Moisture Content for finishing off a snooker cue

[Jorge Rodrigues]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum, and I could do with some experienced woodworkers.

I am looking to make a snooker cue out of ash.

What moisture content should I be looking for, before I can start finishing it off?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

Jorge

 

[Beau]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum, and I could do with some experienced woodworkers.

I am looking to make a snooker cue out of ash.

What moisture content should I be looking for, before I can start finishing it off?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

Jorge

Hi and welcome

Never made a cue but for quality furniture I work on 10%. Anything higher you will probably get movement when it finishes drying in the home.

 

[Jorge Rodrigues]

Thanks, I will bear this in mind

Jorge

 

[custard]

Hello Jorge, welcome to the forum. I've never made a snooker cue but I've made plenty of other items that needed to be both very straight and very stable.

As well as moisture content you should take care to select exceptionally straight grained material. You really need to get down to a timber yard in person and pick through all their stock to find that rare board where the grain is straight as a die throughout the full length you need. Then you need to bring it down to final dimensions in small stages over a couple of weeks, removing material equally from all faces.

It sounds a faff, and it is, but with a snooker cue you're really asking a lot of timber. Wood doesn't naturally want to be either that straight or that stable, so unless you put the care in at the early stages you're likely to be disappointed with the end result.

Good luck!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I remember years ago reading an article by one of the bosses of Peradon and Fletcher. They were making something like 3000 cues a week and iirc he said every one they made was steamed straight - which would explain why they go off line so easily if they get damp.
Interestingly he said the standard length for cue (my snooker playing friends have said this is nonsense, but I'll take the guy's word for it) is 147cm - an easy one to remember.

 

[Jorge Rodrigues]

Custard,

Thanks for the tips on taking it down in stages.

I've been down to the yard, to pick out straight grain- as allayed myself, this is generally something I look for.

Regards,

Jorge

 

[Jorge Rodrigues]

Philip,

Generally 57-58 inches is the stand size.

I agree, steaming is not the way I want to do the cue.

They done this, as they are mass producing them.

No criticism , I played with one of there cues for many years.