisture they re-hydrate the chamber back up to 6 to 7% moisture load. The re hydration is a tempering process.

I hand pick my quarter sawn planks at my hardwood supplier. I am lucky because they store all of their hardwood indoors, not outside or in cold storage. I call them a day before I get there and they have a bunk of wood for me to pick through. When I first started doing this I was buying small amounts of 4/4 stock enough to do about 30 shafts at a time. Most of the boards I picked out had a slight curve or crown to them and I was not happy with many of my finished shafts. These shafts were still better than dowels on the internet.

After cutting them on the band saw and turning them down to 1" dowel in my doweling machine I store dowels in an open barrel. In 2005 I asked for a bunk of 5/4 stock for me to pick through. To my suprise, I found that many of the planks were straight as an arrow in both axises. Many of the boards are like T squares. I can get about 6 perfect planks out of about 200 boards.

So my job became much easier because I hand picked all the perfectly straight planks and put them in a stack. I then classify the stack and reject boards that are not 1/4 sawn or have too much sugar.

After I put the squares through the doweling machine there is a much greater degree of straightness from the 5/4 stock dowels when I roll them. Over 90% of my shafts do not oscillate in the center at 1500 rpm and many can go up to the highest speed when I put them between centers on my wood lathe for sanding and sealing. The ones that do vibrate are due to lighter density and I reject them.

Remember, even with great wood you will still get units that are not good because it is from a certain part of the log. I have learned to spot them and get rid of them as early on in the process as possible. The main thing is to also get rid of and dowels that have run out before you taper them and waste your time.

My point here is that picking your shaft wood is just as important as how you store them. Since I got my doweling machine and hand pick 5/4 planks, my shaft wood is high quality and the cost is less than $3.25 per unit with factoring in the rejects without costing my time. This also includes a .50 charge for the planks to be rip cut at the yard. They give me cut offs at 30" x 5/4 x 5/4 squares ready to go when I come the next day for pick up.

I think that most of the dowels I bought online where someones cast offs. Now that I control the entire process, I know my shafts are all top quality. I think most cue makers will agree that the shaft is the most critical component of the cue concerning the hit.

About 90% of my shafts are over 4 oz. when finished at .511 & .845. I don't use metal inserts.

Bottom Line: If you want the best possible shaft wood you need to be at the front of the line to get the pick of the litter. Be your own merchant!!!

Good Luck,

Rick Geschrey
Click to expand...
There is a lot of good information in this post. Thanks for sharing your process.
 
I buy all my shaft blanks from Cue Comp, Joe Barrenger and I can say in the years I have purchased from him I have had maybe 3 shafts that didn't stay straight. There may have been a couple more but my point is his shaft wood is top quality.

There are other good sources' for shaft wood out there, Hightower being another good supplier. If you dont turn your shaft wood properly and let it rest between cuts and donot take "huge bites" when you take a pass, it wont matter where you purchased your wood from. :grin:
 
Really nice info guys.
Rick, his is just a hobby to me, I don't have time (and machinery, and knowledge) to do something like that. For now, at least.
But I'm sure many cuemakers here will find this post very useful.
How long should it rest between cuts?
 
i wouldnt buy anything from joe. more then one person has been burned by him. i saw one say his shaftwood is top notch but i know other who have returned or tried to return wood to him due to its poor quality.

more cuemakers will not give the shaftwood sources up
 
When buying shafts make sure to ask if they are dipped. The turning process for dipped shafts is different then non dipped.

My last 100 shafts were dipped and I'll never go that route again.
 
Graciocues said:
When buying shafts make sure to ask if they are dipped. The turning process for dipped shafts is different then non dipped.

My last 100 shafts were dipped and I'll never go that route again.
Click to expand...

may i ask why. just curious. i also dont dip but maybe u can save me some times money and trouble
 
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