Pictures from around the Shop

Cues From The Mystery Box

What is it and why would a cuemaker have one?

Post the answer in the comment section here on my blog.  First correct answer gets a DP Tee Shirt.

Hint: Gravity at Work





Post your answer in the comment section here, not on Facebook.

Cuemaker's Gold

Other cues: http://www.dpcues.com/category/35212772

No, No, No !

I get this call once a week. Can I buy a joint screw, NO !

Then I get a million reasons why the caller needs a joint screw, cuemakers call it a Joint Pin.
Believe it or not I'm helping you.

Spinning a shaft on an electric drill on just a Joint Pin will wobble out the wood threads or loosen the brass insert in
other style shafts. It may not happen the first time but, over time the shaft will be ruined.

• Clamping your drill in a vise will ruin the drill bearings

• Your drill is way too slow, we spin shafts at about warp 9, in a lathe, to clean and polish them

• You don't have the right stuff to seal the shaft and leaving it bare will warp it, period

You need something that looks like the end of you cue so that the shaft is fully supported,  no wobbling.

If the person working on your shafts doesn't know this...

Walk in my shop and I will clean your cue shafts and shape the tips for free,  is someone charging you ??

DP Shafts : http://www.dpcues.com/category/35212773

DP

An Old News Story About DP Custom Cues

	Aerospace Consumer Educational Jewelry Medical Military Mold/Pattern Music Production Shop Prototyping Racing Sporting Goods Tool & Die Transportation Woodworking Mastercam Helps Create Artistic Pool Cues “When I saw what real software (Mastercam) could do, even though I couldn’t afford it, I spent the money. I’ve been very glad that I did. The local support has been great too.” - Dale Perry, Owner DP Custom Cues Orange Park, FL Printer friendly version During the day, Dale Perry made his living but at night he enjoyed his passion of building cues. Later Dale quit his job to build cues full time and is now the owner of DP Custom Cues and works on custom, one-off $5,000 pool cue sticks. Every part of the cue is made by Dale, except for the tip, joint screw, and rubber bumper. The Challenge For making a custom cue, inlay pieces need to fit together precisely which in itself is a piece of art. DP Custom Cues had to find a software package that gave them high precision but at the same time was easy to use. The Solution Mastercam Mill Benefits Mastercam allows DP Cues to customize any part of the cues, quickly and easily. For their detailed inlay designs, Mastercam provides DP with precise toolpaths so their pieces fit together. Allows DP to be creative – if they can think a design up, they can draw it in Mastercam. Edits can be made quickly with Mastercam’s full associativity. Excellent local Reseller support when needed. Project Details Precision is one thing that’s needed when you’re working on a custom, one-off $5,000 pool cue stick. Another is having the ability to design one that meets a customer’s expectations for quality and uniqueness. Dale Perry, owner of DP Custom Cues, uses desktop engineering technology with hand crafting techniques to make distinctive cues sold the world over. Years ago he learned woodworking in high school. Even though he enjoyed it, he got himself a real job in bank auditing. Because he liked to play pool and had a custom cue, he found that cue makers were very rare individuals when he had a hard time finding one and had to wait six weeks to get ten minutes of work done on his cue. He thought, “I can make cues too.” So, during the day he made his living, but at night he enjoyed his passion of building cues. Later he quit his job to build cues full-time. Along the way, he acquired a 3,000 square foot shop in Orange Park, FL and advanced tools used for cue making. “My way of building cues is a vertically integrated system that allows me to start with raw lumber and finish with true custom cues. I make every part of a cue except the tip, joint screw, and rubber bumper.” Perry notes, “I’m currently on my third generation of cue making equipment, most of which I have built or modified to fit my needs. I draw all of my cues using Mastercam and it is also used to program my CNC routers. This equipment allows us to customize any part of our cues.” Perry builds his cues from exotic woods like ebony, cocobolo, and birdseye maple. To set his standard and custom one-off cues apart from others, he used beautiful inlays that consist of either contrasting woods, synthetic ivory, mother-of-pearl or other materials. For these pieces to fit precisely together is truly a work of art. To get this precision, Perry goes one step further by using the CNC router that gives thousands of an inch precision on the inlays and pockets. Perry says he started out using some low cost CAM programs to save money. But he quickly realized that they didn’t offer him the capabilities that he needed. “When I saw what real software (Mastercam) could do, even though I couldn’t afford it, I spent the money. I’ve been very glad that I did. The local support has been great too,” he says. Perry says that the ability to program with Mastercam has definitely helped with his cue-making creativity. “It gives me the ability to do whatever I want. If I can think of it, I can draw it.” Perry has been using Mastercam for about eight years. He states that the drawing tools help him with designs, but the biggest advantage of Mastercam is the local support. His Mastercam Reseller, CamTech in Palm Bay, FL has been a great help to him. “When I have a question, I pick up the phone and call. I always get an answer. I haven’t had any problem. If you’re making a living with Mastercam, I don’t know how you could NOT spend the money and just be done with it. It solves so many problems over less expensive software. Mastercam makes going from an idea to a reality fast. When I’m drawing a new shape or design, sometimes I’ll have three or four versions of it before I’m satisfied with one. So I may draw a part four or five times before I’m happy and with and Mastercam lets me do it quickly,” he adds. Perry is passionate about his cues and keeping his customers happy. Mastercam is one important component in his cue making that makes a difference.
	Home | Products | Support | Events | Partners | Success Stories | Teachers & Students | Multimedia | Resellers | About Us Copyright © 2014 CNC Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy | Piracy | License Agreement | Trademark

