Questions for cue makers???

[JC_snooker_37]

What basic tools does one need as a minimum to make a cue?

I've got a rubbish table saw. Little bandsaw. Selection of planes. I was going to try and make one from scrap wood first.

My previous experiments in splices.



I want to make a maple cue with sharp darts.

And ideas input would be interesting.

Also it seems hard to find timber locally.
I emailed a few places before the pandemic. They didn't sound keen to allow to look at their stock and select nice pieces of ash.

Cheers.

[JC_snooker_37]

Oh I realise that joints and extensions is unrealistic for a first try.... 🙂

[vmax]

My first cue was made with a plane, a stanley knife and some clamps (essential). For sharp points on the splices, ie: looking like a machine spliced cue, you need to splice the butt onto a square shaft before shaping with a plane. This means that it's almost impossible to get them even as you plane off wood from one side slightly more than another in order to keep the shaft straight, but so what.
You can buy maple and ash dowells on ebay, go for 32mm ones, also bench slats, but these tend to be too short for a one piece, and you can buy offcuts of dark hardwood from ebay, black walnut, iroko, wenge etc.
For a small outlay you'll have enough for a first try, and no I won't supply a link, just type what you need into ebay's search box.

[fkhan]

As vmax said and these from China might help.

https://www.woodscues.com/search?q=ebony%20splices
https://www.woodscues.com/search?q=ash%20blank

[JC_snooker_37]

Thanks for the replies. There seems to be plenty of options for nice timber around. But for some reason it's seems hard to get maple timber. (Without it being cheaper to just buy a nice cue)
I was originally looking for a maybe 32mm par. Around 4' to do a 3/4 joint attempt.

[fkhan]

The same website has maple blanks too. Not sure if it fits your budget/criteria though.

https://www.woodscues.com/products/5...nt=10319952391

[Daniel Marc Brooks]

What basic tools does one need as a minimum to make a cue?

I've got a rubbish table saw. Little bandsaw. Selection of planes. I was going to try and make one from scrap wood first.

My previous experiments in splices.



I want to make a maple cue with sharp darts.

And ideas input would be interesting.

Also it seems hard to find timber locally.
I emailed a few places before the pandemic. They didn't sound keen to allow to look at their stock and select nice pieces of ash.

Cheers.

Hi, I recently tried making a snooker cue using just hand tools. If you have worked with ash before and are comfortable with it,
then feel free to ignore my advice, but I had a great deal of difficulty planing ash and failed three times before switching to maple
and giving it another go. I found it much easier to plane and at least complete the cue. So I think it might be a good thing that you
are trying to make your first cue with maple. Good luck man. Hope it goes well

Dan.