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Getting The Right Cue And Maintaining it – By J.H.Leong

GETTING THE RIGHT SNOOKER CUE

ONE PIECE CUE AND 3/4 JOINT CUE

ONE PIECE CUE

3/4 JOINT CUE

It is generally accepted that a one piece cue offer better feel for the shot. A jointed 3/4 cue tends to be more rigid(stiffness that cut down cue power). This can affect the throw of the cue ball, especially when using side spin and power shots. but nowadays 3 quarter joint cues are more popular, they tend to be easier to carry around. It’s simply just more convenient only.

If you are thinking of changing from a one piece cue to a 3/4 jointed cue, it will definitely fell different.

As for my personal advise for changing a cue , be patient , practice more with the new cue and try memorizing the character of your new cue. your natural instinct will allow you to make necessary adjustment , give it some time !

WEIGHT

There are a lots of wood to make cues and they all have different natural weight .

Some players think that a heavy cue will help them gain power. This is only partially true, but power is generally obtained by a cue action that is straight, parallel , timed correctly and the most important part is LOTS OF FOLLOW THROUGH .

As for cue made by lighter wood (ROSE WOOD) generally it need to have weight inserted.

(O’MIN – O ‘ MILLENNIUM CUE)

This weights are normally just glued in the butt of the cue butt,which means after sometime it might get loosen inside the cue butt which will create “click sound” whenever you strike a ball. The only way to repair it is to send it back to the factory cut off the whole cue butt end to re-glue it again. It will be very costly to do so.

Best wood meterial for making a cue butt is still always ebony wood.

(BLACK NATURAL COLOR)

(O’MIN – CLASSIC CUE ).

BEST WEIGHT FOR A CUE IS NORMALLY FROM 17.5OZ – 18.5OZ

SHAFT

Shaft are normally made of ASH (left) or MAPLE (right)

ASH is more popular, players tend to feel more comfortable with an ash wood cue because of the grain is visual and the lines of the grain can help them to line up on the shot.

MAPLE has a much tighter grain and it is more stiffer and more solid than ash. it is also feels much more smoother through the bridge hand.

Arrows and lines of the grains are not as important as the stiffness of an ash wood shaft.

But end of the day is still a matter of own choice.

LENGHT

A normal standard cue length is 57″, but again a custom made cue can vary in length.

It is generally accepted that your cue should be “shoulder length”, when you standing in an upright position. length of your arm should also be taken in to account.

If you own a cue that is too long, you can always adjust your gripping position.

If your cue is too short, you will have problems getting enough follow through the cue ball.

Then it is time to get a new one !

BEST LENGHT FOR A CUE IS FROM 57″ – 58″

BALANCING OF A CUE

With a correctly well balance cue, you will be able to feel the weigh of the cue shaft on your bridge. Especially when the cue ball is tight at the cushion that you normally have to hold a shorter grip.

normally cues have their balancing point at 14″- 16″ from the end of the cue butt. I personally using a 18″ balancing maple one piece cue. Which it helps me a lot on the stability while delivering my cue for every shot.

BEST BALANCING FOR A CUE IS 16″ – 18″

TIP SIZE

A brass ferrule is fitted at the top of the cue shaft to prevent any damage to the shaft at it’s most vulnerable point. The tip size usually varies between 9mm- 10mm.

Some cue makers also uses stainless steel ferrule. but is is strictly not advisable due to stainless steel is to hard and stiff for the shaft, it will damage the shaft because of it’s sharp edge of the ferrule. It will also cut down the natural cue power too.

BEST TIP SIZE IS FROM 9.5MM – 9.8MM

BUTT / THE FLAT

SQUARE LOGO FLAT

Most cue are made with a “flat” at the cue butt end for logo purpose. Logo can be in square or round.

Most players like the feel of this flat in their grip. Normally the flat is facing up where the preferred ash cue arrow and grains are. The flat also help you get the feel of whether you are gripping the correct position not.

But you can always have your custom made cue with or without the flat. Coloured veneers and other natural colour wood meterial can be use on the cue butt. which will of course cost more, due to more wood meterial being use and time of workmanship.

It can be visually attractive, but it does not help you strike the ball any better.

