Billiards Speak

We are still expanding!! We now list more than 3000 Pool and Billiards, Cues, Cases, Accessories or other Equipment. There are hundreds of new Pool Cues alone and we still haven’t even added Meucci Cues, Predator Cues, McDermott Cues, Falcon Cues and Lucasi Cues.  Below is a bit about one of the new cue brands we carry.

Action

How it plays: Compact, solid hit Selling Points: High quality materials, superior craftsmanship and affordable pricing. Built for a wide range of players, Action cues meet the needs of beginners, league members, and tournament tested shooters. Wide selection means there is a cue for everyone. Satisfaction guaranteed.Weight Changes: Not Available. Specifications: Tip: 10 layered, vacuum sealed, 13mm proprietary boar skin tip Ferrule: 1″ Fiber ferruleShaft: 29″ hardrock maple, 10 - 12″ pro taper, brass insert. Collar: White composite Joint: Wood to wood, stainless pin 5/16 18 Rings: (shaft, forearm and plate) single stainless ring Forearm: Birdseye maple stained blue. Wrap: None Sleeve: Birdseye maple stained blue. Plate: White composite with black Action emblem. Bumper: Black rubber

We just added hundreds of new cues and cases.  There are hundreds more to come but we are making progress with our expansion.  Below is a bit about one of the new cue brands we carry.

5280

How it plays: Compact, solid hit similar to Joss/Schon. Selling Points: Enormous value for the end user.  High quality at affordable price. CNC technology used to achieve the highest possible quality control tolerances. 5-point quality control check. 1-year warranty on parts and workmanship. Comes with free joint protectors. Weight Changes: Weight changes are available. Weights range between 18 and 21 oz. Specifications: TIP: 13mm 7 layered leather tip FERRULE: Ivorene-3 fiber linen. SHAFT: 29” with 13” pro taper. Shaft: AAA grade Canadian hard rock maple. Black collar with thin silver ring. JOINT: Unique Tru-Loc® joint with polished stainless steel. Seals contact with the shaft for perfect fit every time. FOREARM: Smoke-stained birdseye maple with ebony overlay and Mother of Pearl Acrylite® diamond inlays. Accented with a silver accent ring. WRAP: Black Irish linen. SLEEVE: Smoke-stained birdseye maple with ebony overlay and Mother of Pearl Acrylite® diamond inlays. Accented with a silver accent ring. PLATE: Black with silver 5280 logo. BUMPER: Black rubber

5.5 CONTINUING PLAY
On the shot immediately following a legal break, the shooter may play a “push out.” (See Rule 5.6). If the breaker pockets one or more balls on a legal break, he continues to shoot until he misses, fouls, or wins the game. If the player misses or fouls, the other player begins an inning and shoots until missing, committing a foul, or winning. The game ends when the 9-ball is pocketed on a legal shot, or the game is forfeited for a serious infraction of the rules.

5.6 PUSH OUT
The player who shoots the shot immediately after a legal break may play a push out in an attempt to move the cue ball into a better position for the option that follows. On a push out, the cue ball is not required to con-tact any object ball nor any rail, but all other foul rules still apply. The player must announce the intention of playing a push out before the shot, or the shot is considered to be a normal shot. Any ball pocketed on a push out does not count and remains pocketed except the 9-ball. Following a legal push out, the incoming player is permitted to shoot from that position or to pass the shot back to the player who pushed out. A push out is not considered to be a foul as long as no rule (except rules 5.8 and 5.9) is violated. An illegal push out is penalized according to the type of foul committed. After a player scratches on the break shot, the incoming player cannot play a push out.

Never sand out a dent or a nick in your shaft. If you aren’t squeamish about such things, dab a little saliva on the dent, time after time over a few weeks. Tap water works fine too. If the dent isn’t too deep the wood will eventually swell to where it is barely noticeable or gone entirely. If the dent is deeper or more bothersome, carefully use an iron with a damp cloth to force steam into the dent. The wood pores expand and bring the dented area to the surface. This method will require smoothing off the expanded area and the dent should be gone. Better yet, unless you just like caring for your cue yourself, take your shaft to a qualified repair-person. For a few dollars your shaft will be cleaned, dents removed and the shaft re-sealed. It is well worth the charge.

