Billiards Speak

This cue is completed. Click here to look at this cue.   Serial Number SN-TS085 is part of the Tiger Shark series. Click here to see about the series. This cue is made with solid core construction. Click here to see why this cue is different. The butt sleeve and forearm are Macassar ebony. The ringwork consists of a yellow trim ring, an ebony ring with 24 maple stitches in it, followed by the last yellow ring. The butt cap is Delrin. Delrin was the typical butt cap used by cuemakers like George Balabushka and Gus Szamboti. Delrin doesn’t require a finish so the butt cap won’t chip. The joint collars are double black linen phenolic.

The sharks and the Gaboon Ebony backgrounds are all inlaid. The 2 Tiger Shark inlays in the butt are made of Elk Antler. No Elk were harmed for the making of the cue. The Antler was shed. The 2 Tiger Shark inlays in the forearm are made from figured Bubinga. The Tiger Shark inlays are engraved with detail markings. It comes with one 13mm RAVEN tapered hard rock maple shaft and one 14mm RAVEN tapered Ash shaft. Ash isn’t commonly used for American Pool cues shafts but it is the shaft wood of choice for British Snooker cues. The wrap is black textured leather.

Serial number 00033 has been sold.  Look at SN-33 This cue was originally built with a purpleheart handle. Althought quite solid, it was on the heavy side so it has been rebuilt on a solid laminated core. The original forearm and butt sleeve were used in the new construction. Serial number 00033 is very ornate. It has a total of 66 inlays of genuine elephant ivory and web turquoise in a 3, 6, 9 pattern to create a unique character. It features a highly figured Canadian curly maple forearm with a Gaboon ebony butt sleeve. The forearm has been stained brown to highlight the beauty of the wood. The 4 floating points are also Gaboon ebony. Each point is detailed with 9 rectangular web turquoise inlays. The center of the butt sleeve has 3 alternating differentiated ‘augmented diamonds’ of ivory and web turquoise. The upper and lower butt sleeve contains 6 horseshoe shaped inlays of ivory and 6 of turquoise that are interwoven. The butt has matching nickel silver rings throughout and a double black linen joint collar and butt cap. The stitch rings contain 60 dashes of silver and 60 rectangles of maple. The handle has been wrapped with a black baby gator pattern leather. It comes with 2 RAVEN tapered ‘Old Growth’ hard rock maple shafts with matching ring work.

We just posted new information about cue SN-00033, Cues for Sale, http://www.ravencues.com/cue23.html and there is also additional information about Number 13 in Cues Under Construction http://www.ravencues.com/cue72.html .

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!