Spliced shaft

[jhendri2]

Not sure how to word the question but....

In the advertisement for tweeten chalk, there's an old picture of 4 guys in front of a pool hall. The two guys on the left, their cues have what appears to be ebony spliced on the ferrule end of the shaft. It looks basically like a house cue except for that particular variance.

Does anybody know why this was done? What improvements did it offer over a conventional shaft? Can it still be done today (on a two piece cue)? Would it be cost prohibitive? How would the wood movement characteristics differ from a coventional shaft? Would it be stable and usable? What are the disadvantages? What kind of hit would it produce?

Sorry if these are absurd questions, I saw it and was very curious on the history and the why/why not's.

Jim

 

[rhncue]

Not sure how to word the question but....

In the advertisement for tweeten chalk, there's an old picture of 4 guys in front of a pool hall. The two guys on the left, their cues have what appears to be ebony spliced on the ferrule end of the shaft. It looks basically like a house cue except for that particular variance.

Does anybody know why this was done? What improvements did it offer over a conventional shaft? Can it still be done today (on a two piece cue)? Would it be cost prohibitive? How would the wood movement characteristics differ from a coventional shaft? Would it be stable and usable? What are the disadvantages? What kind of hit would it produce?

Sorry if these are absurd questions, I saw it and was very curious on the history and the why/why not's.

Jim

Brunswick and maybe a few others made some cues this way back in the first part of the last century. I wouldn't have thought the joinery would hold up but about 15 years ago we used some of these shafts on a couple of custom cues and they were still fine after having been joined probably 70 or 80 years prior.

Knowing what most cue makers know today about end mass and deflection, I don't believe there would be any benefits other than looks in such a shaft. They definitely would have more deflection than a standard Maple shaft, I believe.

Dick