Cue grain,fact or fiction ?

[sydneygeorge]

Greetings from Australia, I would love to hear your views regarding the grain on cues and how it may affect the cues performance.
When looking at the widest part of the cue just above where the butt starts,is close together long straight grain of say 11 strands superior to wider spaced grain of say 4 strands ?
Would a cue with 7 arrows be superior to one with 5 ?
Thank you.

[magicman]

Fiction imo. You should be looking at the cue ball or the object ball not your cue.

[Terry Davidson]

george:

Since ash or maple are a natural product each piece of wood will react differently and from my experience with ash, it doesn't seem to matter if there's 12 chevrons or 3. I do try and get cues that have straight grains but the tightness doesn't really matter.

In addition I hold my cue with the chevrons to the side and also don't look at the cue during my backswing and delivery, so the appearance of the wood does not matter to me and I've found how you hold the cue doesn't matter either as long as you're consistent

Terry

[nrage]

I believe that the reason people think that grain patterns and chevrons matter, is that they can indicate how a piece of wood might perform, but it's not actually as simple as that. In addition how the wood has been treated has a large effect on it's performance, while often not significantly changing it's appearance in terms of grain pattern or chevron count.

[jim evans]

dont know wether its just me but i think wood is a bit like some steels that the more you work it the harder it appears to get

[poolqjunkie]

Some people believe tight grains are better, some prefer less grains.
It matters not what the chevrons look like but the spring and density of the shaft that was selected, coupled with the right balance, and proper tapering of the cue, determine if a cue play to a player's liking, in my opinion.
It is not true that older wood would have tighter grains, nor is it true that less chevrons are always stiffer to play with.

[davipp]

My cue has about 10 arrows and I always have them facing up but that's just the way I do it. I was told by another player that when you have the arrows facing forward for follow thru that's good but when you turn the cue over where the arrows are facing back that is better for screwing back, something to do with the strength in the timber, it's a head thing with him as far as I'm concerned. I would be more concerned how whippy the cue is, the less the better.

[sydneygeorge]

Gentlemen,thank you all for your opinions.

[vmax4steve]

Whether ash or maple a straight grain would be best as it would make the cue less prone to bending. My own ash cue has a dead straight grain and is still dead straight after twenty four years. As for looking at the chevrons, well I'm just like Terry as I never look at the shaft of the cue when playing, just align the tip to the cue ball ball and then look at the object ball. I also turn the cue around a little in my hand from shot to shot so I don't have to chalk the tip so often, once the flat of the butt has gone around 360 degrees I know it's time for more chalk.

[liliput]

Greetings from Australia, I would love to hear your views regarding the grain on cues and how it may affect the cues performance.
When looking at the widest part of the cue just above where the butt starts,is close together long straight grain of say 11 strands superior to wider spaced grain of say 4 strands ?
Would a cue with 7 arrows be superior to one with 5 ?
Thank you.

From my own humble experience, it does not matter at all. Superior in design maybe? After all beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.