My workshop

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

Finished the beech one yesterday and gave it a bash this afternoon, plays great as do the other two beech cues I made, Long BA tip as good as ever, everyone must try these

One piece beech shaft with zebrano butt with wenge veneers and an ekki splice on the mace flat
58 inches long, 16.8 ounces in weight, balanced at 17 & 1/2 inches, 9.7mm brass ferrule, 28mm diameter butt

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmax4steve/shares/yfi797

Think I need a better camera or a steadier hand.

Surprised the shaft is that colour- was expecting it to be more red. Looks like maple.

[jonny66]

Finished the beech one yesterday and gave it a bash this afternoon, plays great as do the other two beech cues I made, Long BA tip as good as ever, everyone must try these

One piece beech shaft with zebrano butt with wenge veneers and an ekki splice on the mace flat
58 inches long, 16.8 ounces in weight, balanced at 17 & 1/2 inches, 9.7mm brass ferrule, 28mm diameter butt

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmax4steve/shares/yfi797

Think I need a better camera or a steadier hand.

I really like that, surprised no-one else has said similar. Maybe the butt wood is too fancy.

[vmax]

First two splices of wenge glued to a 60 inch ash shaft that was prepared last year down to 2mm oversize, length could and probably will change. Second two splices will be glued on tomorrow, after that will be planed, scraped and sanded and hopefully finished by friday.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmax4steve/shares/Po6e0x

Oh and my 1988 Vmax 1200 has just been restored, vroom vroom

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmax4steve/shares/2g8g3d

[Ninja.cues]

First two splices of wenge glued to a 60 inch ash shaft that was prepared last year down to 2mm oversize, length could and probably will change. Second two splices will be glued on tomorrow, after that will be planed, scraped and sanded and hopefully finished by friday.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmax4steve/shares/Po6e0x

Oh and my 1988 Vmax 1200 has just been restored, vroom vroom

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmax4steve/shares/2g8g3d

Hi vmax,

Like me you do like wenge.... When it's finished lol
Pain in the rear it get it there..
Look forward to seeing how this comes out.

[vmax]

Planed back the first two splices today, drilled with three lead plugs, which will add about 2 ounces of weight, and the 3rd and 4th wenge splices glued and clamped.
The cue will then be planed all round slightly oversize as it is now and then an amargo amargo splice will be added on top of maple and wenge veneers. The amargo amargo is like a lighter coloured wenge so should contrast nicely.
Then it's all about planing/sanding and scraping down to the final taper and finding out how the cue feels in the hand and where it needs to be balanced.

Cue will be balanced and finally weighted by drilling up from the butt and adding a 10mm threaded stainless steel bar cut to the correct length for the final weight and placed between 6/8 inches from the end of the butt for the balance that suits the length, should be about 58/59 inches and balanced round about 18/19 inches.
Bar will have a slot cut into the end and slowly screwed into a 9mm hole filled with epoxy using my Cuesmith lathe, hand turning with a flat head bit in the drill attachment until it sits in place, so no chance of moving once the epoxy sets.

Will provide pictures of the process and the finished cue unless I balls it up or something breaks, and with wenge that's quite easy so plane blades and scrapers will be sharpened twice a day during the work.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmax4steve/shares/2322ZM

[DeanH]

My workshop

I think I have the same pair of steel-toecap slippers

[golferson123]

why use stainless?

[vmax]

why use stainless?

Even though it's kiln dried there is still moisture in the wood, and water in the wood glue, so I use a non ferrous metal to be on the safe side.

[vmax]

I think I have the same pair of steel-toecap slippers

Dropped a ferrule on my toes the other day, lucky I was wearing them

[vmax]

Hard at it this morning, took off the clamps and planed down to a 32mm square using the bench planer, then marked a circle using a compass and planed down to an octagon using the bench planer. Hand planed down to the circle using my long bed plane, finished with 60 grade sandpaper and hand scraper, then planed off the wenge for the splice using the bench planer and glued and clamped a maple veneer, a wenge veneer and an amargo amargo splice.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmax4steve/shares/49m040

[golferson123]

Even though it's kiln dried there is still moisture in the wood, and water in the wood glue, so I use a non ferrous metal to be on the safe side.

but no air

[Shockerz]

Planed back the first two splices today, drilled with three lead plugs, which will add about 2 ounces of weight, and the 3rd and 4th wenge splices glued and clamped.
The cue will then be planed all round slightly oversize as it is now and then an amargo amargo splice will be added on top of maple and wenge veneers. The amargo amargo is like a lighter coloured wenge so should contrast nicely.
Then it's all about planing/sanding and scraping down to the final taper and finding out how the cue feels in the hand and where it needs to be balanced.

Cue will be balanced and finally weighted by drilling up from the butt and adding a 10mm threaded stainless steel bar cut to the correct length for the final weight and placed between 6/8 inches from the end of the butt for the balance that suits the length, should be about 58/59 inches and balanced round about 18/19 inches.
Bar will have a slot cut into the end and slowly screwed into a 9mm hole filled with epoxy using my Cuesmith lathe, hand turning with a flat head bit in the drill attachment until it sits in place, so no chance of moving once the epoxy sets.

Will provide pictures of the process and the finished cue unless I balls it up or something breaks, and with wenge that's quite easy so plane blades and scrapers will be sharpened twice a day during the work.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmax4steve/shares/2322ZM

Nice work Vmax.

Out of interest, do you ever plane the lead once in place?

[vmax]

Nice work Vmax.

Out of interest, do you ever plane the lead once in place?

Make my own lead weights/plugs as I have a little kiln, pour the molten lead into a mould made by drilling 12mm holes into a small piece of 25mm plywood and when cool cut them to the desired length with the bandsaw, place them in the holes, give them a knock with a hammer and small drift to spread them for a tight fit and then level them on the belt sander. All nice and snug when the splices are glued on the top.

[vmax]

but no air

The cue lies horizontal in the lathe during the application process so one can't be certain there are no air pockets or gaps between the threads due to the timber tearing a little as it's screwed into place. Once the epoxy sets no more air can get in but any air present will be trapped so I'm just being sure, overly so maybe but so what! Why the nit picking over this ? stainless steel threaded bar is only half the price again of its ferrous counterpart so no great outlay.

[vmax]

So this is what I did this morning; I took off the clamps holding the amargo amargo splice, bench planed most of it off and then hand planed it to roundish, planing from the tips of the splices to the butt end so the plane followed the taper already set.
Then I hand planed the whole cue from butt to tip to get it about 1mm over size, then sanded it in four stages of 60 grade, 120 grade, 180 grade and finally 240 grade to about 0.5mm over size, sanded the cue twice the circumference at each stage.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmax4steve/shares/820nq5

Weighed the cue at this stage and it was 18.2 ounces and balanced at 19 inches so no need to add any extra weight. Decided to fit a mini butt, so set the cue in the lathe for drilling first with an 8mm bit, let it cool, then a 10, let it cool and then a 12 as I find drilling straight into the butt with a 12 makes the cue overheat and possibly delaminate the splices even though I'm drilling into the 10mm square of ash in the middle.
All bits were taken to the correct depth for the female part of the joint which only weighed 0.4 of an ounce or 11 grammes; the mini butt I cut from a length of solid ekki I had turned on the lathe last year for mini butts, drilled it the same as I did for the cue but had to cut a small ridge inside the 10mm hole for the 12.9mm flange on the male joint to sit into so it would make a wood to wood connection.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmax4steve/shares/937gz2

Cutting to final length, fitting the ferrule and final finishing will take place next week.