Exactly this.
Traditional shaft
- Thread starter Charles Hartfield
- Start date
Exactly this.
JC
Coos Cues
I agree with this but you better be within about .060" of the center of the square at one of the ends. Do you ever build 30" shafts?
I don't bother cutting the corners off, Boss Hog handles that in one pass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT0mmA1XFns&t=13s
I leave them out in the shop, heated by day and dank by night.
JC
Coos Cues
Dave I know you're a ring guy and I don't want to get into a pissing match with you about this.
I am only describing what I have observed with my lying eyes. More rings in and of itself isn't necessarily better for the needs of a pool cue shaft. I have only been building cues for 7 years but to this day I have had zero shafts I have deemed cue worthy returned to me warped. Not one.
There is a long thread in the cue builders forum about this subject a few years ago.
Btw I made an outrageous cue out of a piece of myrtle firewood I noticed had some cool stuff going on.
Out of firewood?
Again, things I can help you with.
Firewood is known as reactionary wood, it comes from the branches of the tree. Many people believe they can make things from the large limbs but guess what?
It moves, just like standing in a doorway and pressing your arms outward for a minute and then letting go, your arms want to raise up. That's the same movement you get from large branches, they spend their life holding up weight where as the part of the tree with good wood is straight up and down, huge difference. That is what I explained to you, again, was trying to help you.
JC
Coos Cues
Come on Dave lighten up. All firewood isn't branches. This was a butt cut I picked up from a county clean up of a blow down. Some really nice curl in it.
You and I build entirely different cues which is a good thing. Lots of pool players out there looking for one of one cues. People seem to be very happy with your cues so you must be doing a lot of stuff right. Keep it up.
a lot of ways to skin a cat!
About eight years into working with cues I lost my river of wood and had my shop badly damaged. Home too, one hurricane got the shop, another and the corp of engineers got my home. I had moved my river of wood to my home while moving my shop, a home that was flood free in the almost twenty-five years it had been there and through countless named storms. However, in their efforts to protect New Orleans and the North Shore the US corp made a funnel with seven thousand homes on the little end. Spending two billion to fix that now, much too late for many. My almost irreplaceable river of wood worth a lot to me wasn't even worth discussing with the insurance company.
My shaft wood ended up floating up at an angle. I had a lot of very nice twenty inch blanks with permanent warps below that, major warps. Somewhere between three and five hundred blanks became survey stakes.
I agree with every cue builder that has spoken out to some degree. A lot goes into judging shaft wood. Growth rings were the buzz word but what if they run out or are much denser on one side of the blank than the other? This is common as dirt.
I used some part of all of the above mentioned ways of judging a shaft and I tried stabilizing the wood too. most of the wood that warped like hell had been dipped in resolute or nelsonite best I recall names.
Ultimately for me I rated shafts A, B, C, and scrap. Scrap ran about 30-50% when I included C wood. I made shafts for myself out of C grade wood and they worked just fine. A grade I saved for moderately expensive cues, that was ten percent or less of my blanks. B grade was for cheaper cues and replacement shafts. Only 30% or a few more blanks made A or B grade.
After all of the visual examinations and checking for true through about eight turnings the blank got the final test, the ping test off of my very solid wooden floor made from inch and an eighth subflooring plywood and with floor joists twelve inches on center. If the shaft didn't sound right to suit me and rebound straight up after all of those turnings it was still abandoned.
I got good shaft wood my way. I think every other cue builder or quality repairman has worked out their own ways of judging good wood. Like so many things, go to a person that turns out quality, tell them what you want and are willing to pay for, and put your trust in them. Several of my personal shafts have or had eight growth rings or so. Nice evenly spread rings and the shafts passed the ping and rebound tests as well as any except maybe the A's and a few B's. In play over several years they played as good as most anything I have hit with. Like musical instruments, many shafts and cues are very good, a very very few are magic. Never, ever, part with a magic cue or shaft, you may never get another!
Hu
About eight years into working with cues I lost my river of wood and had my shop badly damaged. Home too, one hurricane got the shop, another and the corp of engineers got my home. I had moved my river of wood to my home while moving my shop, a home that was flood free in the almost twenty-five years it had been there and through countless named storms. However, in their efforts to protect New Orleans and the North Shore the US corp made a funnel with seven thousand homes on the little end. Spending two billion to fix that now, much too late for many. My almost irreplaceable river of wood worth a lot to me wasn't even worth discussing with the insurance company.
My shaft wood ended up floating up at an angle. I had a lot of very nice twenty inch blanks with permanent warps below that, major warps. Somewhere between three and five hundred blanks became survey stakes.
