woodyosborne, Howdy;
Why those 3? What do they or not do for your game?
Nice to see a smidgen of diversity. chucklin'
hank
Who makes the best wooden shafts?
- Thread starter TheBasics
- Start date
Why those 3? What do they or not do for your game?
Nice to see a smidgen of diversity. chucklin'
hank
To go with my woodworking hobby, I also owned a woodmizer sawmill for about 4 or 5 years. That was a real learning experience into what trees make good wood. I cut some wood for hire, some for a 50/50 split for my self, and also cut trees from my own land to sell and for myself.
One big thing that you will never notice when buying raw wood for shaft turning is whether the tree that it came from that had a lean to it. It's really easy to understand that a good cuemaker could easily reject 30%-50% of their rough turned shafts as no matter how you dried it, and how many times you rough turned it, it would still warp in time. If your wood supplier has a good relationship with the logger it really helps.
When I would sticker wood to dry on 8' leveled pallets in my shed, some of those lumber piles were 5' high or more with a whole lot of weight on those lower layers to air dry. Yet when dry, there would still be a curve to it it that tree had stresses.
It's easily seen in longer and wider pieces of rough wood, but would be somewhat difficult to spot minor stresses in in squares purchased for cueshaft turning.
I guess you just have to be willing to discard some that don't work out. It isn't just a matter of progressively turning and drying to end up with a good shaft, some wood will just be bad.
One big thing that you will never notice when buying raw wood for shaft turning is whether the tree that it came from that had a lean to it. It's really easy to understand that a good cuemaker could easily reject 30%-50% of their rough turned shafts as no matter how you dried it, and how many times you rough turned it, it would still warp in time. If your wood supplier has a good relationship with the logger it really helps.
When I would sticker wood to dry on 8' leveled pallets in my shed, some of those lumber piles were 5' high or more with a whole lot of weight on those lower layers to air dry. Yet when dry, there would still be a curve to it it that tree had stresses.
It's easily seen in longer and wider pieces of rough wood, but would be somewhat difficult to spot minor stresses in in squares purchased for cueshaft turning.
I guess you just have to be willing to discard some that don't work out. It isn't just a matter of progressively turning and drying to end up with a good shaft, some wood will just be bad.
So this means, even the original cue maker cannot duplicate the performance of his shaft unless the wood came from the same part of the tree.
... even if. Different molecules. rip a 2X2 diagonally and they would be Oh so close, yet not the same.
My original question was about who has the best rep. for consistently high quality shafts. Could be an
individual or a Manufacturer. Simple question yet, ...
chucklin'
hank
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i was able to play a lot when i got my 1st schon, a SR6. it came with a micarta ferruled shaft and a non micarta shaft, both with silver rings. i shot with those 2 shafts for the next 18 years until they were stolen. got another schon later plus new schon shafts(from joerackem) that felt like coming home after a gamut of other cues/shafts. the taper just felt right after all those years.
xX-Wizard-Xx
Well-known member
the best shaft is the one you play best with.... all other variables considered if you dont play worth a damn with it ... really what good is it?
Lot of good builders making quality wood shafts I think and it varries so much from one piece of wood to another it's hard to come up with blanket statements. If you're talking production cues and straight grain non-LD wood shafts I'd probably throw my vote to Schon as well.
I'm biased, I like Schon and that style of cue in general.
My personal favorite I've ever played with are my Runde shafts. I have 2 Runde cues from 2015 with a total of 5 shafts between them. 3 of the shafts have micarta ferrules, not sure on the other two but not micarta (I ordered 1 cue and 3 of the shafts, picked up the other with 2 shafts second hand). All the shafts are still dead straight (1 actually had a roll for a bit...but over the years it straightened itself back out).
My favorite is a 12mm micarta ferrule one I had Bob build me after my original custom order for a butt and 2 shafts when I wanted something a little thinner. That one just has an amount of deflection that seems to match my natural instincts and just always feels right. It's my main playing shaft currently.
I'm biased, I like Schon and that style of cue in general.
My personal favorite I've ever played with are my Runde shafts. I have 2 Runde cues from 2015 with a total of 5 shafts between them. 3 of the shafts have micarta ferrules, not sure on the other two but not micarta (I ordered 1 cue and 3 of the shafts, picked up the other with 2 shafts second hand). All the shafts are still dead straight (1 actually had a roll for a bit...but over the years it straightened itself back out).
My favorite is a 12mm micarta ferrule one I had Bob build me after my original custom order for a butt and 2 shafts when I wanted something a little thinner. That one just has an amount of deflection that seems to match my natural instincts and just always feels right. It's my main playing shaft currently.
No.
It has been said that Balabushka "bounced" shaft blanks to hear the sound that it made as another way to determine if the shaft was going to be a good candidate.
I used to try to buy or commission a couple cues each year, sometimes with the local guys wanting to get into cue making. I got one that really didnt play well IMO. This was strange as the shaft wood was from Southwest 2nds. ( I understand they dont do that anymore.) I sent the shaft to Rick Howard and he retapered it and maybe added a Moori tip. When I got it back, it played great.
IMO, great wood and the other materials you mentioned is only a part of the equation. It also takes a quality cue maker.
Ken
That was Harvey Martin, I believe.
Bushka had the fortune to live in NY where the NY-Canada border had the best maple lumber.
He got his quality maple for cheap.
Why not? You have excellent wood material, you have the same taper, same ferrule. What else is missing that would caused it not to play well?
try it and let us know
how does a shaft not play well tho?
Poor wood quality with a pro taper with an 11 mm tip diameter= whippy shaft, that is my definition of a shaft that does not play well, although some prefer a whippy shaft with a smaller tip.
If the same quality material was used and the same taper, ferrule, etc was used, the shaft should play the same or at least be very similar in performance. Shaft contruction is a science, if you have the same ingredients and follow the same recipe, both shaft should play the same regardless of who made it...
11mm is small, thin shaft. how would it not be whippy
how would you know if its poor wood quality in a bigger dia?
because you missed a shot?
My point is not about the quality of the wood, my point is that regardless of who made the shaft, as long as the ingredients is the same and the steps done are the same the shaft should play the same.
to answer your question, for maple dowels, it basically grain lines per inch and if the lines are straight. How it plays in a complete cue is dependent on the player, what may be a good feeling cue for you maybe be crappy for me...
fish2, Howdy;
I disagree, Shaft construction is not a science, rather a skill. Some are able to what, to others appears to be magic
when creating a shaft, others work from a recipe from Betty Crocker (turn joint to x dimension and tip to x-1
dimension, taper from base of furruel back to so far then add xyz furruel and complete with bcd tip.
IMO, the quality 'maker' judges each piece of wood on it's own merit. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. From the
tales told Buska, and perhaps Zsam, maybe they did bounce them on a concrete floor to hear a certain note or ping.
Only they can say for sure.
Yea, they should play very close to each other or they may play entirely different, Nature is a cruel mistress indeed
chuckle. Finding consistency it difficult those that can come close more often then not will be the kings of shafts.
hank
Haven't seen your name in a while. You subbed for us on a team event once in MN years ago. Thought we won the lottery. Had a 3 piece travel cue. This guy can play.