Machine Spliced Or Hand Spliced???

[cazmac1]

I brought a machine spliced peardon edwardian cue last friday, as I messed up my JP, I entred the Kent County Pro am and got through to the second round of the comp with only a few hours practice with the cue. I am potting balls off the lamp shade at the moment and had two fifty + breaks with it last night.
The point being, that yes a machine spliced cue can be and can play as good as a hand made cue.
Missing My JP though, costing a few bob to put it right " two weeks to get it back.:snooker:

[chopper]

anyone saying you can't get a good machine spliced cue has never played with mine
Best cue I've ever used


But I do agree in general that makers tend to save their best wood for hand spliced cues. But you don't hear many people complain about Mike Wooldridge Sharks though do you.

Wooldridge Sharks are hand spliced as far as I know

[cazmac1]

I think your right when you say that cue makers save the best wood for the top end hand made cues. But If a cue is been mass produced in a factory somewhere in China, No one will be looking at the wood at all. It will be bought in bulk and the only selection process will be picking it off the shelf.
It is this radom element that can give you a cracking machine made cue and also a right stinker. :snooker:

[RGCirencester]

Wooldridge Sharks are hand spliced as far as I know

no they are butterfly spliced.
similar to machine spliced with 2 round points.

[chopper]

no they are butterfly spliced.
similar to machine spliced with 2 round points.

I know the pattern is butterfly spliced, but is it created by machine or hand? Black Sharks are hand made.

[BoBnoGG!n]

i think thats because, they are machine cut, BUT Mike Wooldridge finishes them off by hand. he does them how he would a hand made cue. its the only way to get both sides the exact same splice length. thats why on machined cues, you see uneven machine splices. because machining the shaft doesnt take into account making the splices the same length, while mike planes his shaft down with his hands.

[chopper]

Looking at mikes website it's a bit of a hybrid.

"•It is easier to make than a 'full' hand spliced cue, so can be priced accordingly."

[BoBnoGG!n]

thats the difference. its not hand spliced, it is hand made however. there is a diference.

see a lot of chinese cues are being "hand spliced" when its really machine made. just the splices are made the same way you would when you hand splice it. but the cue is turned in a lathe, not hand planed. so its still a machine made cue and the splices arent even, and can be horribly ugly at times.

[gary soo]

If you like 12 year old shafts, then get a Coutts one piece with a 12 year old shaft. I just got mine and it plays like an older cue but with the modern look ie butt end joint etc. Dave got a few shafts left....

[RGCirencester]

I know the pattern is butterfly spliced, but is it created by machine or hand? Black Sharks are hand made.

As stated a few posts above there is a difference between hand made and hand spliced.
There is also no reason a lathe cannot be used to make a handmade cue.
Just because you don't use manual tools doesn't mean its not handmade.

[chopper]

As stated a few posts above there is a difference between hand made and hand spliced.
There is also no reason a lathe cannot be used to make a handmade cue.
Just because you don't use manual tools doesn't mean its not handmade.

I would of thought if you made a cue and don't use manual tools then it does mean its not hand made.

Bobs explanation of it being planed and finished by hand would justify it being called handmade.