Over the next few weeks we will be adding several hundred more products to the already extensive list we currently have.  We’ll bring back Predator cues and add quality production cue names like Joss McDermott and Meucci.  We’ll also add Cue lines like Lucasi, Mezz, Riley snooker cues and a half dozen more name brands.  Our case offerings will increase substantially with popular lines like Instroke Joe Porper and Giuseppe.  By May we should have all our new product in place.

Your hands perspire. Perspiration, because part of its purpose is to remove cellular waste from our bodies, is acidic. Acid isn’t good for your cue. Neither is the chalk, powder, table grit, French-fry oil, cigarette smoke, or spilled pop or beer you inevitably come in contact with. Hopefully you occasionally wash your hands. Do the same with your cue. Don’t scrub it with a kitchen pad. Dampen a soft cloth in clean soapy water. Or just use rubbing alcohol. Wipe down the body of the cue with the cloth and immediately dry it with a different soft dry cloth. Pay special attention to the shaft. Regularly removing most of the embedded chalk and powder from the shaft will extend its playing life. A gentle rub down with a good wax or furniture polish, after the bath, will help protect your cue until its next contact with the outside world.

This cue is used but it is in like new condition. It comes with the full lifetime warranty. It was my personal playing cue until April of 2008. Photos are of the unfinished cue. It had not been polished. Serial number 00016 has 4 purpleheart spliced points into a nicely figured birdseye maple forearm. The purpleheart butt sleeve is inlaid with 4 malachite four leaf clovers. The clovers are offset by alternating black and white decorative circles above and below. The butt sleeve is separated by white and green trim rings. The butt cap is imitation ivory as is the joint collar which is also separated by green and white trim rings. It comes with 1 RAVEN tapered hard rock maple shaft that has matching rings and joint collar. The pressed linen wrap is green with white specks. This cue can be weighted up to about 20 ounces with a weight screw. It has had a few changes since it was built. The current bumper is a little different. The wrap has been replaced with the same pressed Irish linen. I also made a slight modification to the joint collar, but it looks the same.  Click Here to See This Cue!

Serial Number 00089 is complete. It is a Titlist Conversion Cue. That means the two piece cue was made from an original World War II era Brunswick-Balke-Collender Willie Hoppe Titlist house cue. The body is rosewood. The forearm is straight grained maple with four full spliced rosewood points. Each point has four veneers. The forearm is stamped with the original Willie Hoppe stamp and the original 18 ounce weight stamps. The points have the traditional early Titlist veneers: maple, mahogany, pale green and purple. The butt cap is double black linen phenolic. The butt cap is preceded by a buckhorn Hoppe ring that is underpinned with phenolic. The cue has a thick black phenolic ring on the butt side of the joint. The joint is buckhorn faced and underpinned with black linen phenolic.  Click Here to See This Cue!

We just added shipping to include Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Spain, France, Germany and Italy. If we don’t already ship to your country, send us an email and inquire. We may be able to extend our shipping range.

International Customers and those Outside the Continental US

We only offer one option for shipping outside the Continental US. To keep things Simple choose FedEx Ground. It calculates the least expensive shipping for you. The Country we are shipping your items to adds the proper shipping charge. 

Most people just don’t know how to care for their shafts. A shaft should be a consistent diameter to the ferrule for several inches back toward the butt or have a gradual taper in that direction. Most used shafts are not like that. They tend to be thinner a few inches back from the ferrule because of the over use of sandpaper or Scotch-Brite. In his first book Robert Byrne told the pool-playing world about Scotch-Brite. Now shafts all over the world sag in the middle because of its over use. It isn’t Mr. Byrne’s fault. If I recall correctly he described the usage of Scotch-Brite as a gentle caress on the shaft. Instead of a gentle caress, I cringe as people wrench a green pad around the shaft and pump it up and down like a piston in a cloud of wood dust. Sandpaper unless about 1500 grit is usually worse.