Snooker Cue / Pool Cue butt benefits

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Bohemyth

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
At the SBE I saw a few Snooker cues and noticed they had a flat bottom edge to them on the end of the butt. I'm guessing this is either for comfort or to make sure your always holding the cue in the same position, so that the hit would always be similar.

Is there a benefit to this. Do any custom or production cue makers make pool cues with a flat end in the butt?
 
no idea why they make snooker cues like this but I thought to reduce weight of the butt as they mostly use ebony in the butt and it is real heavy

but I like to hold it, it can def help you to hold the cue the same time you stoke a ball
 
It's more of a hangover from the past.

Thanks to
http://www.snookerheritage.co.uk/normans-articles/days-of-old/mace-to-billiard-cue/

Table1704_497x355.jpg


"During the time of change over from the mace to the cue - the rules of 1779 also indicate that strokes could be made using the point of the cue or providing your adversary agreed you could use the butt of the cue presumably as if it was a mace, and this is accepted as the reason why to this day most English cues still have a chamfer on the butt and indeed very old cues have chamfers on both sides of the butt."

mace-cues_500x500.jpg


"The five cues illustrated are of French Origin dating from the late 1800's and have very elaborated inlaid and decorated butts, the one on the right of the picture being inlaid with ivory, all these old cues have chamfers on both sides of the butts."

cues_french.jpg


LouisXIV_498x355.jpg
 
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Slasher said:
It's more of a hangover from the past.
QUOTE]

Thanks, I think these photos illustrate more a flatness on the tip. I was talking about the more modern snooker cues I saw being sold today, that have a flat side on the end of the butt.
Click to expand...
 
No, that post explains the transition from mace to cue, and an accomodation in the rules for using the butt of the cue. Read it more carefully.
Bohemyth said:
Slasher said:
It's more of a hangover from the past.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I think these photos illustrate more a flatness on the tip. I was talking about the more modern snooker cues I saw being sold today, that have a flat side on the end of the butt.
Click to expand...
 
Bohemyth said:
Thanks, I think these photos illustrate more a flatness on the tip. I was talking about the more modern snooker cues I saw being sold today, that have a flat side on the end of the butt.
Click to expand...

Did you also read what he wrote, besides looking at the pictures?

The flat part seen on most snooker cues is simply a reminiscent of the times when you were allowed to hit the cueball with both ends of the stick, other pointed and the other blunt, ''a mace''.

So it's simply a tradition thing.
 
According to a friend who is a top snooker player here, the flat part on the cue allows for consistency of grain. On a good cue, the flat part of the butt will be aligned perfectly with the 'arrows' in the shaft's grain. You always want to have the arrows on the top of the shaft so that any warp on the cue will be vertical and not horizontal across the shot, and is especially important with newer shaft wood.
 
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Her's what the arrows look like. Watch any snooker match closely and you'll see that the players always have this part of the cue facing up.
 

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