My workshop

[itsnoteasy]

How does pearwood play, closer to maple than ash?

[mikee]

Very nice and a bit different

[vmax]

Been busy the past few days with the pearwood shafts I've had resting for the past two years. Not yet finished and haven't yet decided what I want them to be exactly, one is 3/4 split with wenge butt and a coconut (palmira) splice and the other is 3/4 split with a full coconut butt that at the moment is US 9 ball spec with a 12mm tip. Might taper it down to snooker spec, might not.
Four other pearwood shafts that I haven't started yet, should finish them all by september, just in time for snooker season

Note the titanium ferrule, boy is that stuff hard

http://

[vmax]

Thanks Steve, after reading this reply and looking at the lathe pics again, I get a good picture on how you build..
You mentioned 2pc, have you done any center joint work?

Not yet Jason, only done 3/4 joints, not much call for centre joints unless I get into US pool cues.

[j6uk]

Thanks Steve, after reading this reply and looking at the lathe pics again, I get a good picture on how you build..
You mentioned 2pc, have you done any center joint work?

[vmax]

Looks big for mid size vmax, how longs the bed?
thats stationed ready to do taper, joint, and ferrule work?

It's only 1.2 m long Jason and doesn't have the tapering bars that come with the full size model so it's only used for joint and ferrule work. You can see the tip end of the cue in the second picture goes far beyond the chuck which is right at the end of the bed so I have to be careful when fitting the ferrule or mini butt joint on a one piece, can't spin it up to full speed as the timber sticking beyong the chucks will whip.
A two piece will fit of course but any tapering will have to be done by hand and eye in stages between the steadies, too much hassle so I make a one piece with the hand planes and then place it in the lathe to make a cut at the correct point with a hacksaw sounds drastic but with two steadies close to the cutting point it's really easy and when the cut is finished the two pieces are held firm.
I can shave back brass joints before fitting to fit the cue at the point needed rather than fit the joint where the cue is at the stock joint diameter, shave back ferrules, shape tips, drill up the butt for mini butt joints, drill further up the butt for adding a length of threaded bar to bring the balance point where it's needed in tandem with the lead added under the splices.
I'm sure there are a few more htings I could do but I've yet to explore them. All in all a good piece of kit and has paid for itself already in sales.

[Danger Steve]

Wowzers! That looks like a nice bit of kit! I guess things have moved on from a block/jig and a hand plane?

[j6uk]

Looks big for mid size vmax, how longs the bed?
thats stationed ready to do taper, joint, and ferrule work?

[vmax]

Thought that forum members would be interested in some pictures of my Cuesmith mid size lathe.

http://

[Troy]

Wow - incredible looking cue

[vmax]

Just this one that fits those specs, it's a one piece and currently on ebay.

http://

[jAckofAlltrAdes]

So we’ve had some time to use some friends cues and try out different lengths, tip size etc and we are looking for 58”, 9.5mm, 18.5-19oz. Design wise ebony is lovely but we’re not overly fussed on design (all the cues I’ve seen of yours look lovely anyway Steve.

So do you have anything that would fit the bill Steve? 3/4 ideally but would consider a one piece also.

[vmax]

Dimension wise It's modelled on my own playing cue. I like to cater for the taller player, being one myself, as I know the pitfalls of using a cue that's too short. Glad you like it

[jAckofAlltrAdes]

Also re-tapered, finished and straightened an ash 3/4 that wasn't quite straight at the joint

60.25 inch ash 3/4 with amargo amargo butt with a palmira splice on wenge and maple veneers, 20 oz's, 29mm diameter butt, 9.8mm aluminium ferrule, 20 inch balance point with a 6 inch ekki mini butt

https://ibb.co/album/0s6Hm4

Just been having a look through your work Steve. Incredible stuff especially as it’s more a side thing and not your main work! Although looking at the quality you make it could quite easily be. The design of the above cue really caught my attention the veneer work at the butt is beautiful!

Keep up the good work and I’ll be purchasing one for my son soon enough 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[vmax]

Thanks guy's, never heard of SW Hancock as a cue maker so it seems it might just be a badge on a generic machine spliced racker, doubt it's a one off though. Cue was in a bad state with the varnished chipped and worn, shaft was bare and you can see the aged patina of the shaft maple compared to the maple covered by the varnish on the butt. I tried to take the shaft back to the same colour using the scraper plane but it would have meant planing off too much wood so I coloured the lighter maple with teak oil to bring it closer and then finished it all off with several coats of linseed and topped it off with a few coats of clear wax.

Customer says it was his dad's cue and was passed down to him, customer himself is over sixty so it might be older than 1980's, then again Powerglide's were badged as Rex Williams then so who knows.