I agree with every cue builder that has spoken out to some degree. A lot goes into judging shaft wood. Growth rings were the buzz word but what if they run out or are much denser on one side of the blank than the other? This is common as dirt.
I used some part of all of the above mentioned ways of judging a shaft and I tried stabilizing the wood too. most of the wood that warped like hell had been dipped in resolute or nelsonite best I recall names.
Ultimately for me I rated shafts A, B, C, and scrap. Scrap ran about 30-50% when I included C wood. I made shafts for myself out of C grade wood and they worked just fine. A grade I saved for moderately expensive cues, that was ten percent or less of my blanks. B grade was for cheaper cues and replacement shafts. Only 30% or a few more blanks made A or B grade.
After all of the visual examinations and checking for true through about eight turnings the blank got the final test, the ping test off of my very solid wooden floor made from inch and an eighth subflooring plywood and with floor joists twelve inches on center. If the shaft didn't sound right to suit me and rebound straight up after all of those turnings it was still abandoned.
I got good shaft wood my way. I think every other cue builder or quality repairman has worked out their own ways of judging good wood. Like so many things, go to a person that turns out quality, tell them what you want and are willing to pay for, and put your trust in them. Several of my personal shafts have or had eight growth rings or so. Nice evenly spread rings and the shafts passed the ping and rebound tests as well as any except maybe the A's and a few B's. In play over several years they played as good as most anything I have hit with. Like musical instruments, many shafts and cues are very good, a very very few are magic. Never, ever, part with a magic cue or shaft, you may never get another!
Hu
JC, you said you made a cue from firewood, I responded to that comment.
As Oregonians, we both make good cues.
We can disagree on shaftwood at this time, maybe we should do a poll. If someone can post a great resource about shaftwood and prove me wrong, I am all ears.
Maybe a great poll would be what would you like on your next cue order, a shaft as explained by Rolaine as top quality or one with only 6 rings per inch.
Keep up the great work.
I agree with this post....anybody who thinks the cue doesn’t matter, can’t play well.
And so many of the “it’s the Indian” guys just keep ignoring the fact well known fact that
Efren is very fussy about his cues...lots of evidence on AZ...they probably ignore whatever
doesn’t agree with their theories.
JC
Coos Cues
Thanks Dave
As a side note Rolaine has low ring count shafts grades as #1s grain wise they just aren't asking as much money for them. That does kind of support both of our arguments.
Flush down Kate Brown!
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I have an old Schon I purchased last year that came with 3 shafts. There were made in the early 90s and have SCHON 13 on the black collar of each shaft. They're all three magic. My favorite shaft of the 3 is about 12.4 with a super long taper. They're all ugly with marks, and a few dings...but smooth as glass and hit the ball fantastic.
So, I don't care what the shaft looks like. I like in the 12-13mm range, nice taper, and they have to feel good (to me). Usually the super clean, "perfect" looking shafts I've seen aren't that great. Give me a nice broken in, tapered, old shaft.
Best shaft I every hit a ball with was a Tim Scruggs that belonged to Billy Stephens. He had that shaft dialed in from 20+ years of play. He left me hit a ball with it, and I was just amazed. It was phenomenal.
So, I don't care what the shaft looks like. I like in the 12-13mm range, nice taper, and they have to feel good (to me). Usually the super clean, "perfect" looking shafts I've seen aren't that great. Give me a nice broken in, tapered, old shaft.
Best shaft I every hit a ball with was a Tim Scruggs that belonged to Billy Stephens. He had that shaft dialed in from 20+ years of play. He left me hit a ball with it, and I was just amazed. It was phenomenal.
that is sad!
The "magic" cue or shaft is unique to each individual. Sad when you find it and it can't be bought. You know what can be now, the problem is finding another shaft to fill the bill!
Hu
The "magic" cue or shaft is unique to each individual. Sad when you find it and it can't be bought. You know what can be now, the problem is finding another shaft to fill the bill!
Hu
I normally read through the entire thread before posting but didn't feel like it this time. Anyways...
What are you looking for in a shaft? Sound/hit? Taper? LD properties? Color? Ring density? Etc...
Dude, you could have Dennis Searing make a shaft to your exact specs and potentially still not like it.
Shafts are kind of like gloves or jeans or shoes. You can order whatever you want. But it still might not quite fit the way you want it to.
One of the best hitting cues I've ever handled was a cheap Viking. That thing was like magic.
Don't overthink it. Try other cues when you can. But understand, if you order one it might/probably won't hit the same..
You are in the good book BOB! Love you bro.
Balls...you’re back!