Mike Wooldridge - *NEW* 'BlackSpin' Ferrule System

[jrc750]

What I mean't was, if you were to place a Legend next to plain Shark how would a layman tell the difference ?

Well a shark has only 2 butterfly splices, whereas the legend has proper 4 splices, if your a "layman" i doubt you would be spending £450 on a legend cue tho, you would be doing your homework first

[narl]

Mike just shot you a mail for a slight amendment to my order, would prefer to keep the tipsize and taper of the shaft the same as to what it is now instead of bringing it in to 9.5. :snooker:

[jrc750]

I ordered mine yesterday :-)))))

Tried to answer your pm mate, but your box is full !!!

[MikeWooldridge]

apparently royal mail are cracking down on long items being posted.

it's been that way for years and years. in fact, it's one of my pet hates. an organisation as huge as royal mail is run by cretins who are intent on destroying the incredible infrastructure and links available to them.

however, rant aside, there are two postmasters:

1) knobheads
2) sensible, friendly postmasters

main post offices are notorious for sticking by the rules, small privately owned ones are more likely to accept 'long' parcels.

in fact, my postmaster insists that nowhere in his paperwork are there any length constraints. not sure he is entirely correct there but i'm not complaining...

also, interesting fact that makes even less sense when postmasters refuse to accept items - did you know they get commission on special delivery items? nothing else, that's all paid as a package, but specials they get bonuses for.

all the more reason i find it verging on criminal negligence that royal mail keep upping their prices by ridiculous amounts and make it harder and harder to use their services. it's almost like they're trying tp give the business away to private couriers. probably are, backhanders etc., etc..

rant over.

I would suspect that the tips have been thoroughly tested after a lot of R&D so they are suitable for the purpose they have been designed for!

correct steve748.

oddly enough, i am not an idiot who just turned up with a crazy idea...

[ADR147]

What I mean't was, if you were to place a Legend next to plain Shark how would a layman tell the difference ?

if you can't tell the difference you are buying the wrong thing.

[narl]

Mike Wooldridge - *NEW* 'BlackSpin' Ferrule System

The girl today was actually looking for a tape measure at one point. Not seen her before so she came off as a bit of a jobs worth. Hope they don't bother enforcing this rule as its handy for me being just round the corner.

[DandyA]

main post offices are notorious for sticking by the rules, small privately owned ones are more likely to accept 'long' parcels.

in fact, my postmaster insists that nowhere in his paperwork are there any length constraints. not sure he is entirely correct there but i'm not complaining...

I'm not trying to defend Royal Mail but the size limits are due to the ability of the automatic sortation equipment to handle it ... or, to put it in words you and I can understand ... it's down to the width of the conveyor belt at the computerised sorting hubs ...

48" wide conveyor belt with 57" long parcel tends to jam up the whole thing - yes, I realise you can put them on lengthways but they have a nasty habit of turning sideways during their trip along the conveyor ...

I used to supply computer kit (not the conveyor!) to overnight delivery companies and you just wouldn't believe the pressure they are under ... I've been at one - 30 artic lorries from all over the country arrive from 10pm to 12pm (12.30pm with traffic) ... all the stuff on the conveyor and *everything* has to be sorted and loaded on the outgoing artic by 2am which is when the artic going to Scotland has to leave ... the others can leave later but everything has to be sorted or you're bound to miss some stuff for the Scotland lorry ...

so I have some sympathy ... you lot smile sweetly at the pretty girl in your local post office and get her to accept a 60" package ... good for you but can cause a nightmare at the sorting hub ...

one is probably ok ... someone can physically walk 100 metres with it to it's destination artic ... I was once at a courier's hub when they got a phone call from a depot saying they'd accepted 200 rotating washing line thingies at 1.5metres long ... the depot manager visibly whitened, no way he had enough manpower to sort those manually - when they arrived, he tried them on the conveyor and fortunately they did go through OK ...

