Wood Selection

 

Q: What makes a good cue?

A: Quality wood! Plus a good Cue Maker of course…

 

 

 

Choosing the right wood is critical in making a good cue.

Every piece of wood is visually checked. Obvious grain defects and general poor quality are discarded.

The shaft is the single most important part of a cue. Initially selected on visual appearance alone, a large percentage is discarded. And then more still in the second selection stage when the 'feel' factor is considered.

All this takes time. You can't call a wood supplier and ask for the 'right' wood. It has to be searched through, bought, cut up, discarded, more cut up, checked for 'feel', discarded, more cut up and checked for 'feel', until eventually you have a good shaft and good butt wood.

 

‘Looks’

 

It's only natural to be drawn to something that is pleasing to the eye...

Shaft

Standard professional grade shafts - selected from top quality stock for nice looking grain/arrows with the emphasis being on at least one or two nice arrows near the top of shaft where you may sight the cue. Recommended for all customers.

Deluxe shafts - the most perfect examples found, with particularly clear and even grain. In playing terms, there is no difference. In fact, they are both selected from the same professional playing grades of timber. However, Deluxe shafts are classed as such purely according to their appearance, and represent the most perfect visual examples. Many boards and shafts must be cut to find this quality. The value attached to these shafts is reflected by the timber discarded and man hours lost to find them. Recommended only for customers with specific shaft appearance requests.

Butt

Highest quality 'Black' Ebony is selected for the butt and is usually 'black' right through, but may occasionally have small colour variations. No dyes or 'fault covering' lacquers are used to hide the natural features of this beautiful and wonderful feeling wood.

Other decorative exotic hardwoods are chosen for even and strongly marked patterns. Again, much waste in man hours and timber goes into finding this premium quality.

However, it should be noted that no two bits of wood are the same, e.g. one piece of snakewood may look completely different to the next, and 'Black' Ebony can vary in 'blackness', even in two pieces cut from the same piece.

Regardless, butt woods are generally selected for reasonably uniform colour and pattern.

 

‘Feel’

However, because a piece of wood looks good, it does not mean it possesses the necessary qualities required for a cue.

Shaft

When the shaft has been tapered for the first time, it is checked again for any defects and also to see that it has the right 'feel'.

This is done by picking it up, holding it, feeling it, and looking at it.

A shaft should have a nice ‘spring’ to it, and years of experience means that good shafts are quickly spotted.

Butt

Butt wood plays little part in the 'playing feel' of a cue. Having said that, Ebony is used on 99% of cues, with the addition of various exotic hardwoods. If cheaper, less dense woods were used, then weight and balance would certainly be compromised, and the 'feel' would be affected.

‘Looks’ vs. ‘Feel’

You should understand that the straightness of shaft grain has no bearing on how ‘good’ the cue actually is:

• Some shafts have perfect straight grain and look amazing, but they don’t have the ‘feel’, which makes them useless.
• Often, a very ‘wild’ grain shaft, where the grain and arrows are all over the place, has the best 'feel' and plays superb. They’re as good, if not better than any shaft with perfect visual features.

But, understandably, particularly with Deluxe Custom Cues, some customers insist on certain aspects of the shaft to look just how they want.

Consequently, a lot of wood gets discarded during the selection process. This ensures that each cue made has the right combination of looking good and, much more importantly, playing good.