macguy said:
I'll describe a little later when I get a few minutes how to drill a perfect hole and install a screw with a wood lathe. Guys can even just take a house cue they like cut it down and joint it perfectly, for a sneaky pete. it's actually easy
Like I said I used to be a member of a wood turners club and you should see what those guys do, it makes building a cue look like childs play. We would visit different guys shops and some of them were amazing. One guy had a bunch of lathes and one of them was huge and had a chain hoist above it to get the wood into the lathe. He would turn like 50 pound pieces into big vessels and complicated turnings that were hard to tell how it was done if you didn't see him do it.
I saw one guy making a vessel that had a 1 inch opening and was about 10 inches in diameter. He worked through the hole with a curved tool and when he was done the final piece was so delicate he put a light behind it and you could see the tool cutting on the inside. Anyway their talents are nothing short of amazing. As far as drilling a centered hole in a piece of wood on a wood lathe it is wood turning 101, the same method used to make a lamp or flute what ever. You do need proper turnings tools such as a good wood lathe and tail piece. Drill chuck, steady rest and a chuck for the head stock.
You first drill 60 degree center in the block of wood at each end and put it between centers. You can turn the whole piece round or just the first inch at each end. Say you turn just an inch at each end after you have done that you take the piece of wood out of the lathe and mount the chuck. Then put one end you have turned round in the chuck and the other end to the center that is in the tail stock.
Once you have it between the chuck and the center you now take the steady rest and set it to the end of the piece of wood where it is centered at the tail piece. Tighten the steady rest and set the fingers against the part you have turned round tight enough so it can't wobble. Some times you may want to use some wax on the piece. Now the piece is perfect between centers and to the steady rest. Back out the tail piece and replace the center with a drill chuck and drill the hole and tap it.
You have to be sure that there is still some of the bevel so you can put it between centers again. If you were building a butt say from Birds eye and handle stock with a butt sleeve you do basically the same thing but you would drill for the tenon and once you have assembled the pieces then finish turning the butt. This would not be what one would want to do if they were tying to sell cues but a guy with a good wood lathe and a few tools can have some fun building himself a cue. For a shaft he may want to fit a shaft off a house cue. I doubt the average guy could turn a shaft. I'll tell you something funny.
I had the group over to the shop for a meeting I showed how to do points and veneers and turned a shaft. I thought they would be impressed but in reality, the way a cue is built doesn't even compare to what they do, I was actually a little embarrassed. I could tell they were looking at it like, "Is that it"? Talking about the skill a wood turner can have I was in Scotland and went to a bagpipe factory that was like 200 years old. I watchd a guy turn piece after piece into spindles by hand on a a 100 year old plus lathe in a few minutes that you could mike and each one would be perfect. I wrote all this pretty quick but I hope it made some sense.
I know a lot of guys have wood lathes in their shops for sanding and so on, if they never have, they should get some turning tools and do some real woodturning. Make vase or plate or something, it can be really addictive, I'm not very good but I love it.
Check out this site
http://www.woodturner.org/sym/sym2002/photos/PhotoDisplay.cfm?record=27
