State of the Art in Case Making

I am the proud owner of the 'Graying' butterfly case (pictured in the OP...the snakeskin case) and I must say it is everything that I wanted in a soft case. I have 3 butts and 5 shafts that fit snuggly into the padded interior of this case and plenty of room in the pockets.

I get compliments everywhere I go. I am glad I got this case...no regreats at all. I'd gladly buy another from JB Cases but the way this one is constructed, I think I'm done buying cases. I have spread your brand name around a bit and I hope you get an order or two from it.

Thanks for the great case and keep up the innovations.

L8R...Ken
 
Do you a website where you have finished cases displayed which are for sale John? You really do some great work. I bought one of the Sterling cases as a back up and think it is high quality for the money.
 
Updates:

Let's add some updates to show some of the newest innovations in case making since I made this thread in 2010.

The flexible dealer case:

Made with five boards that slide in and out this is done based on a case done by New Image in the late 90s.

http://www.jbcases.com/cases/chris-dealercase/chris-dealercase-b-front.jpg

This case has a holder for the errant Joint protectors that a dealer is always looking for a place to store when showing cues.

chris-dealercase-e-lid.jpg


The boards all come out for easy removal.

chris-dealercase-i-interior2.jpg


Here we put a cue ball holder in the lid:

kirk-d-lidinside.jpg


And in the same case we reconfigured teh interior so that the CueReach extension fits and the cue fits inside that.

kirk-r-interior.jpg


kirk-s-interiorwithcues.jpg


Here is one that I am particularly proud of. The cassette style interior. Haven't thought of a catchy name yet, maybe we need a contest:

This interior is easily removable, exchangable, washable...... for this one we did two for the customer. One is made as a 3x6 with a larger space for the Hager extension. The other is a stock UltraPad 4x8

longtom-q1.jpg

longtom-q2-interior.jpg

longtom-r-interiorwithcues.jpg

longtom-s-interior.jpg

longtom-t-interiorwithcues.jpg


Still working on the construction to make it easy to produce with the plan to make it standard on as many of our models as possible.
 
Going back to the latches we have really expanded on the Puzzle Latch by shaping it to fit the theme of the case:

portugal-e-lid.jpg

portugal-f-lidopen.jpg


I guess that's about it for now.

Feel free to post things that other case makers have done and why you find them innovative. As I said in the beginning this is to me the best time in the world to be in the market for a cue case. There are so many good makers out there and many of them are innovating and coming up with new features and benefits.
 
JB Cases said:
No, my philosophy is that you should be able to spend relatively little and get the best protection available because giving you that protection costs very little to do.

It's a plastic tube with layers of foam rubber and fabric arranged in a protective and durable way.

From there how much you spend is up to you.

Spending $1000 on a some case brands often won't get you as good of protection as a $50 Sterling case.

That's why everything I develop for the protection side of things makes it's way into Sterling's cases. And to be 100% clear Sterling is the only American wholesaler who has switched from the problematic foam core style interiors to the fabric divided padded interiors. These types cost Sterling a little bit more but they don't pass that extra cost onto the customer. The other manufacturers of cases don't want to do our interiors because they are harder to do.

I often say to people that I will put $50 worth of foam and fabric around your cue and then wrap that in as much decoration as you want to pay for.

In my mind the ONLY reason for a cue case is to protect the cues and skimping on the interior is kind of like putting a lawnmower motor in a Mercedes if it's an expensive leather work of art on the outside.

I could rant on this forever but the answer is no, you can get the best protection I can make for less than $100 all day, every day.
Click to expand...

Very true,

there are so many great cases with superb craftmenship and outstanding looks- but the protection is often really not given. Here John really is a step further with using his kind of protection!
 
18 months and counting with the puzzle twist latch and never a problem (I seldom twist it - it holds just fine without it). I believe my case is the one in the puzzle twist photo.

I strongly agree that there's never been a better time for cue cases. You especially appreciate this when you compare the value and workmanship in a modern leather cue case compared to other leather goods out there. My favorite example of this is the briefcase below, which sells for $1,500:

briefcase.jpg

Even a simple wallet made out of this nice leather costs $95, and they fail every 4 years or so (not the leather but the fabric insides can't stand up to credit cards, I had three before I gave up).

Now compare that to what you can get from JB for $500 or so - a large case with very nice leather, that's much more complicated to build, that has to protect against failure in many more ways, that allows the buyer to customize not only a surface design but also the construction to some extent. Quite a bargain, I would say.
 
BRKNRUN said:
This is totally hipocritical but I have to admit....You are one of the very few that I don't have a problem posting marketing type posts outside of the wanted for sale section.

You actually contribute quite a bit of content to the board for the betterment of pool players......that deserves some major leeway IMO.

