I like big butts and ........

[RogiBear]

Over the last few days I've been making my first cue and a question came to mind. Why are snooker butts round?

I know that some have flats on them but essentially they are circular.

How would changing the shape effect the way we cue? ie say the butt was changed to either a rounded square or having a flat both on top and bottom. Have any cue makers done this?

[narl]

I would say that MOST have flats on them and only some are round, its rare enough to see a cue that's a round butt and if you do usually its some drinks promoted rack cue.

I've heard some people say the flat is a nod to the old mace that used to be used that had a flat bottom to let it slide on the table, at some point they started to use the pointed end so the top end was reversed. Its also a convenient place to put the badge.

[RogiBear]

I completely agree, when I was referring to a round butted cue I was including those with flats.

Would adding extra flats or changing the shape of the butt completely create cueing implications?

[narl]

I completely agree, when I was referring to a round butted cue I was including those with flats.

Would adding extra flats or changing the shape of the butt completely create cueing implications?

Would probably just take a while to get used to, having a flat on both sides would feel very odd. Then again it all depends on how far back you hold the cue, most people are a few inches in front of the flat so unless it was a very long flat or you hold the cue right at the end it probably wouldn't make much of a difference.

[RogiBear]

The reason why I asked. I used to hold the cue upside down ie flat downwards as i preferred the flat side on my finger tips. I have recently changed to have the flat upwards so that I can check that i'm not twisting the cue on delivery by feeling the flat on my palm.

I might have a go at making one with two flats in that case.

[old school]

T.Flemings of Edinburgh , now defunct but highly collectable , did make cues with extra flats/chamfers on the face of the cue . If I remember rightly John Higgins prefers a slightly different profile to the norm , ( slightly squarer if that makes sense) People have experimented with different butt shapes in the past , even firms such as Burroughs and Watts , but cue makers keep coming back to the " half round " profile we are all familiar with. I guess that that is what fits the hand most comfortably , so that is what is most common.

[Maverick54]

The reason why I asked. I used to hold the cue upside down ie flat downwards as i preferred the flat side on my finger tips. I have recently changed to have the flat upwards so that I can check that i'm not twisting the cue on delivery by feeling the flat on my palm.

I might have a go at making one with two flats in that case.

John Higgins plays with the flat side underneath and Judd Trump plays with it at the side

[SouthPaw]

I believe most players hold the flat within their palms, though the flat is handy using the rest, my last cue was fully rounded and i found it hard to adjust, different strokes for different folks i guess, having the flat top and bottom would reduce the butt diameter too much ime...

[Down the rail]

I have given this some thought recently and believe the size of the butt to be very curial to the line of the cue.
If you imagine a right handed player with a pretty standard grip the right hand side of the butt of the cue will be touching the palm of the hand, so the centre of the butt of the cue will be so many mm away from the palm of the hand. Now if you assume that the inside of your palm is a fixed point in your set up/stance. Then it is clear that a lager butted cue will cause the centre of the butt to move away from the palm of your hand, moving left making the tip of the cue move right and visa versa with a smaller butt. Now if you stay within normal butt sizes we are only talking small amounts. But in snooker some times the small things make a big difference. Try experimenting wearing a thin glove and padding the inside of the glove on the palm side. see if it makes a difference.