What hapens to the oopses?

hang-the-9

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Someone in my "do you make kid cues" post stated he made one from a stick that went bad. What do you guys usually do with sticks that are not 100%? Do they get sold at a discount, scrapped, put aside for further experiments, cut up for material for other ces? What % of your cues tend to have issues? Say for a 40 inlay cue, would you need to redo 2-3 quite often? I know there is lots of very fine detail in some inlays that are bound to get mangled.
 
I have done just about all the things you mentioned. Number one, if I make a mistake I look at how serious of a mistake it is. Can it be fixed? Number two, if so is it more trouble to fix than start over? Number three, if it is more trouble to fix than start over it usually gets scrapped. Here is some examples of common errors. #1 Twist a tenon off when installing a ferrule. Instead of building a new shaft you can replace tenon. #2 Cut wrap groove too deep. You can build wrap groove up with epoxy and recut. #3 Finish goes bad. Sand off and start over on finish. #4 Cut an inlay pocket too large for inlay. You might decide to come back and cut over the top of all inlay pockets with a larger inlay size and then change the inlay parts sizes to match. These are all common mistakes that can be fixed without hurting the integrity of the cue.
You have a cue with problems that can't be fixed. Example warped butt or flaws in inlay work. I only discount those cues to home players who just want something for their home pool room. I don't want those cues floating around in public. Yes you can make kids cues out of some. Or as in one case I made a highend forearm that went south into a matching jump cue for the high end cue. Seemed better than wasting all the work in that forearm. I had a problem at the base of the points so I chopped that off and put a little moose ivory on the end of it to match the handle of the other cue. Made ministure matching inlays to the full cue and laid in some rubies also. Turned out to be a very nice little jump cue. Probably one of the best I have ever seen.
 
Oopses happen to all of us. The extremety of the flaw & the stadards of the builder determine if it goes trash or sale. My trash cans(plural) stay pretty full. That's pretty common from what I see in other shops as well.
 
billiardbum said:
I have a beautiful butterfly bacote cue for sale...KIDS ONLY!!! :)
Click to expand...

I took a look at your website and found this: "This cue was made of the Purdue University President. This cue was a real challenge for Dan and I to inlay the plates in the cue before the cue was finished. This cue came out real nice, and I think it was a nice touch to add a case with the presidents name attached to it."

Now, when the president of the university was made into a cue, what did you use to tan his skin for the wrap? I would think the bigger challenge than inlaying would be getting the shin bones cut for the ferrule.
 
hang-the-9 said:
Someone in my "do you make kid cues" post stated he made one from a stick that went bad. What do you guys usually do with sticks that are not 100%? Do they get sold at a discount, scrapped, put aside for further experiments, cut up for material for other ces? What % of your cues tend to have issues? Say for a 40 inlay cue, would you need to redo 2-3 quite often? I know there is lots of very fine detail in some inlays that are bound to get mangled.
Click to expand...


FIREWOOD

No discounts, no seconds. Cut it up and start over.
 
Cut it up and start over. If you let a bad cue out even if the customer knows ahead of time its flawed, you probably going to get a bad rep for building bad cues.
 
Hmmmm...now, I acquired a cue that Brent had used to practice doing his early butterflies, and it just happened to be too thin for a normal length cue, but made a darn fine 52" for 10 year old Katie. She just adores her cue, plays just fine with it, and shows it off to everyone! :) It was destined for the trash pile, until I called to save it!! :D

Lisa
 
I burn mine or use them to practice inlays. I did make a 36" kids cue out of one, but I don't anticipate making any more kids cues.

I've let a couple out I'm not proud of anymore, but was at the time I completed them. The third cue I ever finished was built with my uncle from start to finish in two days. He doesn't play pool and was visiting me from Seattle and wanted to make himself a cue. Knowing the cue would sit in his closet forever, we threw this together. Now he's got his son in law out playing with the cue, so I have to make him a nice cue for free just so that embarrassment can get back in the closet where it belongs.
 
ridewiththewind said:
Hmmmm...now, I acquired a cue that Brent had used to practice doing his early butterflies, and it just happened to be too thin for a normal length cue, but made a darn fine 52" for 10 year old Katie. She just adores her cue, plays just fine with it, and shows it off to everyone! :) It was destined for the trash pile, until I called to save it!! :D

Lisa
Click to expand...
exactly
you got it just in time
like lisa said, it was an very early attempt at some butterflies,
and by the time i got the damn things close to being even, the cue disappeared!!!! LOL
learned a whole lot from that experience
anyways, i'm glad that little katie got it before it got tossed into the woods behind my shop
there's a FEW down there already
when the screwup cues outnumber the trees ,I'LL QUIT :eek:
 
n10spool said:
I like your idea beats mine holding up tomato plants in the front yard..

Craig
Click to expand...
Put em on Ebay and claim you are widow and that you have this cue signed George Babushka or something.
Reel them in.

Or, you can pair em up with your reject shafts, epoxy the screw to the shaft and donate them to senior homes or boys' club.
 
hang-the-9 said:
Someone in my "do you make kid cues" post stated he made one from a stick that went bad. What do you guys usually do with sticks that are not 100%? Do they get sold at a discount, scrapped, put aside for further experiments, cut up for material for other ces? What % of your cues tend to have issues? Say for a 40 inlay cue, would you need to redo 2-3 quite often? I know there is lots of very fine detail in some inlays that are bound to get mangled.
Click to expand...

I have started cutting up my mistakes, or reusing certain parts latter in a different project. But, allowing a mistake to leave your positive control will come back to haunt you later. It is not worth the trouble in the long run, or the shit storm of rumors that will result from making this mistake.
 
There is one cuemaker that uses is mistake's for fancy butt caps or cue extinsions. They look pretty sharp, hopefully they are in limited supply....


Craig
 
I have never paid so much for firewood until I started making cues. It won't make the fire any warmer. But it will bring a tear to my eyes every time.
 
Thats why it is better to think twice , cut once. If anybody can save the mistake on a job, it is usually the person that made it.
In cuemaking sometimes oppses occur out of your control. It could be a flaw in the material that is only uncovered after cutting. Then it is start over again time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top