Hand Spliced/painted

[John mac]

Hi ,I was wondering what to look out for in a genuine hand spliced cue ,and should you be able to see the hairline joints between the four splices ?

[fkhan]

Hand spliced cues have rounded ends as compared to pointed ends (for machine spliced cues) towards the tip end of the cue. Painted cue butts look too good to be true. Don't try it but you can tell if a cues butt is real by using sand paper. If it's real you will see the same wood after sanding it. If it's painted, the paint will start to come off.

This is how a hand spliced genuine ebony butt and ash cue looks. Screenshot_20220101-215430_Gallery.jpg

[vmax]

Hi ,I was wondering what to look out for in a genuine hand spliced cue ,and should you be able to see the hairline joints between the four splices ?

Vintage machine spliced cues have pointed tips as the two pieces are joined by means of a jointing machine before the cue is rounded and tapered, vintage hand made cues are rounded and tapered by hand before the splices are added so therefore the tips are rounded because the shaft was round before the wood was removed by the plane to glue on the splices. Should you be able to see the gluelines ? in some cases yes but in some cases no, Parris used a red glue for many years that is easily seen and these cues are sought after as he alone made these cues before he got big and employed others.

Today the shafts of many so called hand spliced cues are first rounded and tapered in a cnc lathe with the butt added later. This gives the impression that they have been hand made as the tips are rounded but the only handling going on is the hardwood being glued on by hand and then back to the cnc lathe for final rounding and tapering. A good sign that this is how a cue has been made is that the length of the splices are identical, a genuine hand made cue from board to finished article doesn't have that machine level of accuracy, nor does it need to and striving for that as a cuemaker is simply bowing to the whims of the customers ignorance.

Many modern cuemakers still practise the old hand made from a board method but as the thaigate thread showed us many are also importing ready made cues and simply badging them as their own and charging a premium, so look out for the clues I have mentioned above. Also ebony is very rarely deep black all over, if a cue shows that then it's probably been ebonised (dyed) for an expensive make or painted if a cheaper make. I bought a cheap chinese cue from ebay for a mate many years ago, took the laquer off the shaft and the paint on the butt which revealed a very nice piece of dark hardwood, species unknown, with some really nice figuring that looked far better than the painted finish once I'd oiled it.

[DeanH]

... in some cases yes but in some cases no, Parris used a red glue for many years that is easily seen and these cues are sought after as he alone made these cues before he got big and employed others.

...or, some believe this; but this is not true, he used red glue to around 2007 and he had employees way before then

All the red glue indicates is that he and his team used that type of glue on that cue

[gazza147]

...or, some believe this; but this is not true, he used red glue to around 2007 and he had employees way before then

All the red glue indicates is that he and his team used that type of glue on that cue

I hear this nonsense regarding RED GLUE all the time and they genuinely think they should get alot more money for them! John Parris didn't make all them Cues and only reason he changed the Red Glue was it was taking to long to cure which he will confirm. Also it wasn't just john using that Red Glue years ago there were a few cue makers using it.

[Kazzey]

I recently bought a cue from Master Thailand and it also has very fine gluelines on the top where the ebony starts wondering is that a fault?

[fkhan]

I recently bought a cue from Master Thailand and it also has very fine gluelines on the top where the ebony starts wondering is that a fault?

Please share some pics of the cue.

[Kazzey]

The lines can only be visible under a bright light
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[Kazzey]

filedata/fetch?filedataid=16857 The lines can also be felt but are only on the ebony on the top part of the butt the wood below it has no lines

[Mark187187]

The lines can only be visible under a bright light
filedata/fetch?filedataid=16856

Sounds like it's not an issue. Just enjoy playing with it, no cues come 100% perfect

[DeanH]

Could be a slight colour change due to the glue showing through the very thin wood of the butt spliceses at the points. :shrug: