Number of Chevrons, Any geographical trends or just personal preference?

[poolqjunkie]

I never mentioned maple. Any cue with a maple shaft that I've owned, it was very difficult to see the grain of the wood.



I would have thought that the more growth rings, the older the wood/tree.



How can you tell the density of the wood by looking at it?

With maple, the closer the grains the denser the wood; with ash it is not.
The dark regions of ash are more porous than the white regions.
A tree can grow fast or slow, can spend a longer time in a warmer climate or vice versa.
When you say older wood do you mean heart wood or just wood that are older?
A piece of wood with say 8 chevrons is not more stable than a piece with 4 chevrons just because it has more chevrons was what I was trying to say.
You can determine the density of the wood by its weight. If volume is the same, the heavier wood is denser.

[fswt30]

i learn many wood things in this thread. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. I would be appreciate some one can teach us how to choose a good shaft somedays. LOL

[jonnylovessn8ker]

trying to be devil's advocate here:

cosmetics are important. im not trying to be superficial here.

i have a habit of downloading all the cue photos i can have my hands on, old and new ones. running through my photos now. all of them, interestingly, have relatively evenly spaced arrows. the even more interesting thing is that all of the cues from trevor and mike are like that.

now.... we know as a fact that trevor and mike are both very regular players. mike's website says that hes a seasoned centurian. adr147 mentions that trevors plays a lot down at a club. so they know what the players' needs are, in terms of feel especially. looking back to some threads, all of the ppl find the shafts of their TW or MW cues to be a wonderful hitter.

surely, if thats the case, then making cues with good asethetic value does add merit to its playability

i do subcribe to the whole "it depends on the weight and actually feeling the wood" idea. but my experience sometimes begs to differ. in my personal experience, i have held and encountered quite a few cues. here is my humble experience:

i have noticed that cues have no asethetics (nonstraight arrows, shafts with huge knots etc) have very whippy and soft shafts. they bend, not warp, but literally bend when adding lots of power. these cues are from prominent cue makers,not mass produced ones. oddly, those with asethic value, somehow have very solid and firm feel.

another thing is that i noticed, for ash shafts, the tighter the lines are, they seem to be more soft and whippy. the wider they are, they seem to be more stiff and heavy.

FYI, i wasnt even trying to play a game when i was experimenting. i was just testing the shaft by playing forward, stun, and backwards off the blue in the middle pocket, and playing black off the spot.

[totlxtc]

Just one thing to say on this arguement.....have a look at John Higgins cue tomorrow

[jonnylovessn8ker]

Just one thing to say on this arguement.....have a look at John Higgins cue tomorrow

to be frank, i did.
those grin pattern, in my experience, i tend to notice that the shaft to be something of a medium stiff to stiff level.

[poolqjunkie]

Just one thing to say on this arguement.....have a look at John Higgins cue tomorrow

U mean the reversed arrows pattern?

[burwatchampion]

Its not reversed he holds the cue with the arrows on the underside and looks along the uneven grain that normally gets stroked along your hand.
His cue actually has a lovely grain on it.

[Watford]

haha nonono
i meant an ash shaft with no arrows, dead straight lines only.

Deroo do a cue like this. They do laminated shafts so you get all straight lines. The shaft is cut in 1/4s (or more with other makers) and glued together so the grain matches differently. They do this with maple on 9 ball cues a lot.

Maple rules for me!!!!!

[unclevit]

Deroo do a cue like this. They do laminated shafts so you get all straight lines. The shaft is cut in 1/4s (or more with other makers) and glued together so the grain matches differently. They do this with maple on 9 ball cues a lot.

Maple rules for me!!!!!

Watford : Perhaps you can tell more between 'spring' quality of the genuine Ash shaft vs Laminated Ash, for a snooker cue. Playing quality, sort of. I have played with a laminated one. Looking very very nice on the lines/pattern, and the shaft quality is good too. But not sure if all laminated will offer the same superior qualities. Appreciate more inputs, if possible. Thanks and Happy Season

[Watford]

Sorry no idea how laminated cues play.
Only knew by chance Deroo did them; only seen them do it with ash.
Predator and people make them so I'm sure some 9 ball players on here might know

[eaoin11]

Watford : Perhaps you can tell more between 'spring' quality of the genuine Ash shaft vs Laminated Ash, for a snooker cue. Playing quality, sort of. I have played with a laminated one. Looking very very nice on the lines/pattern, and the shaft quality is good too. But not sure if all laminated will offer the same superior qualities. Appreciate more inputs, if possible. Thanks and Happy Season

Hi　Unclevit I've tried the predator 314 (2) (a pie piece laminated shaft) and black dot meucci shaft for 9 ball, I only know of De Roo using laminated shafts for snooker. I didn't like the feel of the above two for 9 ball, I much prefer a well seasoned shaft of appropriate density made from one peice. Now I think I'd take a mezz wd 700 shaft before anything made by Predator, OB or Meucci. I suspect that the latter get by with great marketing, but in Japan manufacturers have to deliver the goods or suffer a very quick demise. I should add that I'm only talking about laminated shafts made from maple for american pool. I have no idea about playing qualities of De Roo's ash laminated shafts but I feel very sceptical, I'd rather put my trust in a shaft of Uncle Thai's (or other reputable maker's) selection.

[unclevit]

Hi　Unclevit I've tried the predator 314 (2) (a pie piece laminated shaft) and black dot meucci shaft for 9 ball, I only know of De Roo using laminated shafts for snooker. I didn't like the feel of the above two for 9 ball, I much prefer a well seasoned shaft of appropriate density made from one peice. Now I think I'd take a mezz wd 700 shaft before anything made by Predator, OB or Meucci. I suspect that the latter get by with great marketing, but in Japan manufacturers have to deliver the goods or suffer a very quick demise. I should add that I'm only talking about laminated shafts made from maple for american pool. I have no idea about playing qualities of De Roo's ash laminated shafts but I feel very sceptical, I'd rather put my trust in a shaft of Uncle Thai's (or other reputable maker's) selection.

oaoin11 : Thanks for input. I have also asked a good player here, and he said the laminated shaft is quite 'harsh' when playing, perhaps it comes from the glue. Since you have to use a lot of glue to put all thin veneers together to form a larger wood before cutting into square pieces for shaft preparation. But there might be good laminated cues out there with proper making technique that will work out just fine, I don't know. Anyhow, since my current interest is on Maple, I don't have to worry about it anymore, but your input is valuable for a few customers who are ordering this laminated cues from me. Thank you for your valuable information. Happy Season

[Acrowot]

I prefer them with few chevrons. As I got older, the chevrons started to put me off the shot. -- All in the mind!

[brendan147]

I prefer them with few chevrons. As I got older, the chevrons started to put me off the shot. -- All in the mind!

Try maple shaft?

[poolqjunkie]

Actually I know a lot of players, myself included, prefer an ash shaft with less chevrons. It is still an ash shaft, (and I prefer ash to maple), just does not have lots of chevrons.