Woods that make Great Hitting Cues, or is it the Cuemakers ABILITY....

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Bruce S. de Lis

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Anyone feel, or know for sure that any Particular HARD Woods that are better than others for making Cues that have a BETTER HIT. I personally seem to have a love for Cocobolo as it seem to play will, and sure can be pretty.

Or is it the Ability of a Cuemaker that can just about Turn ANY HARD WOOD into a GREAT Hitting Cue with their SKILL.... ;)
 
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Bruce S. de Lis said:
Anyone feel, or know for sure that any Particular HARD Woods that are better than others for making Cues that have a BETTER HIT. I personally seem to have a love for Cocobolo as it seem to play will, and sure can be pretty.

Or is it the Ability of a Cuemaker that can just about Turn ANY HARD WOOD into a GREAT Hitting Cue with their SKILL.... ;)
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Well this is kind of a loaded question. In the first place, "HIT" is such a subjective term that it can't be quantified. What feels great to one person may feel like shit to another! The woods can certainly dictate how a cue will hit, given that the cue is well constructed to begin with, but whether it's the "HIT" that you may like is something that's a personal thing. The cuemakers ability also comes into play with each and every cue. Or at least his attention to detail. Most cuemakers in this day and age have the necessary knowledge to build a solid cue. Or at least have access to it! The techniques are available in print and in forums such as this. There are also a lot more people willing to share information now than even 10 years ago. When I started working on cues 25 or 30 years ago, it was tough to get ANY information!

Joe Blackburn and I go back many years. I asked him about 20 years ago why he didn't make cues instead of just doing repairs. It's just sort of a natural progression, I thought. He told me "Sherm, look around! Everyone who can draw his ball and took woodshop in high school is trying to make cues now! Why butt heads with all of them? I'll take the repair work from all those cues these guys are making and I think I'll be ahead of the game!" Joe has done well doing repairs and I hope he's recovering from that hit he took in Vegas last year!


just more hot air!

Sherm
 
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cuesmith said:
Well this is kind of a loaded question. In the first place, "HIT" is such a subjective term that it can't be quantified. What feels great to one person may feel like shit to another! The woods can certainly dictate how a cue will hit, given that the cue is well constructed to begin with, but whether it's the "HIT" that you may like is something that's a personal thing. The cuemakers ability also comes into play with each and every cue. Or at least his attention to detail. Most cuemakers in this day and age have the necessary knowledge to build a solid cue. The techniques are available in print and in forums such as this. There are also a lot more people willing to share information now than even 10 years ago. When I started working on cues 25 or 30 years ago, it was tough to get ANY information!

Joe Blackburn and I go back many years. I asked him about 20 years ago why he didn't make cues instead of just doing repairs. It's just sort of a natural progression, I thought. He told me "Sherm, look around! Everyone who can draw his ball and took woodshop in high school is trying to make cues now! Why butt heads with all of them? I'll take the repair work from all those cues these guys are making and I think I'll be ahead of the game!" Joe has done well doing repairs and I hope he's recovering from that hit he took in Vegas last year!


just more hot air!

Sherm
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Oops, I left out that I do have some personal favorites in the "HIT" department.

1) Bocote
2) East Indian Rosewood
3) Cocobolo
4) Osage Orange

There are others but these are the ones that leap to mind!


just more hot air!

Sherm
 
sherm knows his woods,,,,,,,,,,,,bocote has a super hit for a one wood cue, but I prefer a cue with points, so I get what Barry builds,,,,,,,,,,maple forearm and ebony points,,,,,,,it plays very well

on the other hand Ive got a 10 point tiger maple / bocote points break / jump cue being built by Dom,,,,,,,,Ill post pics and give an opinion on the cue when it is finished
 
cuesmith said:
Well this is kind of a loaded question. In the first place, "HIT" is such a subjective term that it can't be quantified. What feels great to one person may feel like shit to another! The woods can certainly dictate how a cue will hit, given that the cue is well constructed to begin with, but whether it's the "HIT" that you may like is something that's a personal thing. The cuemakers ability also comes into play with each and every cue. Or at least his attention to detail. Most cuemakers in this day and age have the necessary knowledge to build a solid cue. Or at least have access to it!

