Would building this cue be possible?

rburgoyne

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I designed a cue for a friend of mine and it is rather unique that the ring work and segments of the cue are not at the standard intervals. A local cue maker explained to us how the butt is normally two pieces joined right above the handle. He said he had never built a cue like I designed and wouldn't feel confident he could do it.

So here is a drawing I made of the cue and info and specs about it. Just wondering if this cue is possible to make somehow or if its a bad design.

The cue would be curly maple with leopardwood reverse points. Brown phenolic joint, butt, and the outside of the rings. The rings would have leopardwood with blue turquoise in the center. He wants the cue to be 60" (30/30) and weigh around 19-19.5 oz.

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Segmented handle cue. I'm sure several makers will chime in to say they can do it.

Nice design. :smile:
 
I purchased my first cue lathe a little over a year ago, and I already know how to do that. I'm already doing operations similar to that, but with a different outward appearance.
 
I'm doing a 3 piece segmented amboyna handle now. Your design should not be a problem to have built.

Alan
 
If I'm not misreading the question, the issue might be that, if the drawing is to correct dimensions, the normal segmented "handle" section is not to standard specifications as the segment extends into the area of the "forearm"...it's beyond what is considered the "normal" area of the cue...and the forearm appears to be shorter than "normal"...
 
I think you are correct Jason. Although I am not a cue maker, it seems to me that it shouldn't be a problem anyway. It's still essentially just a segmented handle cue. Built on a single core or as a short splice with a cored handle, the shorter forearm would seem to be a mere formality. At least that's the way it would seem if I understand the construction correctly.

I like the design. The alteration in proportions gives it an interesting look.
 
If I'm not misreading the question, the issue might be that, if the drawing is to correct dimensions, the normal segmented "handle" section is not to standard specifications as the segment extends into the area of the "forearm"...it's beyond what is considered the "normal" area of the cue...and the forearm appears to be shorter than "normal"...

You are correct, the cue is drawn to the correct dimension with a larger segmented handle and a shorter forearm area. I love the segmented handle look and was thinking outside the box when I designed this one. I have never seen one like this style, and my friend liked the idea too, so we are trying to see if someone can make it for him.
 
It looks to me to be a very easy to build cue. The hardest part, to me, would be having a piece of good looking curly maple 30" long so that each segment would match the one next to it that is properly aged.

Dick
 
I think you are correct Jason. Although I am not a cue maker, it seems to me that it shouldn't be a problem anyway. It's still essentially just a segmented handle cue. Built on a single core or as a short splice with a cored handle, the shorter forearm would seem to be a mere formality. At least that's the way it would seem if I understand the construction correctly.

I like the design. The alteration in proportions gives it an interesting look.

Oops...forgot about a "cored" cue possibility...now I can see it being an easier build than what I was thinking...or not thinking as the case seems!

To the OP: I like the fact you were thinking "outside the box"!!! ;)

Jason
 
To the OP: I like the fact you were thinking "outside the box"!!! ;)

Jason

Thank you. My wife has a segmented handled cue that I just love, and I thought why not make one with a bigger handled area, with rings in between.
 
Have you contacted anyone else to make it for you? Just wondering because I have designed a reverse point cue and have talked to 2 makers that were interested until I sent the specs.
 
Are you wanting those reversed points to be full spliced back into the forearm? Or is this a full splice going forward into the forearm? The reason I ask is that the points are sharp in each direction. Either way there will only be a handfull of cuemakers who can build your cue. Now if the points could touch that ring at the end of the handle section hundreds of cuemakers could build your design. Nothing hard about it then that a normal shop would not already be set up to do. You could price shop having it built if you changed that one feature. But as it is now drawn it will be expensive, as those who can do what you have drawn will most likely not be the lower end cuemakers.
 
Are you wanting those reversed points to be full spliced back into the forearm? Or is this a full splice going forward into the forearm? The reason I ask is that the points are sharp in each direction. Either way there will only be a handfull of cuemakers who can build your cue. Now if the points could touch that ring at the end of the handle section hundreds of cuemakers could build your design. Nothing hard about it then that a normal shop would not already be set up to do. You could price shop having it built if you changed that one feature. But as it is now drawn it will be expensive, as those who can do what you have drawn will most likely not be the lower end cuemakers.

Chris, the original idea was to have the points reversed of how they normally are, so I would not want them to touch the top part of the handle. Now I am not a cue maker and don't know much about making them, but wouldn't making a reverse point cue be as simple as making a normal cue with points? I would think it would use the same process but just basically turn the forearm in the opposite direction.
 
This can be done with the maple coming to a point near the forearm as shown. Pm sent.
 
Chris, the original idea was to have the points reversed of how they normally are, so I would not want them to touch the top part of the handle. Now I am not a cue maker and don't know much about making them, but wouldn't making a reverse point cue be as simple as making a normal cue with points? I would think it would use the same process but just basically turn the forearm in the opposite direction.
You have the points going sharp back up toward the joint also. Do the points have to touch up there also. If so most will not build it. If not most of the shops should be able to build it.
 
You have the points going sharp back up toward the joint also. Do the points have to touch up there also. If so most will not build it. If not most of the shops should be able to build it.

Chris, no the points don't have to touch up at the joint, but fairly close would be nice. I appreciate your feedback on this.
 
Chris, no the points don't have to touch up at the joint, but fairly close would be nice. I appreciate your feedback on this.
I think you could get a lot of shops to build it if you modify your drawing to show them close, but not touching up near the joint.
 
Final Results

Well, my friends cue has been built, delivered, and plays awesome! Thank you to Larry for introducing me to John Nemec who made the cue for him. My only regret is that the pictures came out real crappy. This cue looks so much better than I am able to show in these pictures. My friend has had it about a month now and I haven't had a good chance to "borrow it" just for pictures. :grin:

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