What is the Best Cue Wood?

Pangit

Pangit

Banned
Meaning, if you don't care about what the cue looks like....just all the stuff that matters. Tip to butt bumper. Snooker players are fond of ash, pool players are fond of Maple? A cue made entirely out of straight grain maple, unmolested, no "inlay", might play nice? It wouldn't win any beauty contest. Same could be said for Ash.
Many regards,
Pangit
 
Straight solid maple would be too light without adding 3-4 ounces of weight somewhere. I love the way bocote, cocobola and purple heart play
 
+1 on bacote, although I've only ever hit with maple or ash shafts.
it would be really interesting to see a bacote cue shaft....
 
Hickory is the toughest native "common" wood in North America

I'm dying to find out how Hickory plays. There's a reason why drumsticks, baseball bats (in the days of old, before it was determined Hickory is too heavy), axe and sledgehammer handles, and other striking implement uses are made from Hickory.

When the new year rolls around, I'm going to hire a cue guy to make a Hickory shaft for me.

-Sean
 
sfleinen said:
I'm dying to find out how Hickory plays. There's a reason why drumsticks, baseball bats (in the days of old, before it was determined Hickory is too heavy), axe and sledgehammer handles, and other striking implement uses are made from Hickory.

When the new year rolls around, I'm going to hire a cue guy to make a Hickory shaft for me.

-Sean
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One (or more) of the production cue giants (Viking, McDermott) had a line model made from American Hickory.

No discernible difference (from their other cues) as far as I could tell, but then again I like Oak for a cue.


Freddie <~~~ wants a cue made of Chestnut
 
I recently asked the cuemaker's forum which maple in a cue's nose hit better...straight grain, curly, or bird's eye. Apparently, according to the experts, there is no difference.
 
Best what ? Best Overall maybe be something like...

Straight grain Maple, Ash, Purple heart , that kind of thing.

Nothing figured.
 
sfleinen said:
I'm dying to find out how Hickory plays. There's a reason why drumsticks, baseball bats (in the days of old, before it was determined Hickory is too heavy), axe and sledgehammer handles, and other striking implement uses are made from Hickory.

When the new year rolls around, I'm going to hire a cue guy to make a Hickory shaft for me.

-Sean
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Not sure any of those reasons will have anything in common with pool as the impact to the wood in those examples are 180* off from that in billiards.
 
If you would have asked the late great Jerry Franklin from South West Cues, before he passed away, he would have answered, Pau Ferro is the best hitting wood known to man!!!!!!!1
 
RRfireblade said:
Not sure any of those reasons will have anything in common with pool as the impact to the wood in those examples are 180* off from that in billiards.
While the minimum number of cues one should own is three, the correct number is n+1, where n is the number of cues currently owned.

This equation may also be re-written as s-1, where s is the number of cues owned that would result in separation from your partner.
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Or S+1 depending on prespective!!
 
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Ebony

My ebony cues seem to hit harder, ebony with ivory joint fairly comparable to maple with steel joint....

I'd like to hit with an ebony nose cue with steel joint...that thing would be amazing I'm sure :-)
 
GoBilliards said:
If you would have asked the late great Jerry Franklin from South West Cues, before he passed away, he would have answered, Pau Ferro is the best hitting wood known to man!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I read that JF preferred goncalo alves. Does anyone know the definitive answer?

The best hitting cue I owned (yes, past tense) was a kingwood Capone merry widow. My understanding is that he cored his cues with maple or purpleheart. If so, it might just be that it was the core. At that time (about 10 years ago) I also bought a bacote Capone. It did not have near the feel the kingwood cue had, so I sold it. I had a long break from the game. The kingwood cue had lost it's magic when I came back. I had some issues with carpel tunnel syndrome, so it very well could have been me and not the cue. Regardless, I let the cue go in a trade. I do feel some differences between cues, but I am skeptical when people talk about the subtle differences they feel. These days I am more prone to believe the magic is mostly in the shaft/ferrule/tip combination. I judge a cue more by how it moves the cueball than by how it feels to me.

Generally speaking, people seem to like woods from the rosewood family. Some people swear by ebony or purpleheart or maple. It's all preference and perception.
 
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