A little more about shafts

This will give you an idea of the labor involved in cutting a shaft from a rough blank.


The differences in two joint threads that are essentially the same but with an important difference.

A look at a freshly machined joint.

A comparison between an accurately machined ferrule thread and the shortcuts that some cuemakers will take.
The bottom tenon was turned to about .265 diameter & a threaded ferrule was simply spun onto it, cutting its own meager thread.
As you can imagine, this ferrule loosened up shortly after a miscue.  Amazingly, this cue's maker is quite well known & respected.

This shows one reason ivory ferrules cost so much.  Not only is the ivory itself quite expensive, there is a lot of work involved in getting it into a usable shape.
First, I have to chuck it up in a 4 jaw & indicate the corners in.
Then I face the end square, center drill, tap drill, tap and drill the glue relief hole - all the while being careful to keep the heat down.
The tapped blank can then be mounted on an arbor, allowing the OD to be machined concentric to the internal threads and the tip face to be squared up.
The final pic shows the glue relief hole in the face.

This shows how the ferrule is actually installed.
First the tenon is turned to .312 diameter with a strength-giving fillet in the corner.
The 5/16-18 threads are cut with live tooling.
Appropriate glue applied & ferrule installed.
Ferrule machined flush to shaft and pad & tip installed.

This is an option I offer.  A thin walled carbon fiber/graphite tube stiffens the front of the shaft, cutting deflection.

Many more details about shaft components can be found HERE

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