This may be the wrong place to ask, do any of the cue makers out there sell spliced butt blanks? Bocote,coco or purpleheart butt with figured birdseye fronts? Any info would be appreciated. Thank you.
Busbee Cue said:This may be the wrong place to ask, do any of the cue makers out there sell spliced butt blanks? Bocote,coco or purpleheart butt with figured birdseye fronts? Any info would be appreciated. Thank you.
shoutout33 said:I'm looking for some myself, but not the Schmelcky (sp) blanks. I've heard that they are too skinny to work with. Also, just called Prather, there stuff is too espensive.![]()
Alaskin Assasin said:Hello,
I buy my sneaky pete blanks from schmelke, and I find them to be plenty big, use nice wood, but I agree that there glueing techniques are'nt the best. I just finished 9 Sneakys and will be selling 4 of them at discount because the glue lines have big gaps in them and would need too much attention and finishing to fix, we offer sneakys because some people just want a good sneaky pete. I'll still buy the blanks from them though.
Bryan Fisher
Fisher Cues
hadjcues said:Question about the blanks coz I haven't tried Schmelke or Prather, how do their points line up?
Always re-center drill the blanks when you get them in or you will throw the point out massively on your first turn. I brokered a deal for them to buy about 7000 pieces of purple heart last year. I know what they paid and know why we could barely buy the wood in the blanks for what they sell them for. If we buy wood one or two pieces at a time we pay top dollar. Buy it thousands of pieces at a time and the price goes way down. This is another reason our International Cuemakers Association members get shaft wood for about 70% of normal price. We buy pallets at a time and pass some savings on to the members.rhncue said:Schmelke's are usually within a 1/4", usually closer. There is plenty of wood for bumping. Their center at the butt of the butt is usually dead on but the center at the joint end is always off. I've always done my bumping at the rear of the cue as it takes more movement to make a difference in point length but with the center at the front of the cue being out it makes it a little more difficult.
I've often thought of making a set-up for building full-splice butts for Trappers but I doubt if I can buy the wood as cheaply as Schmelke sells the butts. It would be nice to do though just so veneers could be installed.
Dick
Sheldon said:The pieces are joined when the wood is still square. (I'm pretty sure)
Even if they got the points even on the first cut, any warping that happens as they get turned is going to throw the points out of alignment. What I do is find the lowest point and shim that side in my lathe chuck when I cut a new center. Then when you turn it down, you will leave more on that side, and take the long points down.
If the points are even, put it between 2 centers - dial indicate at the tips of the points. Poke a new center with your tailstock little by little, till your indicator says all is well.
rhncue said:Schmelke's are usually within a 1/4", usually closer. There is plenty of wood for bumping. Their center at the butt of the butt is usually dead on but the center at the joint end is always off. I've always done my bumping at the rear of the cue as it takes more movement to make a difference in point length but with the center at the front of the cue being out it makes it a little more difficult.
I've often thought of making a set-up for building full-splice butts for Trappers but I doubt if I can buy the wood as cheaply as Scmelke sells the butts. It would be nice to do though just so veneers could be installed.
Dick