Who makes a low deflection shaft that isn't laminated?

jondrums

jondrums

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Predator, OB1, Annie O, Meucci, Tiger, ect all want you to think that laminating a shaft from lots of pieces makes it low deflection. I know better. Laminating a shaft just allows better consistency while using lower quality materials. The low deflection part comes from exactly what is happening in the last 6 inches of shaft (314 is hollow, OB1 is stuffed with foam, ect). Find more here <edit> that link is bunk, this is actual patent for predator 314/Z2<edit

So who makes a low deflection shaft out of a single piece of quality shaftwood?

Jon
 
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I'm not sure anyone makes one. The lamination is partly for radial consistancy, and partly to give the shaft enough strength to hold the hollow section together.
 
Schuler has a low deflection shaft that is solid maple I believe, 1/4" ferrule on it, or there abouts.
 
ron benedict has a low deflection solid shaft. he told me how he achieved that but i dunno if i'm supposed to say anything about it so i'll just keep my mouth shut. but i've tried it and it has low deflection like a predator but is still a full solid wood shaft.
 
jondrums said:
Predator, OB1, Annie O, Meucci, Tiger, ect all want you to think that laminating a shaft from lots of pieces makes it low deflection. I know better. Laminating a shaft just allows better consistency while using lower quality materials. The low deflection part comes from exactly what is happening in the last 6 inches of shaft (314 is hollow, OB1 is stuffed with foam, ect). Find more here

So who makes a low deflection shaft out of a single piece of quality shaftwood?

Jon
Click to expand...

I'm afraid I don't know much about pool cues, but my Dieckman carom cue has solid maple shafts and the pivot point is around 40 inches.

Mark
 
I have a very nice Joe Callaluca cue with low deflection shafts .
He uses a shorter ferrule and installs it something like tiger x shafts.

IMO they are awesome shafts with low deflection and moves the cueball with ease .
 
Low Deflection

Bob Owen of Shurtz Cues does, and he makes a 314-1 and 314-2 version.

1-316-269-3844
 
That patent is interesting. Thanks for the link. It looks like they use a carbon fiber core shell to support the shaft on the inside. Kinda like the reverse of Cuetec.
 
jondrums said:
Predator, OB1, Annie O, Meucci, Tiger, ect all want you to think that laminating a shaft from lots of pieces makes it low deflection. I know better. Laminating a shaft just allows better consistency while using lower quality materials. The low deflection part comes from exactly what is happening in the last 6 inches of shaft (314 is hollow, OB1 is stuffed with foam, ect). Find more here

So who makes a low deflection shaft out of a single piece of quality shaftwood?

Jon
Click to expand...

Ed Young (Chicago partner of Dave Kersenbrock) made mine to my specifications: 1-piece maple, 10mm diameter tip, 1/4" ferrule, hollow first 6-8", straight (conical) taper from tip to joint.

It hits stiff with extremely low squirt (lower than OB-1 or Predator). Cost $150 a few years ago.

pj
chgo
 
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I feel ya, I've tried laminated shafts and just cant get into them. The Meucci black-dot is junk. The only time I pull it out of my bag is for my friend or for me to use the black dot to get my sight back after some bad rounds of pool. Of course I might would have a different opinion as I HATE LePro tips that Meucci uses as well. I'm glad I'm going back to solid maple once my custom gets here.
 
KF Cues makes one

KF cues makes the Vigor shaft that is non-laminated and has great feedback and low deflection. I've been playing with one for a while and have another on the way. From my experience it has slightly more deflection than the OB-1 but a more solid hit. The shaft comes with a laminated Husar tip that performs well. You'll be hearing more about them soon. If you've seen Ga Young Kim playing this year she is using one.

Steve
 
Dennis Searing makes a pretty stiff shaft with no deflections. A few years ago I was at Valley Forge and Bob Mucci was there with his robotic arm testing everyone's shafts against his black / red dot saying his has the least amount of deflection. When I handed him a Searing shaft - he gave back and say no thanks.

The new Murrell cue I got is pretty stiff as well
 
Once upon a time the Bunjee Jump Breaker was put on Bob's Myth Destroyer robot and it outperformed a number of name brand cues and shafts. Bob thought that this was an interesting result. I had no real clue how and what was being tested at the time so I didn't pay much attention to it.

It is correct that simply laminating wood together does not neccesarily produce a "low deflection" shaft. However different techniques certainly produce radially consistent shafts with varying degrees of deflection that could be as low, lower, or higher than Predator's offerings.

For example, we are experimenting with shafts that are cored with various materials. Some of them deflect horribly while others are very low deflection. I currently have around 30 shafts that have been constructed with pie laminations, flat laminations, no laminations, cored with phenolic, cored with carbon fiber, cored with foam, cored with balsa, cored with penaut butter.... to the point that I don't care anymore. It's nuts to be honest.

I agree with Allan McCarty and Steve Titus that a consistently performing shaft is the holy grail of pool equipment. How to get there however is a long road that began long before Predator was entry into Jim Lucas's checkbook.

Now there are many who are experimenting along the lines that McCarty and Titus started. What ulitmately will be THE SHAFT is as yet undiscovered. As long as the Predator marketing machine rolls along though there will be many who will take a crack at it.
 
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