Why are cues made of wood ?

[submarine]

I was flicking through a 1968/69 Riley Burwat catalogue last night (as you do) and they were also selling steel cues at that time, had never noticed them before.

[Welshsteve]

A couple of players in my old team had graphite cues, but the balance of them felt all wrong and even when cueing well, the noise didn't sound right.

[Rane]

Graphite cues - looked very strange, but going a bit further back i can remember a couple of fellas at my club that used aluminium cues.

I think its just tradition, and unlike sports like golf, technology has not found a universally embraced alternative to the wooden shaft.

I think the day, when you would get a real advantage of changing to another material, then a change would come quite swift. But as Hendry could win 7 wc titles with his first (and cheap) cue, the cue doesn´t have a lot of influence. Offcause it shall be straight, have a good weight and butt, but at the moment you don´t get the same advantage of changing, as you do in golf, tennis or bicyckling for that sake. If we get a world champion from USA I guess we will see changes in how a cue looks and should be built.

[tallguy]

I think the day, when you would get a real advantage of changing to another material, then a change would come quite swift. But as Hendry could win 7 wc titles with his first (and cheap) cue, the cue doesn´t have a lot of influence. Offcause it shall be straight, have a good weight and butt, but at the moment you don´t get the same advantage of changing, as you do in golf, tennis or bicyckling for that sake. If we get a world champion from USA I guess we will see changes in how a cue looks and should be built.

Totally agree with you Rane, especially the champion from USA part

[Watford]

I think the day, when you would get a real advantage of changing to another material, then a change would come quite swift. But as Hendry could win 7 wc titles with his first (and cheap) cue, the cue doesn´t have a lot of influence. Offcause it shall be straight, have a good weight and butt, but at the moment you don´t get the same advantage of changing, as you do in golf, tennis or bicyckling for that sake. If we get a world champion from USA I guess we will see changes in how a cue looks and should be built.

Utter cack!
1 Hendry's cue wasn't cheap that as has been discussed here many times is a fallacy. It was a Powerglide connoisseur which would cost around £200 in todays money.
As has been said: nothing so far has the feel you get from wood, which is vital.
The Yanks make a lot of cues for pool don't they and they are still wooden.
They do make more coated pool cues now though but I hate the way they feel.