Joint thread thread!

[Watford]

Lot's of different threads out there no doubt own pros and cons but my question is this:
On a 3/4 a lot of the top cue makers put the male part of the joint on the shaft and the female on the butt why?
If you but them the other way you can put the mini butt in the shaft and have a shorter cue (handy for 8 ball). Craftsman do this.

I don't do 3/4 myself but I'm intrigued, is there a reason or is it just a snooker focused thing so didn't think about the poor pool players?

[AntMac147]

What's male and female parts of a cue?

[Oldgit]

.......er.......back to biology class for you Antmac!! The male part screws into the female part!!

[ja.]

or do you still think a stork brings baby cues!

[ADR147]

.......er.......back to biology class for you Antmac!! The male part screws into the female part!!

not in my house!

[DandyA]

Good question Watford!

I'm thinking of buying a new cue and quite fancy a Welsh Pool Trading one as they make a point that their mini-butt can do this - so hence you can have a cue of 47" 57/8" or 63"

My question is how many turns does it take to lock or release the airlock joint on a WPT cue? I'm a bit worried that swapping over from main to minibutt to play a shot from the hampered part of my local pub's pool table (and then back again) might take forever

[ADR147]

My question is how many turns does it take to lock or release the airlock joint on a WPT cue? I'm a bit worried that swapping over from main to minibutt to play a shot from the hampered part of my local pub's pool table (and then back again) might take forever

you are joking right!! you need to get out more!!

[AntMac147]

.......er.......back to biology class for you Antmac!! The male part screws into the female part!!

Oh Yeah lol i wasn't thinking

[DandyA]

you are joking right!! you need to get out more!!

LOL @ ADR147 ... although I think you mean I ought to stay in more (and not spend so much time down the pub!)

But no, it's a serious question - I currently use a cheap Cannon 3pc cue and it takes 2 turns to remove the quick-release detachable butt ... if say it takes 8 turns to lock/release the WPT airlock joint, to swap over to the mini-butt and then back again after the shot would be 32 turns as compared to 4 with my current cue

I'm thinking of buying a new cue primarily for snooker so ths isn't a big issue but I'd like to know the answer ... hopefully Bitter (nice chap that he is) will oblige

[ADR147]

it will take between 1.5 and 2.5 seconds.

[YDJ]

Lot's of different threads out there no doubt own pros and cons but my question is this:
On a 3/4 a lot of the top cue makers put the male part of the joint on the shaft and the female on the butt why?
If you but them the other way you can put the mini butt in the shaft and have a shorter cue (handy for 8 ball). Craftsman do this.

I don't do 3/4 myself but I'm intrigued, is there a reason or is it just a snooker focused thing so didn't think about the poor pool players?

The shaft material is a smaller diameter and generally weaker than the butt material. The male threaded part of the joint requires a smaller hole than the female part. Thus you can maintain the thickest wall section possible by mounting the male part in the shaft. Giving it maximum strength.

The female part requires a larger hole and can also have a hole right tough it which will allow weight to be removed or added to the butt.

The joint orientation can also be used to distribute the weight and adjust the balance point. The female part is generally lighter than the male part.

[Watford]

Hmmm interesting answer.
I'm believing you.
Be interesting if any of the cue makers can back that up.

[trevs1]

Yes, I will.

[MikeWooldridge]

ahem... (clear throat). RUBBISH!!!

The shaft material is a smaller diameter and generally weaker than the butt material.

ebony is no doubt dense and strong in some senses, but very brittle. ash is not so heavy but extremely strong under stress. for the purposes of examining strength at the join, the shaft is not 'weaker'. and i reckon i've seen more ebony butts split with the so called smaller join so the evidence goes totally against your 'theory'.

of course the shaft is smaller, but we are talking tiny fractions between shaft and butt making it negligible.

The male threaded part of the joint requires a smaller hole than the female part. Thus you can maintain the thickest wall section possible by mounting the male part in the shaft. Giving it maximum strength.

in theory it sounds good, but makes little difference regardless of how big the join is. e.g. hunt and o'byrne original is big internally. but i've rarely seen any of those over the years that have broken at the join.

in fact, in my opinon, within reason, the larger diameter the join internally, the bigger the contact area (and glued area) between wood and metal, thereby giving greater overall strength.

also, the wood in a centre join 2pc is much thinner than a butt join cue. and yet the 'bigger' female is successfully fitted and remains 'unbroken' indefinitely. this alone disproves the theory that the larger sized internal join should be fitted in the larger butt part for fear of 'weakness'.

The female part requires a larger hole and can also have a hole right tough it which will allow weight to be removed or added to the butt.

what?!? are you experienced in american pool cues or something? cos i've never ever seen a weight put into a cue through the female join and i've never had the need to do it myself. not least cos the hole would be quite small meaning how are you going to get a reasonable sized weight through that hole with enough glue to hold it without getting glue in the threads?

of course, it can be done, and i have toyed with it in the past. but it is NOT a reason that i've ever come across for manufacturers/cuemakers fitting joins that way.

The joint orientation can also be used to distribute the weight and adjust the balance point. The female part is generally lighter than the male part.

lol. give me a room of 1000 people and not one of them could detect the tiniest change of balance by swapping the joins around. you're talking about 1oz-2oz over a 2"-3" area. NOBODY would notice and NO discernable 'distribution' of weight would be evident.

one question remains, where did you get your information from? do you make cues? repair them?

On a 3/4 a lot of the top cue makers put the male part of the joint on the shaft and the female on the butt why?
If you but them the other way you can put the mini butt in the shaft and have a shorter cue (handy for 8 ball). Craftsman do this.

as i've explained above. there is not a genuine reason why a join should be fitted one way or the other. so fitting the join the most convenient way is, well...simply more convenient, and user friendly.

[MikeWooldridge]

i should add, i'm not saying fitting joins one way or the other is better. i'm saying categorically it doesn't make a blind bit of difference