Ask around at the bars if they have any broken bar cues that you can have or give them a few bucks for. Meanwhile, go to Schmelke's website, for $28 you can buy some cheap blanks. They probably won't be real pretty, but you may get a decent one if you order a few of them. They also sell joint pins, rings, finish size shafts, bumpers, wraps, ect. Buy yourself enough of these items to do a few cues.
Now, let the blanks you bought hang for awhile while you mess around with the old bar cues, learning how to install rings, pins, ect. Then start taking passes on the blanks. These are way oversized and will take awhile to turn down to size. Some are going to have big gaps, points way off, not straight or nice looking grain, or they can possibly move and be junk. That's why I said to buy a few of them. Once close to your final size, add your rings or whatever else you want to do. For finish, you can go with Tung oil, which is the easiest you can do to start with.
This will let you mess around with building something real cheap. It will also give you an idea if you like it enough to persue it farther.
If you have any questions let me know.
