'Hand Made' Cues - Do they have any inherent value?

[jrc750]

Yes, you were wrong. I accept your explanation. Don't assume you know something of a cue I've renovated when you didn't see it before hand.

I don't believe for a second that orange lacquer was used

[DeanH]

Yes, you were wrong. I accept your explanation. Please don't assume you know something of a cue I've renovated when you didn't see it before hand.

Yes I read a post wrong, just like, I think, you have.
I have not assumed anything about your particular cue, you stated about Orange Lacquer, I asked are you sure that it is not old aged lacquer which may have also been affected by a smokey atmosphere and then you insulted me
I have a maple cue from the 80s.
I bought it new and it was shiny white maple.
Over the years it is now a golden yellow colour as the oil has aged and it has been in a smokey atmosphere in the old days when smoking was allowed in clubs. When I give it a wipe down, no nicotine comes off it as it is now in a non-smokey environment, just the usual dirt/chalkdust.
I could send it to be refurbed and bring back to white, but I like the natural aged look

Now if it was an old old cue (20/30s) I have seen some really dark colouring

I have heard that the cue fakers are using coloured varnish to age cues....
:shrug:

[vmax4steve]

Captain of my league team still uses the maple cue he started off with in the 60's, it's now dark brown, still dead straight though.

[Big Splash!]

Yes I read a post wrong, just like, I think, you have.
I have not assumed anything about your particular cue, you stated about Orange Lacquer, I asked are you sure that it is not old aged lacquer which may have also been affected by a smokey atmosphere and then you insulted me
I have a maple cue from the 80s.
I bought it new and it was shiny white maple.
Over the years it is now a golden yellow colour as the oil has aged and it has been in a smokey atmosphere in the old days when smoking was allowed in clubs. When I give it a wipe down, no nicotine comes off it as it is now in a non-smokey environment, just the usual dirt/chalkdust.
I could send it to be refurbed and bring back to white, but I like the natural aged look

Now if it was an old old cue (20/30s) I have seen some really dark colouring

I have heard that the cue fakers are using coloured varnish to age cues....
:shrug:

True that.

But the owner (not Riley) coated the cue in lacquer (yacht varnish I reckon from his description); that's how I know about it! It was yellowish to begin with, then changed colour over a few decades he said. To be fair, the lacquer has protected the cue a bit I suppose but it ruined badge and that took a lot of work with a curved scalpal blade to fix. The rest of the cue was sanded with P2 down to p6000 (p3000 glossy) and then wool and rags with oil. NO buffing machines were used during the art.

[DeanH]

ah ha!, now we have the fuller story - not orange lacquer from the manufacturer but a owner applying their own stained varnish on top of the original finish, which subsequently aged. Now why did you not say this in the first post?
Yep, seen that a couple of times, even one that had so much lumpy poly-varnish on it, it was more like a walking stick than a cue

(and no, it was not one of those real walking stick cues )

[Big Splash!]

Sorry if you thought it was Riley but I didn't believe that I'd have to state it wasn't Riley given that everyone should know that AJ Riley didn't put lacquer on cues in the old days. They do now, on the cheap stuff like the Classic but that ain't a JD147 dear boy! Powerglide put 7 coats on cues in the 80s, much to the chagrin of some cue buyers. To be fair, those cues still look good and the butts have been protected. Takes a bit of getting used to but when you do, then go back to oil finish, the butt lacks grip and feels too slippy. Lacquer can get warm though, which is nice in the Winter, not great in the Summer.

[DeanH]

Sorry if you thought it was Riley but I didn't believe that I'd have to state it wasn't Riley given that everyone should know that AJ Riley didn't put lacquer on cues in the old days. They do now, on the cheap stuff like the Classic but that ain't a JD147 dear boy! Powerglide put 7 coats on cues in the 80s, much to the chagrin of some cue buyers. To be fair, those cues still look good and the butts have been protected. Takes a bit of getting used to but when you do, then go back to oil finish, the butt lacks grip and feels too slippy. Lacquer can get warm though, which is nice in the Winter, not great in the Summer.

sorry? I never mentioned or thought of any cue make anywhere in my posts, you did that all yourself?

yep I went from a varnished cue to an oiled one and as you say the difference can be off-putting (or it was for me initially )

I tried the other way, oil to varnished for a test, sticky and too much grip; obviously I had changed my grip with the oil cue

[mikeharris1701]

what's really important is the quality of the finished product you would imagine a good cue maker will know what jobs are best done by hand and what jobs are best done by machine i think splicing by hand turning on a lathe and fine finishing by hand would make sense to me any joints surely would be a lathe job as i can't see how you would fit them accurately by hand though i dare say there are probably master craftsmen who can.if i made cues i would probably advertise them as craftsman made so as to avoid being sued

[Big Splash!]

McGill, Sharav and Higgins using Exquisite Cues. Does Raymond hand make the shafts or are they bought in, does anyone know?

[jrc750]

Higgins no longer uses one i believe

[ghost121]

I heard that McGill has switched to Maximus. Personally, I have never been impressed by the Exquisite cues I have tried. All very stiff with little in the way of feedback and so so build quality for the price.

[tomperty]

I think the main reason for the price bump when buying a 'handmade' cue is that the cue maker has years of experience - they know what feels good in a shaft whereas a production line does not. Most of the tools being used are just reducing the time needed to produce a cue and not affecting the final quality of the product. I don't think there's any reason to do the rough work such beginning to taper a piece of wood by hand.

[Big Splash!]

I think the main reason for the price bump when buying a 'handmade' cue is that the cue maker has years of experience - they know what feels good in a shaft whereas a production line does not. Most of the tools being used are just reducing the time needed to produce a cue and not affecting the final quality of the product. I don't think there's any reason to do the rough work such beginning to taper a piece of wood by hand.

The first cut from square I agree. But the rest should be hand planed IMO. It's fraudulent to call a cue hand made if you don't use your hands to do the work and it's a con. 'Hand made' doesn't mean an image of loads of machines to the common man for any product. As I stated earlier, a hand made cue should involve at least 50% of the work done by hand. I accept machines do joints and ferrules (though I've fitted ferrules by hand), so it's important for the cue maker to use a plane to make up the content of a hand made cue such that it is at least 50% hands on IMO.

If not, they should just say 'hand spliced and hand finished' and be honest to the punter. They claim 'hand made' for one reason only, to screw more money out of the customer. Not the honest cue makers, the deceptive ones.

[itsnoteasy]

Should they claim hand made if it's other people in the workshop who make them? It's ridiculous to think ,with the orders the big guys get ,that one man makes them from start to finish, but with their name only, stamped on that badge ,it does make it appear like that.

[Shockerz]

Should they claim hand made if it's other people in the workshop who make them? It's ridiculous to think ,with the orders the big guys get ,that one man makes them from start to finish, but with their name only, stamped on that badge ,it does make it appear like that.

Would have to have 80" cues and a rather long badge to fit all the record all the contributors.

I guess the name just denotes who's company it is and handmade denotes not made completely by robots.