Sherm
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Think you Hit the Nail on the Head with your Hit Description. Hit is like saying tell me the BEST Chinese Restaurant to a Connoisseur of Chinese Food.

Each of us has his, or her own TASTE. Best Chinese Restaurant to me is a Little Hole in the Wall in North Beach CA outside of North China Town.

Two someone from Fargo North Dakota, who has never been outside of Fargo it is the Favorite joint in Fargo.

Both of us are 110% correct in our choices, but I think I have eaten Chinese in 50 States & 200-250 Plus Cities... ;)
 
My favorites:

Bocote
Rosewood
Cocobolo
Maple

but I would gladly take one of bill's Barry's :D
 
Bruce S. de Lis said:
Think you Hit the Nail on the Head with your Hit Description. Hit is like saying tell me the BEST Chinese Restaurant to a Connoisseur of Chinese Food.

Each of us has his, or her own TASTE. Best Chinese Restaurant to me is a Little Hole in the Wall in North Beach CA outside of North China Town.

Two someone from Fargo North Dakota, who has never been outside of Fargo it is the Favorite joint in Fargo.

Both of us are 110% correct in our choices, but I think I have eaten Chinese in 50 States & 200-250 Plus Cities... ;)
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Maybe you'd like a cue made from a whole bunch of laminated Bonzai trees.
 
Hard Woods

cuesmith said:
Oops, I left out that I do have some personal favorites in the "HIT" department.

1) Bocote
2) East Indian Rosewood
3) Cocobolo
4) Osage Orange

There are others but these are the ones that leap to mind!


just more hot air!

Sherm
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I once cut down an osage orange tree and it threw sparks on my chain saw. How about purple heart? Or harder yet the trre grown in the Brazilian forest known as green heart?

Cross Side Larry
 
CrossSideLarry said:
I once cut down an osage orange tree and it threw sparks on my chain saw. How about purple heart? Or harder yet the trre grown in the Brazilian forest known as green heart?

Cross Side Larry
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Purplehearts are great for cues.
So are bocote, bubinga and other rosewood variety.
 
drivermaker said:
Maybe you'd like a cue made from a whole bunch of laminated Bonzai trees.
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Bonzai trees are Japaneese and too small to make Q's from..... :D
 
it is the cue maker,not the wood................he selects the wood to go into the cue

there was a guy last night selling cues down at the pool hall. all were nice..............rick howard, joss, schoen, black, barber and 5-6 others in the 500-1000 range. they all had a different hit

when all was said and done,,,,no buy,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,i let him hit a couple of balls with my Barry,,,,,,,,,he looked over at me and asked,,,,,,,,,,,,,how much

my reply was ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,its not for sale

yeah,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,its the cue maker
 
My favorite hit is one of the most generic combinations, straight grained maple into ebony points. With or without veneers, stainless steel joint, irish linen wrap and Ivory ferrules.

That said, I have played with that exact combination with many, many cues and some cuemakers just make it so much better than others. Not sure what they do different but my observations lead me to say that it is most certainly the cue makers ability that leads to a good hitting cue. My experience has also been that great cuemakers have only a few types of woods they would recommend for a players cue. Sure, they will all design fancy cues out of burl, snakewood even nearly all ivory (a terrible hitting cue ive been told) but ask them to build you a great hitting cue first and foremost and maple , rosewood and ebony are often the first choices.
 
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uwate said:
Sure, they will all design fancy cues out of burl, snakewood even nearly all ivory (a terrible hitting cue ive been told) but ask them to build you a great hitting cue first and foremost and maple , rosewood and ebony are often the first choices.
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You are dead on here.
I asked Dennis Searing to tell me what he would use for a players cue when deciding on mine. Straight grain or birdseye maple with ebony points(no veneers) and an ebony hoppe style buttsleeve.
Of course I'm sucker for nice colors so I'm going with 4 veneers but I took the rest of his recommendations for sure.

Koop
 
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