Lot's of cue pictures here : http://www.dpcues.com/category/35212772

Snap Shots From Around The Shop

Who is Harley Bryant and What He Means To Me

I saw Harley the other day and spent an hour or so talking with him,  it was time well spent.  Harley is a legendary player from back in the day, he was probably past his prime the first time I ever saw him play and he played in another dimension then. I can't imagine what his money game was like back when it mattered, and btw, he can and does still play real well.

Harley grew up in pool room on 3rd and Main St. in Jacksonville, it was a tough place. I drove by it a couple times, but never went in. They played world class snooker in there and by all accounts Harley was right in the middle of it. Anyway in the 1980's he opened “the” and I mean “the” pool room in Jacksonville, it was called Harley's Rack and Cue. I played a lot in there, won some and lost some as is always the case I suppose.

When I started making cues I figured that Harley's was the place to be seen, but, I had enough sense to ask Harley first. So one Saturday in the middle of the afternoon,when I figured he would have time to talk I went in and showed him my work. This was my very earliest work, but I guess it was good enough. Harley looked me up and down and then at my work and told me I would could do whatever I wanted in his place. I offered him a percentage, I offered him a flat fee, I offered whatever I could think of, he wouldn't hear of it. He wouldn't and never did take a dime, nice guy.

In the late 80's no one in Jacksonville had a cue lathe except me, no one did cue repair except me. So on Saturday nights Kathie and I would show up at Harley's and get mobbed. We would take over a table in the middle of the room on the busiest night of the week, for free, and return last weeks repairs and take in another week's worth of repair work.  Some nights it took and hour to get everything returned and the new work written up. It was amazing then and still is,  Harley and I laughed about it again the other night. And yes I did sell more than a few cues in Harley's too.

What does Harley Bryant mean to me....well... without Harley's help I probably wouldn't be a full time cuemaker today, that means a lot !! DP

A few of my current cues http://www.dpcues.com/category/35212772

Preview of Cues In Process

Why 14 Point Cues are Special or what is 51.1428

51.1458 is what you get when you divide 360 by 7.

There are 360 degrees in a circle, so if you want to make a 4 point cue you divide by 4 and get 90 degrees, a nice even number. 5 is 72 degrees, 6 is 60 degrees 8 is 45, 10 is 36, all nice even numbers. 

We build cues metal working equipment that for the most part works on even numbers. 20 years ago there were no 7 point cues. Then I built a machine could divide a circle in to 51800 parts. That let me accurately divide a circle into 7 parts, suddenly I could build 7 point cues and get this little gap right.

If that little gap between the points is off just a little bit the cue looks really bad. Back then there were maybe 3 guys in the world that could make a 7 point cues. 

A customer brought this page from a book that says you can't buy 7 point cues.




See a couple 14 pointer's here:  http://www.dpcues.com/category/35212772



DP

What's on the walls at DP Custom Cues

Limited Editon Advertisment



1st and 2nd Limited Edition Ad's,  the first one was 1996.



Freedom and my first two brochures



The Rules



Lunch Area



Japanese Magazine Article 1996



Article in the Local Paper



Famous Poster



Another Poster



Door to my Inlay Room



Poster in the Shipping Room



She's In College Now



Another Local Newspaper Article



In the main shop, we don't enough fingers and toes to
do decimals without this chart.



Maybe not,  but close

Thanks for looking around at the same wall I see every day.

DP

2014 Super Billiard Expo - You made my Blog !!

Cues for the Super Billiard Expo Show 2014

A Completely New Design in Pictures

A very thoughtful customer wanted a wrapless cue with alternating woods and points so I built him one. The was a completely new design in terms of both construction and design,  so I took a lot of pictures.  I ended up building 2 cues, twice the work but I think it was worth it. .

I'll let the pictures tell the story.

http://www.dpcues.com/category/35212772

The Last Day of 2013

Wow what a year, is it over, really?  I would like to thank everyone for their help and support.  The DP Family of customers, supporters and employees are joy to work with.  Thank you !!

Just some pic's from around the shop on the last day of the year.



I dug up the last piece of this amazing red leather.



New ring work developed in 2013



More new ring work



Cues for 2014 on the work rack



 A Tulipwood cue for 2014,  I'll take pic's of this as it makes it's way through the process.



Feed tube for a lathe



Japanese magazine article from 1996



Making shaft wax



That was a long time ago

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

DP

Patience

New wood is always exciting !

Sometimes it's hard to wait, but I did, and finally the time came to cut this wood. I have been very excited about this wood ever since it got here. Peru is along way from Florida, but these boards look really comfortable in the DP wood room. I waited to talk about this until I had something in the works. We call this Pervian Blackwood an it is beautiful. Keep watching I will update the blog and show the cues as they progressed along.

Cocobolo is Going Away

This is the final shipment of Mexican Cocobolo that we will be getting.  There is too much political and internal conflict in Mexico to continue buying so this is the last chance to get some!  This is old stock that was pulled for rich colors and classic Mexican colors.  It is all kiln dried, surfaced on two sides, and ready to use.

Lots of you probably remember when the Ivory limitations happened, well this the samething.  Here is an story about the US crushing ivory:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/15/us-ivory-crush_n_4270071.html

It really doesn't matter where this is right or wrong, it just is...



http://www.dpcues.com/product/SCI 

DP

Spalted Cocobolo

These pieces of Cocobolo are very unusual,  they have a split personally. Part Cocoobolo grain and part a rich solid grain.  I'm going to make cues with these by leaving the wood alone and letting the two grains compete for attention,  I'm not going to put a butt cap on these,  the wood is rock hard and I it will be interesting to see  the two textures run right out of the back of the cue.



Keep watching an I'll post pictures as these move along,  the cues are almost finished now.

http://www.dpcues.com/product/S20

DP

Something New

How often do you see something really new, not simply rearranged, but new.

I know, not very often, me either.

I constantly search for new ideas, new technique’s, new materials or simply new ideas. I look at other industries, I look at art, I look at landscape designs, I look at architecture, I travel, any place I can think of for inspiration.

Well this time I looked to the sky in a big Florida thunder storm, I saw lightening.

I have never seen that in cue...ever. Oh, I've seen cartoonist looking lightening bolts as inlays. This is different, I have created lightening in a cue. Each cue has a different pattern, just as in nature. 

Each cue has bright lightening bolts against a jet black sky, just like I saw on that dark and stormy night.

http://www.dpcues.com/product/BL

Summer Time Day Dreaming

This is the lodge at Yellowstone. Five stories of classic wood and stone, we stayed there a few summers ago. It's not that expensive but you have to have reservations a year in advance . We spent an amazingly civilized afternoon one day just hanging out in the open space. It is 5 stories of balconies and a open space by the huge fire place. They had tables full of games for the kids and the air was filled with is classic music played on a piano on the 3^rd or 4^th floor, by a nice lady that took requests. As I remember the kids requested something from the Harry Potter movies. Once an hour or so Old Faithful erupts and they have a second floor balcony over the front entrance, complete with benches and a bar.

