My workshop

[vmax4steve]

Had this week off work to fix my motorbikes and get my shafts down to 2mm over size ready for final planing, thought the members would like to see some pics.

my workshop 2 004 (478x640).jpg my one piece shafts, from the left 4 oak, 17 ash & 3 beech
my workshop 2 002 (478x640).jpg my 3/4 shafts, all olive ash
my workshop 2 006 (640x478).jpg a closer look at some of the hardwood for butts and decorative splices, from the left ipe tabaca, purple heart, iroko, palmira, wenge, ebony, mahogany, walnut
my workshop 2 001 (478x640).jpg my planer/moulder/circular & bandsaw
my workshop 2 003 (478x640).jpg my lathe, pillar drill, belt sander, level for straight edge

[jim evans]

Nice set up mate.

[itsnoteasy]

Cracking set up Vmax.

[Cannonball]

Nice, nice, tidy as well. Have the shafts been cut with hand planes or machines bud?

[vmax4steve]

Nice, nice, tidy as well. Have the shafts been cut with hand planes or machines bud?

Do the donkey work with the multi machine's planer to about 5mm oversize, from then on it's all hand planing. Have a no:7 and no:4 and a block plane plus a spoke shave.
Would be a fool to plane from 40mm square totally by hand.
This has taken me a year so far, with all the resting of the shafts inbetween, will take them one at a time from now on to a finished cue, starting in a months time.

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

What's the plan? Presumably you're making them to sell - what price point?

[j6uk]

looking good vmax, got most of the gear. be interested to see what comes out the other end..
i see you got one of those cue making lathes, what make is it, have you used it much, and what do you use it for and think of it?

[Cannonball]

Do the donkey work with the multi machine's planer to about 5mm oversize, from then on it's all hand planing. Have a no:7 and no:4 and a block plane plus a spoke shave.
Would be a fool to plane from 40mm square totally by hand.
This has taken me a year so far, with all the resting of the shafts inbetween, will take them one at a time from now on to a finished cue, starting in a months time.

Fair play for answering. I think most cue makers don't hand plane from squares down now, maybe just Parris and J6. I don't think it makes any difference but it is a USP for some buyers. The resting you've done sounds spot on. I think Parris recommends 3 planings over 9mths, I could be wrong, the damn barley wine has affected the old cognitive today.

[billabong]

Fair play for answering. I think most cue makers don't hand plane from squares down now, maybe just Parris and J6. I don't think it makes any difference but it is a USP for some buyers. The resting you've done sounds spot on. I think Parris recommends 3 planings over 9mths, I could be wrong, the damn barley wine has affected the old cognitive today.

Are you sure your permit allows you to fish in this stretch of forum ? That's as much as I'll rise.

[justf]

Looking good Steve. When selling them let us know on TSF!! We can beat the rush.

[Shockerz]

Great set up.

Love the lathe, looks like a really interesting piece of kit.

[vmax4steve]

looking good vmax, got most of the gear. be interested to see what comes out the other end..
i see you got one of those cue making lathes, what make is it, have you used it much, and what do you use it for and think of it?

The lathe is purely for joint work, and maybe give the shafts a spin to make sure they're rounded, had a play with it but haven't used it in anger yet. It's a mid size Cue Smith, not the all singing and dancing model, but it can take a one piece cue, say if I want to fit a mini butt joint, or to split a one piece down to 3/4. Excellent piece of kit.

Looking good Steve. When selling them let us know on TSF!! We can beat the rush.

There'll be no rush, I'm not going to go down the Dan Shelton route. I'm going to make cues as tools for playing snooker, maybe some snooker style 9 ball cues with bigger tips. I'll be making them one at a time from now on, no orders to peoples specs, going to specialize in longer cues for the taller players, experiment on tapers with different timbers, different ferrules, have some buffalo horn from the US, some stainless steel and some titanium as well as the usual brass.

What's the plan? Presumably you're making them to sell - what price point?

Nothing extravagant, I don't have business overheads and staff to pay, not in this to make money, will work out a fair price according to time taken, materials used and my judgement on how good the shaft is. I don't believe in pricing at what the customer is prepared to pay, that's simply ripping people off in my book.

I was thinking £50 for the raw shaft, and then whatever the cost of the hardwood for the butts plus my time at £8 an hour to the finished article. We'll see what that comes out at when I've finished the first one.

[j6uk]

The lathe is purely for joint work, and maybe give the shafts a spin to make sure they're rounded, had a play with it but haven't used it in anger yet. It's a mid size Cue Smith, not the all singing and dancing model, but it can take a one piece cue, say if I want to fit a mini butt joint, or to split a one piece down to 3/4. Excellent piece of kit.

yeah iv heard good tingings about these, have you done any ferrule work on it or isn't it suitable?
how long ago did you get it and at what price?

[vmax4steve]

yeah iv heard good tingings about these, have you done any ferrule work on it or isn't it suitable?
how long ago did you get it and at what price?

I've had it for a year now, but seeing as I was cutting, planing and resting my shafts over this time I haven't yet used it for any cue work. Had a play with it with some offcuts and it does everything you want it to do for joint and ferrule work, cuts really accurately, has a speed control, a foot control, can reverse.

Cost me £1400 inc delivery + £300 import VAT + £60 for a 1000 watt step down voltage converter.

[j6uk]

I've had it for a year now, but seeing as I was cutting, planing and resting my shafts over this time I haven't yet used it for any cue work. Had a play with it with some offcuts and it does everything you want it to do for joint and ferrule work, cuts really accurately, has a speed control, a foot control, can reverse.

Cost me £1400 inc delivery + £300 import VAT + £60 for a 1000 watt step down voltage converter.

sounds like it pretty much does it all. be interested to hear more when your a few cues in..
at the moment i do have someone with a lathe and he drills holes, cuts ferrules and calves out my bullet weights, but the only machinery i have is an electric planer and a belt sander, planer is well used and the sander i mainly use for rounding the butts off and sharpening pencils.