BEST CUE TO HAVE IS a WHOLE EBONY BUTT TYPE (O’MIN – CLASSIC CUE)

MAINTAINING AND CARE FOR YOUR CUE

The wood use today is generally young and dried, due to world wide demands and needs care and attention.

DO’S

~Get a good strong hard casing for the cue protection, preferably a aluminum type with a lock and strong handle.

~Keep the cue clean always by wiping it with a slightly damp cloth and immediately drying it off with a clean dry cloth.

~Always keep your cue tip in good shape, slightly domed it and level it with your ferrule.

~For cues without lacquer, replenish the cue shaft with raw linseed oil every three months. Apply cue oil with a clean cloth, and leave it for over night and wipe off any excess oil with a clean dry cloth. If it is still too oily or sticky, you can also try using a very fine sand paper (no. 1000/ no.1200) to smoothen it.

~Always keep the joint clean. You can simply clean off dirt with any metal cleaning oil(WD-40) . you can also use a brass polisher(Autosol) to make it shine. believe it or not ? it will look like brand new !

DONT’S

~Never leave the cue anywhere that extreme temperature changes take place. Example : Car boot.

~Never borrow your cue to anyone, even if he is your best friend.

~Never leave your cue leaning against the wall, it will cause the cue bent/warp.

~Never use sand paper on your cue shaft unless you are using fine sand paper (No. 1000/No.1200). Using a rough sand paper on the cue shaft will take off the raw wood off easily and damage the cue.

~Never touch your ferrule with sand paper when you are shaping your cue tip.

~Never play with your cue when the cue tip is damage or ruin. it with also damage the ferrule. Hard cue tip(Too compress) is also not advisable . It will not only damage the cue, It will also reduce the natural cue power off the cue . You will always need the cue tip to have some bounce out feel to create power. If the cue tip is too hard, it will not take up chalk prefectly and you will lose grip on the cue ball. (Miss cue)

~Never abuse the cue no matter what. Always keep in mind that snooker is a gentleman game. so. please be GENTLE- MAN !

CHECKING STRAIGHTNESS OF A CUE

Only lift up the cue up to your eye line and turn it slowly as you are looking down it’s whole cue length.

DO NOT roll it on the bed of the snooker table. if its not level , either the joint, tip , or the flat on the butt can cause it to lift when rolling and that doesn’t mean it is warped.

Example: Most of the 3/4 joint cue even most of the John Parris cue will lift while rolling on the bed of snooker tables.

But still there are many people still likes to roll the cue on the table .

HOW MUCH IT COST ?

Well everyone has a budget . A reasonable good cue can range from RM 300 – RM 2000. The cheapest cue is those machine made cues, there are also machine made cues made by ebony at the butt which i most recommend for budget buyers. (O’min Champion Cue)

In another way of saying if you are really a snooker lover like myself , buying a cheaper cue only will end up making you want to upgrade to get a better one. so it is not wise for those who can afford a handmade cue, because a well maintained cue can last for more than 10 years . so it is not too expensive to spend RM100o and above to get a whole set of cue and case.

But still nobody can guarantee that a more expensive cue will make you a better player

SUMMARY

As you can see there are a lot of things to take into account when choosing a new cue. But please take your time, it is normally your hard earned money you have to spend. End of the day it is still comes down to your personal choice, if you happen to find one that you like from the look and it feels good in your hand. Go for it !

Never listen to those so- called expert who don’t have any knowledge about cues , even if he is a professional snooker player, he might not know much about cues.

The BEST CUE in the world is the one you are used to it !

At last i hope that all this tips will help all snookers lovers in the world like you get a cue that suits you best .

PHOTOS OF THE MAKING OF A CUE

MY OWN CUE

One piece maple cue designed with 16 splicing mixture with curly cherry maple/natural colour veneer/1st grade ebony at the butt end and it’s shaft is made by the highest grade maple.

This piece of cue is personally fully made by Mr. Kulwattanpron (owner of O’min cues)

Length – 58″ (147 cm)

Weight – 18oz

Tip size – 9.7 mm

Butt size – 29.5mm

Balancing – 18″

Logo – None