Types of wood used for shafts?

M

mincho

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was just thinking how cool it would be if a butt and a shaft were both entirely out of thuya burl, for example.

This may be dumb, but it got me thinking: Why don't they use more types of wood for the shaft (especially playing cues as opposed to designated break cues)? I assume it's because of the weight.

I know purple heart is used for break cues. How is shooting with a purple heart shaft, in general? What are your experiences playing with shafts made "non-conventional" woods?
 
I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that maple was used because of it's durability and because it doesn't warp as easily as a lot of wood.
 
Brent (BHQ) makes the odd shaft from Lyptus. You would have to ask Brent about its qualities as I am not 100% on it and it would be speculating.

A friend made a cue and shaft from Wenge. He bought a pile of it so I guess he might have gotten carried away experimenting. He eventually started making the handles and shafts for jump cues from it and they have become quite popular with some of the players around our area. They also got decent reviews from a few players last year in Vegas.

I have a dozen purple heart shafts that I have been turning for a while.
One is going to be put on a PH sneaky blank that I bought. Mostly to see how they look together more than anything else. Probably end up being
on the heavier side. It will make a good break cue or maybe a spare shaft
if someone wants a breaker/player combo with a regular maple shaft.
 
Snooker cues have shafts made from ash.
Burls are too unstable to use for shaft wood, it has no straight grains and will likely crack. Stabilized burl may be too heavy with its acrylic content
 
If you don't like maple, you could always try a CueTec.

When I was 18, the cues that I bought from the sporting goods store had ramin wood shafts, and screw-on tips. The higher end cues in the catalogs had maple shafts, just like the bar cues and poolroom cues.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top