The place just feels quiet, no TV, no phone, no radio, day old newspapers (sometimes not at all), no cell phones and no internet, truly a little slice of heaven.

Here is a link to the Old Faithful webcam. http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/live/live4.htm

Oh well, back to work.....

I'm a Cuemaker, how the heck did that happen you ask , well......it's a long story.

In part one I talked about working as a banker and  I said I started building cue between the last two bank jobs.  Well... I started in ernest between the last 2 banks,  butthe story actually started with this article in 1986.



I played a lot of pool around 1986 and I saw this article,  I bought the magazine andI must have read that article a millioin times.  Over time I have proven that not a single word was useful for a professional cue maker. I don't know who "Tex Smith" was,  but he wasn't the type of cue maker I wanted to be.  But with article in hand I bought that first lathe and tried to make cues off and on for several years.  Finally between the last two jobs I had a month to get serious.  I bought a brand new metal lathe and fabricated a taper bar long enough to make a pool cue.  Back then you didn't buy cue making equipment you, built it.  Within six months I was sick of converting the single machine back and forth from tapering work to joint work,  so I bought another brand new lathe.  Now I was cramming all this stuff into a single car garage,  two metal lathes, the wood lathe, a table saw, and in a few months a manual panagragh.  I 'd open the garage door and spray cues with them hanging on the edge of the garage door.  "The first show"  next time.

Five Minutes with Shari Stauch

Shari is the Editor of Pool and Billiard Magazine, in other words she decides if that picture of you playing pool makes the magazine. I first met her in Texas at the very first American Cue makers Association' cue show. This week she is attending the Billiard Congress of America Expo in Chicago.

This the first time for the BCA Expo in Chicago, how do you like the new venue?

No it's not - we were here last year. It's very nice - rooms close to convention center, nice restaurants around, and of course this is my old stomping grounds so fun to see old friends and family.

Trade shows are all about new products, what is the coolest new thing you have seen?

Paul Gerni has an interesting telescoping bridge extension that fits in a cue case. Love the Aramith Fusion table - what's way cool about it is the ability to lower it from pool table height t o dining height through clever spring loaded legs… a GREAT option for the dining to pool conversion top.

There are a lot great cue and table makers in the Chicago area, have you seen a lot of industry people even if they aren't displaying at the Expo?

We have - it's like "old home week" here… Think the best "celebrity sighting" though had to be Jim Bakula, former BCA and Brunswick Billiards president. He came for a visit and at 78 years young any of us would swear he's still in his 50s - looks amazing and is upbeat as always.

How is the concession stand coffee?

Sucks :) But there's a Starbucks between the hotel and conference center walkway so it's all good :)

You're in Chicago, are you going to make it Buddy Guy's place?

No.

Shari says: In summary - not many bodies at the show, but exhibitors still happily writing orders from those attending!

More show pic's at https://www.facebook.com/PoolandBilliard

You do what?

I'm a Cuemaker, how the heck did that happen you ask , well......it's a long story.

I was born, raised and still live in Florida. I was a C student in most classes, in any
shop class I did better. I loaded trucks, lived at home and made it through the local
college. I got a degree in Business/Accounting. Along the way I borrowed a home
work assignment from a girl in class, the honey moon was a cheap cruise to Mexico.
30 years later she packs and ships your cues, we have a daughter that helps. During
college I became a 3-5 hour a day, 365 day a year, pool player. I'm sure I bought
the local pool hall (Val's) one hour at a time.

Accounting, really? Yeah...., I needed an elective and they talked about money in
there. I didn't have much money but I sure wanted some. Jobs, well, finally I found
a job as an Assistant Internal Auditor at Florida National Bank. Every bank I ever
worked at is gone now.... Assistant Auditor, Auditor, VP, CFO, 5 banks in 8 years,
every one sold or merged out from under me. I started trying to make cues between
bank numbers 4 and 5,  I started with this lathe.