dave coutts and will hunt

[Matt-10ant]

Yeah sure no problem.

[Samcheung001]

Unless you know something that the rest of us don't, otherwise you are sure to ruffle a few feathers with that kind of statement

Correct that I have no evidence to make the statement. What in my mind is the question that how many cues could one make each day and how many cues are provided to the market ? My point is would every single step in cue making is done by cue maker himself including some minor ones.

[DeanH]

Correct that I have no evidence to make the statement. What in my mind is the question that how many cues could one make each day and how many cues are provided to the market ? My point is would every single step in cue making is done by cue maker himself including some minor ones.

I repeat my first posting

?? Trevor White, Robert Osborne, Robin Cook, Kevin DeRoo, Glover ?? :shrug:
also, Jason Owen, Jim Evans, Raymo, Cue Doctor ??

Also, what is a minor step in the process of cue making?
Adding a tip? - I would say a major step as this is the point of contact with the cue ball.
Adding a splice? - if you get it wrong, it is so obvious.
Adding the finish? - how many times do you read that the "finish was so smooooth", so still a major step.

I am not a cuemaker (if only I have the skills ) but to me there is no minor steps. All are an essential part of the process.

[old school]

Dean you forgot Kev Muncaster , NW Cues , one man band , makes the cue start to finish on his own,Great playing cues if a little untidy at times.

[DeanH]

Correct that I have no evidence to make the statement. What in my mind is the question that how many cues could one make each day and how many cues are provided to the market ? My point is would every single step in cue making is done by cue maker himself including some minor ones.

?? Trevor White, Robert Osborne, Robin Cook, Kevin DeRoo, Glover ?? :shrug:
also, Jason Owen, Jim Evans, Raymo, Cue Doctor ??

Dean you forgot Kev Muncaster , NW Cues , one man band , makes the cue start to finish on his own,Great playing cues if a little untidy at times.

Thanks Old School; no offence to Mr Muncaster
Not "famous" but I recently saw a post about a chap who still makes cues "by hand", no lathe either. Sorry cannot remember the post with name and location.

[old school]

None taken , Dean , a definitive list is getting harder to compile , especially with the advent of " bought in blanks " and workshops just " finishing" cues. Kevs work often doesnt get the recognition I believe it desrves , but John Higgins will tell you that Kev makes a mean cue.

[DeanH]

There is a NW Cue currently for sale on TSF, looks very nice, I like the badge
Yep, JH is famous for having one of these cues, or is that the other way round
all the best

[Asi]

Dean you forgot Kev Muncaster , NW Cues , one man band , makes the cue start to finish on his own,Great playing cues if a little untidy at times.

Will second that

[Samcheung001]

I repeat my first posting



Also, what is a minor step in the process of cue making?
Adding a tip? - I would say a major step as this is the point of contact with the cue ball.
Adding a splice? - if you get it wrong, it is so obvious.
Adding the finish? - how many times do you read that the "finish was so smooooth", so still a major step.

I am not a cuemaker (if only I have the skills ) but to me there is no minor steps. All are an essential part of the process.

I'm not meant to argue but to me, although I'm not a cue maker, I believe major steps in cue making are wood selection, shaft planing, tapering design and splicing which could vary much among different makers. These are the 'skills' and experience of the cue maker and also the reason why one is willing to pay 500 pounds to buy a cue instead of 50 pounds to buy another.

Other steps like ferrule fitting, joint fitting, adding a tip, finishing.......etc are sort of, I would say, a bit routine and 'non-skillful' steps that I believe they could be done by others after proper guidance and would not make much difference to the overall cue quality.

[trevs1]

1. The price was 295, not 500.
2. It's tough to judge the worth of a cue you've never seen or played with at "200".
3. What's the worth of a cue? The price of the wood? The price for the working hours? The name of the man who did it? The name on the plate? The quality of craftsmanship? The money somebody who wants the cue is willing to pay for it? The country it was made in (England, Thailand, China)? Alltogether?
Is a Robert Osborne Greenplate worth 450 inkl. VAT (like it was in the times of Hunt&Osborne) or 550+VAT (like it was with his latest cues)? Is "John Parris" a cuemaker or a brand?

