Tips on making cues

[Maverick54]

Lovely grain on the butt (Macassar I think) Finnish looks really good. Have you waxed or oiled the butt?

[RogiBear]

Lovely grain on the butt (Macassar I think) Finnish looks really good. Have you waxed or oiled the butt?

It could be macassar but I couldn't be sure, I just bought some ebony blind and got this chucked in with it. The block had nice figuring on it so thought I'd use it lol.

As for the finish, I actually french polished it. Not too much though, enough to give a nice finish without it being very slippery.

[SouthPaw]

That looks pretty good to be fair, the main question... how does it play?

[RogiBear]

That looks pretty good to be fair, the main question... how does it play?

That's a very good question, will find out tomorrow.

[willtyson]

Looks lovely. Very nice.

[Maverick54]

It could be macassar but I couldn't be sure, I just bought some ebony blind and got this chucked in with it. The block had nice figuring on it so thought I'd use it lol.

As for the finish, I actually french polished it. Not too much though, enough to give a nice finish without it being very slippery.

You may have accidently used one of your best bits of wood there. I would love a cue with a butt like that. It doesnt need any other fancy splices that wood grain just oozes class. That french polish has bought the grain to life. Only playing time would see how it wears I suppose but very nice.
Find another bit of wood like that, put a nice shaft on it, get the splices spot on and you may just have found your first customer. Simples peeps

[RogiBear]

That looks pretty good to be fair, the main question... how does it play?

Played a couple of frames with it this afternoon, played ok for me, no sizable breaks but hit the ball well.

Looks lovely. Very nice.

Thanks

You may have accidently used one of your best bits of wood there. I would love a cue with a butt like that. It doesnt need any other fancy splices that wood grain just oozes class. That french polish has bought the grain to life. Only playing time would see how it wears I suppose but very nice.
Find another bit of wood like that, put a nice shaft on it, get the splices spot on and you may just have found your first customer. Simples peeps

I've got some of this left but I'm not sure if I have enough to do a full butt. Will have a look tomorrow

[RogiBear]

Thuya just arrived today, thought I would have a go with a slightly more expensive wood. Just a decorative splice though. Have a couple of cues in the pipeline so will try it after them. Anyone got any tips on working with it?

[jim evans]

dont plane it unless you have super sharp plane use 60 grit sand paper and then 120 and so on

[RogiBear]

dont plane it unless you have super sharp plane use 60 grit sand paper and then 120 and so on

So I take it, its very prone to tear out. I'm hoping my new plane should be up to the job. Fingers crossed

[RogiBear]

Another couple of weeks and Cue No.3 is now done. Went for a slightly more ambitious design to get more splicing practice. Mixture of ebony, padauk and a little bit of zebrano. Still unable to get all the splices perfect, but I think there is improvement. One at the top is sightly out and one of the second tier is out also. If anyone could help with a method of getting them all level it would be much appreciated. Other than that I welcome any comments. If anyone is interested in it let me know

Spec:
9.5mm tip, 15 oz (currently unweighted), bp at 19.5 inch at splice tips, ~29mm butt, again grain is slightly twisted

[spcrxj]

Very nice cue !!! Well done mate!!!!!

[tomeestrings]

Thuya just arrived today, thought I would have a go with a slightly more expensive wood. Just a decorative splice though. Have a couple of cues in the pipeline so will try it after them. Anyone got any tips on working with it?

Hi Rogi , plane to rough shape , file with a medium metalwork type file , brush the file continuously with a with a wire brush to get rid of clogging , once you are near the desired shape , file diagonally to get rid of the cut marks !!! Then go through the grades . You could use a bandsaw or router in the initial stages to get rid of the big stuff but that's up to you !!! T

[RogiBear]

Hi Rogi , plane to rough shape , file with a medium metalwork type file , brush the file continuously with a with a wire brush to get rid of clogging , once you are near the desired shape , file diagonally to get rid of the cut marks !!! Then go through the grades . You could use a bandsaw or router in the initial stages to get rid of the big stuff but that's up to you !!! T

Thanks for the advice T. That's pretty much how I did it in the end. It's in my other thread.