dave coutts and will hunt

[DeanH]

Mr Trevor White does

yep that has been said several times now in previous posts in this thread by others and by Mr White himself

[Terry Davidson]

I agree with Trevor here that the cuemaker should be at least involved in selecting the woods, especially the shafts. Even though they may be planed down either by hand or on a lathe and I would think the selection, fitting and finishing the splices would be appropriate too.

Installation of the joint or ferrule by someone else would not bother me at all, same with the SD butt socket.

I guess growing the trees, cutting them down and all the rest of it would be a joke but only because if that was the case we would be waiting around 40 years for those 'perfect' shafts that everyone seems to want these days. (Exactly 7 evenly spaced chevrons or something similar). Although I guess I'm a little picky as I prefer the side grain to be reasonably straight but it doesn't have to be PERFECTLY straight!

Terry

[DeanH]

I agree with Trevor here that the cuemaker should be at least involved in selecting the woods, especially the shafts. Even though they may be planed down either by hand or on a lathe and I would think the selection, fitting and finishing the splices would be appropriate too.

Installation of the joint or ferrule by someone else would not bother me at all, same with the SD butt socket.

I guess growing the trees, cutting them down and all the rest of it would be a joke but only because if that was the case we would be waiting around 40 years for those 'perfect' shafts that everyone seems to want these days. (Exactly 7 evenly spaced chevrons or something similar). Although I guess I'm a little picky as I prefer the side grain to be reasonably straight but it doesn't have to be PERFECTLY straight!
Terry

Some people have already waited that long for their "perfect" cue

sorry to be clear, in parts of post #104 I was being sarcastic, sardonic, and facetious

[Terry Davidson]

I know and so was I because in going through the frustration of selling cues I've gotten back replies like 'I'm looking for 7 evenly spaced chevrons and your cue only has 5 and they aren't evenly spaced'.

I responded by telling the buy to go and grow his own ash trees then and wait for 40yrs as that's the only way he's going to get what he wants

Terry

[DeanH]

I know and so was I because in going through the frustration of selling cues I've gotten back replies like 'I'm looking for 7 evenly spaced chevrons and your cue only has 5 and they aren't evenly spaced'.

I responded by telling the buy to go and grow his own ash trees then and wait for 40yrs as that's the only way he's going to get what he wants

Terry

fantastic (not being sarcatic)

[gagg8ball]

How many of the current cuemakers plane everything by hand guys?I never realised most used lathes until very recently. I always questioned a mate of mine who has made cues for 20 years ,by hand,why his cues were so expensive compared to the newer cuemakers for similar designs,splicings etc. Now I know why!

[JasonOwen]

For what its worth I agree with Trev,
Ive got the blisters and scarred knuckles to show I make my cues by hand from the start. Its hard work and there are a lot of tears when ash that has had a few hours spent on it turns out to not be suitable.

You do get a feel for a cue through the early making stages, right from selecting ash to get the blanks cut from. Even at that stage I get excited about a certain piece of ash and then watch it evolve into a cue.

[ADR147]

personally i think the business of planing a cue down by hand is completely mental, the idea that it will somehow play better is nonsense. i have done it and it takes a great deal of time and effort unless you want it to end up oval like a keith auld cue.

in this day and age having shafts turned on the lathe is the only practical way to do it. and i promise if selected properly and finished properly they will play just as well. wood is a natural product and every single piece is different but there is no advantage in being in a zen like trance and feelingly each individual board and planing them down over a period of months - this is a sales pitch.....

[trevs1]

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

Absolutely Dave, Making cues purely by hand (no turning whatsoever) is massively time consuming, and quite frankly, not commercially viable, as you point out. The quality of the end product is what matters, whether that be a turned shaft, planed shaft or one which has been knawed round from a square blank by an army of pet hamsters.

It's when a cue is made from timber which the maker has never even personally held, inspected and selected, and furthermore, where they have had nothing to do in the fundamental process of manufacturing it, but, are only required to give it a final finish and fit a name badge is where I feel it's wrong. To me, that's enormously misleading and is a fraudulent practise.

I am sure that everyone reading here will KNOW that "your" cues are personally ALL made by you, and, that the cues which you bring in part made are openly badged as such and indicate that these are commisioned and finished by you. That's how it should be done in my view, so credit to you.

[trevs1]

personally i think the business of planing a cue down by hand is completely mental, the idea that it will somehow play better is nonsense. i have done it and it takes a great deal of time and effort unless you want it to end up oval like a keith auld cue.

in this day and age having shafts turned on the lathe is the only practical way to do it. and i promise if selected properly and finished properly they will play just as well. wood is a natural product and every single piece is different but there is no advantage in being in a zen like trance and feelingly each individual board and planing them down over a period of months - this is a sales pitch.....

A round of applause for Mr Ramsay here. Spot on.

I would merrily slice off my own ears, fry them in garlic and scoff them up, if ANYONE on the face of the planet could spot which cues were made by what method, if ten cues were lined up, five made with planed shafts and five with turned shafts. It just will never be possible.

The proof is in the standard of the final product, no more and no less.

[narl]

A round of applause for Mr Ramsay here. Spot on.

I would merrily slice off my own ears, fry them in garlic and scoff them up, if ANYONE on the face of the planet could spot which cues were made by what method, if ten cues were lined up, five made with planed shafts and five with turned shafts. It just will never be possible.

The proof is in the standard of the final product, no more and no less.

Aren't turned more likely to be conical in shape?

[DandyA]

The quality of the end product is what matters, whether that be a turned shaft, planed shaft or one which has been knawed round from a square blank by an army of pet hamsters.

you heard it here first gentlemen ... Trevor White uses an army of pet hamsters to make his shafts ... I guess the next question is whether the hamsters are from England or imported from China, Thailand or elsewhere ... and are Trevor White's hamsters better than Mike Wooldridge's hamsters ...

just kidding chaps ... please ignore me ... killing time until the McManus vs Mifsud match starts in the Goldfields Australian Open (5mins to go) ...

[eaoin11]

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.

For crying out loud Dean, I can't take it any more! We need to impose a quota on your use of smilies. It's so freakin' smug and corny and ... and... GAY!

[louise sheldon]

some people like a product that is made by hand with hand tools others go for the final product is a personal thing. i enjoy making cues by hand even though its not commercial viable and like to offer customers the chance to have a cue made this time honoured way

personally i think the business of planing a cue down by hand is completely mental, the idea that it will somehow play better is nonsense. i have done it and it takes a great deal of time and effort unless you want it to end up oval like a keith auld cue.

in this day and age having shafts turned on the lathe is the only practical way to do it. and i promise if selected properly and finished properly they will play just as well. wood is a natural product and every single piece is different but there is no advantage in being in a zen like trance and feelingly each individual board and planing them down over a period of months - this is a sales pitch.....

[DeanH]

LOL
noted

"corny", yep that was the effect I was going for...