[gsmbotol]

Well a shark has only 2 butterfly splices, whereas the legend has proper 4 splices, if your a "layman" i doubt you would be spending £450 on a legend cue tho, you would be doing your homework first

Also legend is best money you can buy, that's why I'm on waiting list too, don't really need to think twice for me to fall in love with black legend!
So sydneygeorge we are in best choice money can buy I think.

[MikeWooldridge]

I'm not trying to defend Royal Mail but the size limits are due to the ability of the automatic sortation equipment to handle it ... or, to put it in words you and I can understand ... it's down to the width of the conveyor belt at the computerised sorting hubs ...

48" wide conveyor belt with 57" long parcel tends to jam up the whole thing - yes, I realise you can put them on lengthways but they have a nasty habit of turning sideways during their trip along the conveyor ...

I used to supply computer kit (not the conveyor!) to overnight delivery companies and you just wouldn't believe the pressure they are under ... I've been at one - 30 artic lorries from all over the country arrive from 10pm to 12pm (12.30pm with traffic) ... all the stuff on the conveyor and *everything* has to be sorted and loaded on the outgoing artic by 2am which is when the artic going to Scotland has to leave ... the others can leave later but everything has to be sorted or you're bound to miss some stuff for the Scotland lorry ...

so I have some sympathy ... you lot smile sweetly at the pretty girl in your local post office and get her to accept a 60" package ... good for you but can cause a nightmare at the sorting hub ...

one is probably ok ... someone can physically walk 100 metres with it to it's destination artic ...

Sorry, but i don't buy it. I absolutely appreciate the massive numbers of parcels that couriers deal with but that is not a good enough excuse for the feeble service the royal mail is becoming.

I once watched a video on "How's it made" showing a u.p.s. sorting hub. The conveyor belts were nowhere near 48" wide and there were miles of them sorting thousands of parcels per hour.

If a privately owned company can invest in equipment or has worked out a system to cope with the 'horror' of handling a longer item, then so can royal mail. Simple as that.

There are no problems, only solutions. Put people in charge who solve problems. They do exist...

Let's face it - big box, little box, put it on a shelf - any idiot can manage that.

Or apparently not...

I was once at a courier's hub when they got a phone call from a depot saying they'd accepted 200 rotating washing line thingies at 1.5metres long ... the depot manager visibly whitened, no way he had enough manpower to sort those manually - when they arrived, he tried them on the conveyor and fortunately they did go through OK ...

Phew! Crisis averted. I do hope the colour came back to the cheeks of the manager...

Btw, 200 washing lines would take one person no more than 20-30min to lug from one side of a warehouse to another. Assuming £6-£7 per hour, that would have cost £3.50 max to get sorted.

Sorry, I just don't accept 'slightly' long parcels are a difficult problem to overcome.

[Steve748]

Prior to modernisation at the Royal Mail (which is a different company to the Post Office on the high street) they had the man power to deal with odd shaped and different items and everything was treated the same.
After Tony Blair in his infinite wisdom decided to let others compete RM was forced to cut costs read staff and spend £m's on machinery to do their job and everything is now price/costs driven the 'service to the public' driven.
RM letters is gradually turning from a letter delivering service to a packet delivering service and they have to change how they deliver accordingly.
Unfortunately they have to compete even if it means delivering competitors mail at a fraction of the cost they receive for their own mail.
I suspect when you arrange a courier parcel the cost is down to the weight and dimensions you put into the quote.
I have found UK mail service to be better than US postage in San Diego!

[MikeWooldridge]

Prior to modernisation at the Royal Mail (which is a different company to the Post Office on the high street) they had the man power to deal with odd shaped and different items and everything was treated the same.
After Tony Blair in his infinite wisdom decided to let others compete RM was forced to cut costs read staff and spend £m's on machinery to do their job and everything is now price/costs driven the 'service to the public' driven.
RM letters is gradually turning from a letter delivering service to a packet delivering service and they have to change how they deliver accordingly.
Unfortunately they have to compete even if it means delivering competitors mail at a fraction of the cost they receive for their own mail.
I suspect when you arrange a courier parcel the cost is down to the weight and dimensions you put into the quote.
I have found UK mail service to be better than US postage in San Diego!

this has been an issue since long before tony blair.

i've been using special delivery 25 years, they've never wanted to take the length.