Don't get me wrong, paddyboy30, I don't mean this in a sarcastic way. These are questions I'm really thinking about.

Cheers mephisto

All very valid questions, the answers to which, all have some relevance to their final pricing.

[trevs1]

I'm not meant to argue but to me, although I'm not a cue maker, I believe major steps in cue making are wood selection, shaft planing, tapering design and splicing which could vary much among different makers. These are the 'skills' and experience of the cue maker and also the reason why one is willing to pay 500 pounds to buy a cue instead of 50 pounds to buy another.

Other steps like ferrule fitting, joint fitting, adding a tip, finishing.......etc are sort of, I would say, a bit routine and 'non-skillful' steps that I believe they could be done by others after proper guidance and would not make much difference to the overall cue quality.

My own view of it is that if a maker (past or present) has not even seen / selected the pieces of timber a cue has been made from, and then only receives part made / finished cues, in order to finally finish and badge up with his own name, it's as good as fraud.

Unfortunately, far too much of this appears to be going on totally unseen, with praise given to makers (I use that term loosely) that simply might not deserve it.

[Wayne G]

My own view of it is that if a maker (past or present) has not even seen / selected the pieces of timber a cue has been made from, and then only receives part made / finished cues, in order to finally finish and badge up with his own name, it's as good as fraud.

Unfortunately, far too much of this appears to be going on totally unseen, with praise given to makers (I use that term loosely) that simply might not deserve it.

Amen......

[louise sheldon]

i do (dave coutts) and we offer the service of taking and emailing photos of cue at various stages, the most important stage to go beyond all doubt is the actually planing of the shaft for the ebony splices, incidentally i do not have a lathe as the cues are all made by hand, if i need joints putting in i take cues to robin cook, at one point i did consider getting a lathe to put joints in but decided against this as i am quite happy with the working relationship robin and i have. robin also makes all his own cues. i do have y own range of customised cues which i do have part made and i finish off myself these are accompanied with a badge on cue saying customised by dave coutts where as the cues i make totally by hand with say hand made by dave coutts. there is a considerable difference in the splicing length between the cues i make and the customised cues to also help differentiate between the 2 types of cue. the reason for doing this is because i cannot keep up with the demand for totally handmade cues as they are extremely time consuming to make and would be unable to make a living out of just the handmade cues

?? Trevor White, Robert Osborne, Robin Cook, Kevin DeRoo, Glover ?? :shrug:
also, Jason Owen, Jim Evans, Raymo, Cue Doctor ??

[DeanH]

i do (dave coutts) and we offer the service of taking and emailing photos of cue at various stages, the most important stage to go beyond all doubt is the actually planing of the shaft for the ebony splices, incidentally i do not have a lathe as the cues are all made by hand, if i need joints putting in i take cues to robin cook, at one point i did consider getting a lathe to put joints in but decided against this as i am quite happy with the working relationship robin and i have. robin also makes all his own cues. i do have y own range of customised cues which i do have part made and i finish off myself these are accompanied with a badge on cue saying customised by dave coutts where as the cues i make totally by hand with say hand made by dave coutts. there is a considerable difference in the splicing length between the cues i make and the customised cues to also help differentiate between the 2 types of cue. the reason for doing this is because i cannot keep up with the demand for totally handmade cues as they are extremely time consuming to make and would be unable to make a living out of just the handmade cues

no offence meant at leaving your name off the my list
and I say that to any other cuemaker out there....
But one of the previous posts, not one that I totally agree with, "if you don't do everything in the making of the cue, then that could be called "fraud"; ", so you do not fit the joints to your cues but ask someone else, oh dear dear me
What about the woods you use, if you do not grow the trees, cut them down, season them, etc, etc.

[archalf1471]

Mr Trevor White does