Plus..you make some fine looking cases....I have never seen one in person...but you seem to portray a great attention to detail when making cases.

Love the black leather cases on your website:thumbup:
Click to expand...

It is interesting to go back and read these older threads and compare them to the present.

For example here is your case and the innovative features you and I cooked up on it. Can't believe I missed it noting it just now.

stealth-a-front.jpg


stealth-g-bigpocket.jpg


stealth-h-bigpocket1.jpg


Extra half-hidden spot for a cell-phone and wallet.

stealth-h-bigpocket2.jpg


stealth-p-left.jpg


Thanks for being patient with me to get it done.
 
I am living in Shanghai and bought a J Flowers 2x4 case locally a couple months ago.

I am very pleased with the workmanship of the case and the protection is gives to the cues.
 
John (Ever though of repoducing Szamboti wooden cases

Szamboti, Gina, RBlack and others have made some (Breathless Cases). I'm surprised that Someone doesn't make exotic wood cases -with Simonis. How is the new website working out?? I see no mention of the new site?? mark
 
HollyWood said:
Szamboti, Gina, RBlack and others have made some (Breathless Cases). I'm surprised that Someone doesn't make exotic wood cases -with Simonis. How is the new website working out?? I see no mention of the new site?? mark
Click to expand...

Wooden case aren't my thing. I am too impatient to work with wood. I like leather that is ready to go now and can be shaped and put together in a hundred ways.

Several of the top cue makers have indeed made some out of this world cue cases to match their high end cues. Ernie, as ever the pioneer, started it in 1965 with the Silver Gina Cue Case.

I don't really think that they did much to innovate though.

Case makers that have innovated in wood are the guy who made the wood box case with a seal on it to completely seal the cavity.

Or the guy who made cases out of stacked pieces of wood cut with a CNC machine.

Or the guy who did thin veneers wrapped around a plastic tube. I have one of those and that's a pretty awesome case in my opinion.

Recently I saw one on here for sale that had the cues suspended in some sort of a spring-loaded holder. The engineering of this wood case was off the charts. I don't have time right now to go get pix and load them up but if anyone knows these cases feel free.

The new forum for sales is in the signature. It's doing ok for being in existence for a week. This is still the best place for pool discussion and probably will be that way forever barring any drastic changes.
 
I like the way you put that JB. You "study" case design.

I have been doing so much of that myself lately and I think I have read everything you have written on the matter that is available online.

Where I have gone now is outside the field. I am leaving cue cases alone. For the moment I am not looking at them. I am studying shoe making, boot making, saddle making, motorcycle jacket construction and other such things. Outside the box as they say.

Your work is an inspiration, but more than that your approach is an inspiration.

I am going to make another case.
 
I love the interior you did for my butterfly case. I can now pull out a shaft or butt and not worry about the zipper scratching it. Other cases like this I had to be very careful to hold the shaft away from the zipper.
 
Besides all your other cool innovations, that dealer case where the interior slides out like that is really nice. I get sick of my cues getting stuck or sliding down too far.

I had an old butterfly case I believe you made originally with the old Instroke label - it was two tone brown leather with a dividing panel and elastic straps to hold cues and shafts on the panel, then pouches on the inside of the two flaps. I had to retire it - it was prett beat up and smelled like cigars when I got it.

Anyway, good work on case craftsmanship - as I said before I love the profile and so forth on the Mason series especially.

Chris
 
Chopdoc said:
I like the way you put that JB. You "study" case design.

I have been doing so much of that myself lately and I think I have read everything you have written on the matter that is available online.

Where I have gone now is outside the field. I am leaving cue cases alone. For the moment I am not looking at them. I am studying shoe making, boot making, saddle making, motorcycle jacket construction and other such things. Outside the box as they say.

Your work is an inspiration, but more than that your approach is an inspiration.

I am going to make another case.
Click to expand...

The only way to really learn is to do it. I have cases of mine from 20 years ago and the evolution is amazing to me.

I have been studying objects made to hold stuff for the whole time. My wife won't even ask me about a purse she likes because I deconstruct it like it an art critic.

The problem comes in applying the techniques you find to a cue case. Sometimes it is easy and often it is not.

I don't just study sometimes I flat out steal a technique if I think it will make the case better. I am pretty arrogant about our cases but am in no way smarter than the rest of the world. Everyone contributes to everyone else whether they intend or want to.

Over these 20 years many case makers have taken things from our cases and I have done the same to them. It fundamental to our evolution that we emulate that which works and put our own style on it.

I enjoy the never ending path of discovery and invention. I would go nuts if all I did was cookie cutter cases.

So, have fun with it. I like the style path you are heading on. Look forward to more from you.


www.jbcases.com
 
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