[narl]

, they've never wanted to take the length.

Might not be that way inclined

[CoolBlue]

OK ppl, just got back from the club after a quick 30mins knock about.

This maybe hard to gauge as I've always had excellent results when using MW supertips ( the tip Mike put on my new blackspin is dark in colour and one of his newest creations ).

The hit on every shot is SWEET. The reaction I was getting off a slow club table cloth was impressive indeed. On mid range to long.. shot deflection was minimal ( compared to my old brass ferrule. ) This could be all in the mind, but given the way things panned out while playing, I don't think so. Towards the end of the session my confidence had grown ( bare in mind that I haven't played in a few months ), so sweetness of cueing, timing etc is something I'm going to have to work on anyways..

I def. recommend other ppl to give the blackspin a try.. it will truly help improve your game!

Thanks again Mike. The turnaround on this cue was outstanding as well as the complimentary repair and finish you did on my cue ( damage courtesy of Royal Mail ). I'll be sending you my other TW within a couple of weeks. I wonder if UPS will charge me an arm and a leg..

[narl]

OK ppl, just got back from the club after a quick 30mins knock about.

This maybe hard to gauge as I've always had excellent results when using MW supertips ( the tip Mike put on my new blackspin is dark in colour and one of his newest creations ).

The hit on every shot is SWEET. The reaction I was getting off a slow club table cloth was impressive indeed. On mid range to long long shots the deflection I was getting was minimal ( compared to my old brass ferrule. ) This could be all in the mind, but given the way things panned out while playing, I don't think so. Towards the end of the session my confidence had grown ( bare in mind that I haven't played in a few months ), so sweetness of cueing, timing etc is something I'm going to have to work on anyways..

I def. recommend other ppl to give the blackspin a try.. it will truly help improve your game!

Thanks again Mike. The turnaround on this cue was outstanding as well as the complimentary repair and finish you did on my cue ( damage courtesy of Royal Mail ). I'll be sending you my other TW within a couple of weeks. I wonder if UPS will charge me an arm and a leg..

Sounds great, really looking forward to testing it out.

[frenchi]

Originally Posted by frenchi
Hello everyone, I'm probably one of the first to receive a cue possessing a BlackSpin (Mike will confirm I think). I'll try to answer a few questions that people ask about it. What can I say? The cue that I received is probably one of the best I have been fortunate to obtain. After a break of several months, to devote myself to coaching (snooker and blackball), I just take the drive, and I can already tell that this cue with Blackspin is a weapon of war. Of course, the quality of the cue is an essential point (very good job, exactly what I ordered), but I really believe that the BlackSpin brings something more. My first experience shows an infinite number of possible move from soft to powerful with a very very great control and hit a ball unequaled (to my knowledge). The sound is clean and delicious, exactly what I hoped and the system weakens (at first glance) much less wood. Control of the cue ball is delicious (sidespin, topspin and backspin).
Now, one could say that the cue that I received is so good(for me) it would play the same without blackspin. I can not answer, but I would not trade to verify.
Final note, some wondered if playing with a black thing at the end of the cue is not destabilizing. For my part, I never ask myself such questions. The cue plays well or not. Yes, then it's ok. I've never had a problem with that.
(I hope my English will be correct, the French are known for their wonderful English :-)

A nice write up (not bad English either )
Can I ask, is the cue a custom order or one of the discount cues Mike offered? cheers

Thank you to "google translation" :-)
I think there's a picture in this post with the 7 first cue (i think too) with BlackSpin. Mine is the first all right.
It's a Shark Deluxe Shaft with 7 arrows ordered through VCM.