purchasing a deroo cue in the uk???

[jonnylovessn8ker]

anyone know of a way to purchase deroo in uk?

very little people in this forum has commented on cues made by deroo, whats the feedback?

thx

[brother4]

Why don't u contact him by yourself.
Kevin Deroo is a nice guy.

[poolqjunkie]

From what I have gathered, most people here on the forum do not seem to fancy paying that much for a butterfly spliced cue made with CNC, when they can buy a hand made cue made in the traditional hand spliced fashion for a more reasonable price in the UK from a dozen well established names.

To put this in prespective:
A Deroo basic butterfly spliced ebony cue starts at $900 Canadian dollars.
A Mike Wooldridge butterfly spliced cue is around 180 pounds.
A regular hand spliced ebony cue with four points costs about 300 pounds or so from most well established names in the UK and they are hand spliced and hand made.

I have seen several Deroo cues, and have been to his shop several times. I personally think his quality is very consistent from cues to cues, and they all have a very stiff hit.

I did not see any hand plane in his basement. Nor have I seen any board purchased for shaft blanks (if he does make his own shaft blank that is). I have only seen shaft blanks already turned, and some laminated shafts made, and some wood blocks for splices. I am under the impression that he purchased his shaft blanks already turned.

In his very small but tidy room in his basement (which was set up as his workshop), I saw a metal lathe, a work bench/table, and a CNC lathe which I believe is what he used to do his inlays, splices, and shaft cutting/turning. In my impression, his cues are made and constructed more like an American pool cue than a UK snooker cue. Being in Canada, this is very normal. Most of the early snooker makers made their cues like the old Brunswick two piece cues.

He told me he also has another room for "baking" his finish but I did not go in there.

I am not sure if he has ever attempted to build a cue with hand plane, it seems to me, when I was visiting him, that he does almost all his work with his metal lathe and CNC equipment. He also showed me some of his earlier works, which were very unique. I wish I had taken some pictures. I actually like those cues very much, they do not look like any cues I have seen.

He has a large room with a very nice antique snooker table and some antique scoreboard and things like that. It is a very nice set up. The early cues he made were hanged on the wall rack like house cues.

I personally feel that his cues are very consistent in terms of shaft taper and joint size and so on just like most production American pool cues are because they were made with very precise computerized equipment. His shafts are laminated, and hollow at the front end. He drilled a cavity at the front end of the shaft and then covered that cavity with a small ash disk. This was done to reduce cue ball deflection.

I dont know what would happen if you order a cue and ask for say 7 evenly spaced chervons from Deroo. The shafts I saw were all laminated and there were no chervons at all--all grains were straight.

I saw some maple shafts and they are not laminated, with no cavity at the end, he told me those were his "old growth" shafts.

Personally, I prefer a hand made cue, made by hand, more classical, traditional and less "high tech" --but I can see why some players would like that type of look and feel. I believe almost all his cues are sold to Asia, with very little in Canada and may be next to none to the UK.

[BITTER]

Agree

Wooldridge Butterfly Spliced are probably the best machine spliced cue money can buy.
Better than most Hand spliced to be fair...

[poolqjunkie]

Hi Paul,
Do you make butterfly spliced cues as well?

[jonnylovessn8ker]

i so completely understand you. i get it.

there are a few reasons to why i would be so interested in getting a deroo, so hear my out.

im truly curious about the maple (so called canadian maple), how it hits. i always had a preference for harder ash. so hearing that deroo's maple is springy in the sense that it is very "reactive" got me amused. do uk's cue makers use the same maple as deroo's by any chance?

i have to admit, the silver (aluminum or steel? i have no clue) joints does look quite nice. and how do they hit??

i do not, in any way, think mike's sharks are bad at all. i have absolutely nothing against them.

[poolqjunkie]

I think you will find that everyone uses pretty much the same maple. But if you get a laminated maple shaft from Deroo it will be different, since he has drilled the front end of the shaft to reduce cue ball "deflection."

The joint is made of stainless steel, with a piloted fit. The stainless steel pin is the common type used in American pool cues, 5/16x14 threaded, and he flattens the sides of the pin for a quicker release and fit. It is a pretty well machined job if you like that type of look.

I think his cues have a very stiff hit in general. It seems that the Asian market like that type of hit.