pplater has one. And now, so . . .

Jun 29, 2020,11:04 AM
 

. . . do I.

smile

I'm referring, of course, to a Tasmanian blackwood pool cue fitted with a Tasmanian huon forearm and butt.  pplater posted his several months ago . . .




[photo credit: pplater, Dec '19]

. . . and now there's a near twin . . .




. . . in my burgeoning collection.  I opted for a single Euro-taper purpleheart shaft, while pplater ordered all three options, oak and maple in addition to purpleheart.  And there are differences in joint materials, with pplater going down the buffalo horn route while I went with ivorine.  But they are otherwise identical, with a handle formed from a solid piece of Tasmanian blackwood accented by Tasmanian huon fitted over the fore and aft ends.  The huon sections are essentially floating on the blackwood core, so they're not really functional - the 'hit' of the cue is determined by the resonance of blackwood. 

The ivorine joints . . .




. . . are dressed with rings of zaratite made from the same rock sample used on pplater's.  The rings separating blackwood from huon . . .






. . . were cut from the first zaratite pplater sent, and have a slightly darker appearance.  The tip is attached to an ivorine ferrule . . .




. . . separated by a thin pad of carbon fiber. 

I've practiced several racks with it; it plays harder than any of my other cues with ultra-soft tips.  I'm not sure what to attribute that to, but in all likelihood it's the resonant quality of Tasmanian blackwood that accounts for its feedback.  Paradoxically, I noticed that playing with it seems to modulate the force I normally use down a notch.  This is a desirable quality, as accuracy goes up when velocity goes down.

So, you may be wondering, how's my game these days?

You had to ask.










All called shots.




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Comments: view entire thread

 

I remember hitting on a very attractive female

 
 By: K-Lo : June 29th, 2020-11:06
Pool player in Upper Darby. She totally shot my balls down.

Maybe your shaft . . .

 
 By: Dr No : June 29th, 2020-11:11
. . . wasn't hard enough. 😉

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

 
 By: K-Lo : June 29th, 2020-11:24
ROFL I almost died!!!!!!!

LOL 😉 [nt]

 
 By: Cpt Scarlet : June 29th, 2020-14:54

About a dozen or so . . .

 
 By: Dr No : June 29th, 2020-11:18
. . . with two more on order, Nicolas. Between pool cues and watches, I'm really more into cues these days.

LOL!!! [nt]

 
 By: amanico : June 29th, 2020-11:27

Beautiful cue...

 
 By: mdg : June 29th, 2020-11:22
...I would be happy to play for beers (and lose, but it would be good instruction). Those are some very nice shots you pulled off : )

Anytime! And if you're ever in So Cal, hang out with us . . .

 
 By: Dr No : June 29th, 2020-11:30
. . . on a Wednesday afternoon when we play a friendly tournament at my favorite seaside dive bar. It's hosted a few guys on this forum . . . . . . in the past. ...  

To be lived again! [nt]

 
 By: amanico : June 29th, 2020-11:31

Hi Art.. For those interested the Huon you refer to is Huon Pine and it is

 
 By: BeckyJax1 : June 29th, 2020-13:03
One of the most magnificent timbers you’ll find anywhere...lm biased though l was born in that area. The Huon Valley is located about an hour south of Tasmania’s Capital Hobart. Cheers Dave

Huon - often referred to as huon pine, even though it's technically not in the pine family - was . . .

 
 By: Dr No : June 29th, 2020-13:51
. . . primarily used in boatmaking. Its tight grain and high oil content make it suitable for that purpose. Huon trees are reputedly aged to three millenium . In our cues, the huon is pretty much decorative; it's the Tasmanian blackwood that's bearing the... 

A Taswegian on the forum!...

 
 By: pplater : June 29th, 2020-19:29
Probably about as common as a Tassie Tiger. Dave, it may interest you to know that the zaratite for the dress rings was also deliberately chosen for its origins; like the huon and the blackwood, as you may be aware, it originates from Tasmania. There were... 

I beg to differ. The load was shared . . .

 
 By: Dr No : June 29th, 2020-19:58
. . . equally. All the rock and wood were supplied from the Southern Hemisphere, Tasmania to be precise. Air freight, no less. Hardly insignificant ;-) . . .

Still have an image or two . . .

 
 By: Dr No : June 30th, 2020-00:17
. . . of zaratite found in Tasmania. These are rings in their raw state . . . . . . after Gareth S, the UC Santa Barbara technical specialist, cored and turned them. There's a story in how these unique rings came about. Early on in our e-mail exchanges, p...  

Now a Goldie?...

 
 By: pplater : June 30th, 2020-02:19
Just missed you then; pplater Junior #5 has just recently completed a course at Bond Uni, so there were frequent pastoral mercy missions to Varsity Lakes over the last couple of years. Oh well. If you’re ever in the West... Cheers, pplater.

Congratulations on getting this one Art ...

 
 By: Cpt Scarlet : June 29th, 2020-15:08
It looks simply stunning. You may know what’s coming ;-)) ... m.youtube.com

I'll see your Jerry Lee and raise you . . .

 
 By: Dr No : June 29th, 2020-15:21
. . . a Jonny. ;-)

Well played but ...

 
 By: Cpt Scarlet : June 29th, 2020-15:27
m.youtube.com

You . . .

 
 By: Dr No : June 29th, 2020-15:35
. . . win. Never heard that one before! 🙌🏻

Haha ...

 
 By: Cpt Scarlet : June 29th, 2020-15:48
This must be a first !.... Enjoy that beautiful cue.

Believe it or not, Cap'n, last Saturday was Merv Shiner's . . .

 
 By: Dr No : February 27th, 2021-19:07
. . . 100th birthday. Let's hoist a glass to him! 💯