Chilseled butts for Maple cues???

[wayync]

Been seeing a lot of top cue makers making their maple cues with chiseled butts nowadays

I understand this style for ash cues since the flat part of the butt facing up means the chevrons are facing up as well...

But isn't one of the advantages of using maple cues is having a round butt so you can hit with any side not just the flat part up??

[hotpot]

The flat edge butt is normal design for ash and maple cues , Their only round if you request them that way .

[eaoin11]

It's handy for attaching a name plate or badge, and helps players to hold the cue exactly the same way each time if they want to. For this purpose it's more helpful on a maple cue because the grain is less visible.

[crispian jones]

i think the flat is on a cue wether ash or maple as it was traditionally the flat of the cue that was on the table ?
way before someone put a piece of leather on the other end !
so im told anyways.

[wayync]

It's handy for attaching a name plate or badge, and helps players to hold the cue exactly the same way each time if they want to. For this purpose it's more helpful on a maple cue because the grain is less visible.

But having no grain on maple is the reason why you should have a round butt so you don't have to always hold it the same way on each shot.

When i used an ash cue and held the flat part up, the top of my tip is significantly pounded in more because of deep screw shots.

Using a round butt maple keeps the tip looking perfect

[hotpot]

But having no grain on maple is the reason why you should have a round butt so you don't have to always hold it the same way on each shot.

When i used an ash cue and held the flat part up, the top of my tip is significantly pounded in more because of deep screw shots.

Using a round butt maple keeps the tip looking perfect

I can see where youcoming from but a lot of people like the feel of a flat butt and dont like the feeling of a round one ..
If that makes sense .

[jim evans]

flat butt

your right crispen the flat end was used to hit the ball pre1900

[eaoin11]

But having no grain on maple is the reason why you should have a round butt so you don't have to always hold it the same way on each shot.

When i used an ash cue and held the flat part up, the top of my tip is significantly pounded in more because of deep screw shots.

Using a round butt maple keeps the tip looking perfect

Ok I see what you mean there. But if the maple cue isn't perfectly straight that could be one reason for holding it the same way. And - I'm just playing devil's advocate here, not to be annoying - but could it be argued that it's safer to play screw shots etc the same way with softer snooker tips, because turning your tip after one powerful screw shot (that changes the shape slightly) might cause it to throw to one side or another on the next shot?

[crispian jones]

so why do they still design snooker cues that way? it's not like someone is going to start hitting balls with the butt again...

just like length, weight, tip size, butt diamiter ect it is just an option !
i play with a maple cue now but still feel where the flat is before i play my shot ?

as standard if it was not requested when ordering a cue im sure you would get the flat, surely it is a lot easier to badge ( i would think) ?

[Terry Davidson]

Way back in the 1700's the flat of the butt was used when the game of croquet was brought indoors by the nobility and from that the game of billiards developed in the early 1800's and we went on to use the pointy end where is was discovered by some half-drunk gambling idiot that if he drove his cue into a plaster wall his tip was able to grip the cueball better on the next shot and so came the development of chalk on the leather tip.

So originally the flat of the butt (called champhor I think, but no doubt I'll be corrected) was originally tradition however now it denotes (in a properly made cue) that the grain of the wood will be sideways with the chevrons up if the champhor is up.

wayync, actually the maple does have a grain but it is a lot less pronounced than ash of course and now the idea of the champhor is so you hold the cue in one position for every shot.

If you don't like the flat of the butt then you can easily order a round butt from any cuemaker.

Terry

[old school]

What about if the timber used for the shaft has a "spine" i.e. the flex is different on opposite sides of the shaft.Timber being a natural product sometimes flexes differently in opposite planes.I would have thought this was more relevant to ash shafted cues,because of greater differences in grain pattern,but Maple can vary as well.What about laminated and low deflection shafts,will they not have different "hits" to other shaft types ? The flat,chamfer call it what you want may not actually be in the correct place,in alignement with the grain to give the required consistency of hit.Perhaps some of the resident cue makers can throw (pardon the pun Mike,nice to see you back by the way) some light on this subject?

[franksandellsnooker]

The flattened section of an English or Continental billiard cue is traditional in the design and is a throwback to the original billiards mace which was first derived in the 15th.c from a form of croquet (Paille Maille) played outside in the court of Louis X1 th. Many of todays billiard games derive from his request for "a board of greencloth" to be provided indoors so that a form of the game could be played in inclement weather. The mace was used with the thick end to push the ball and also shaped in such a way as the balls could be swept. The Ladies of the court would not be able to excite the courtiers and the king as they bent over the table:snooker: It was still possible to buy a mace in the UK in the late 19th/early20th.c. cues of this period were often half shooed in leather at the butt for similar reasons. This historical detail may be difficult for our Canadien friends to understand but as has already been said regardless of the shaft materiel used you dont have to have a mace (or a chiseled) section flat on the cue. Historical details of our great games are available all over the www. but a very fine site is English Billiards.org

[eaoin11]

Way back in the 1700's the flat of the butt was used when the game of croquet was brought indoors by the nobility and from that the game of billiards developed in the early 1800's and we went on to use the pointy end where is was discovered by some half-drunk gambling idiot that if he drove his cue into a plaster wall his tip was able to grip the cueball better on the next shot and so came the development of chalk on the leather tip.

So originally the flat of the butt (called champhor I think, but no doubt I'll be corrected) was originally tradition however now it denotes (in a properly made cue) that the grain of the wood will be sideways with the chevrons up if the champhor is up.

wayync, actually the maple does have a grain but it is a lot less pronounced than ash of course and now the idea of the champhor is so you hold the cue in one position for every shot.

If you don't like the flat of the butt then you can easily order a round butt from any cuemaker.

Terry

So Terry, what do you think are the main benefits of holding the cue the same way?

[Acrowot]

The chamfer is so do not damage your opponents head as much as you would with the round part. Prob solved.
:snooker:

[crispian jones]

do you have a flat in the butt of your cue wayne ?