***Ask the Cuemaker #7 Thomas Wayne***

[ThomasWayne]

Cue Design theft

Originally Posted by Bells

If you weren't building cues what would you be doing for a living? […]

If I weren’t building cues I have no idea what I would be doing…

Maybe I would have stayed in pre-med and I’d be performing open-heart surgery on a daily basis? Nah… probably be sucking the fat out big ladies' thighs in Beverly Hills; that’s art too… right?

Maybe I would have built on my apprenticeship as a knife maker and I’d grinding out daggers and bowies somewhere… can you say “Booorrrinng”?

Maybe I would have stayed in law enforcement and there’d be video of me smacking the sh*t out of Rodney King on Youtube.

Might have stayed in furniture design and I’d be the next Gustave Stickley… or, more likely, designing particleboard desks for Wal-Mart.

I might still own a big cabinet shop and spend my days helping rich housewives decide whether to go with the Sub-Zero or the Thermador, and where to put all the pull-out cutting boards.

Or maybe I should adopt the philosophy that it doesn’t matter what happened in the past, as long as you’ve found your way to something you enjoy now.
Which I have.

Almost thirty years ago a very wise man –whose daughter I married – said to me: “You think you know where you’re going and what you’re going to do, but you’ll come to a fork in the road and take one path or the other. And you’ll see a little side street that you’ll turn down, just to see what’s there; and you’ll go through a doorway because it’s just standing open… and twenty years from now you’ll be doing something that you couldn’t even imagine today.”

He was right.
And it didn’t take twenty years.

Thomas Wayne

[ThomasWayne]

Originally Posted by Bells

[…] Also was there a particular cue or inlay that you were trying to accomplish when you started using "4th axis " machining or 4-d inlay? thanks............

Below is a CAD drawing of a design that I envisioned when I first started exploring the idea of using the rotary axis for inlay work. I had no idea how to convert linear dimensions into degrees of rotation, so I build an indexer that was driven by a series of timing belts and toothed pulleys. I created my drawings such that the linear dimensions in the “Y” axis would correspond to the circumference of the butt sleeve, and the ratios achieved by the timing-belt-and-pulley jack shafts would convert the linear commands to a rotary action. It was a crude work-around that had an elegant simplicity and worked like a charm.

For the last couple of decades (or so) I’ve had a real indexer (two, actually) and learned to write 4-axis and 5-axis code, so the job’s not as tough. Also, the attached CAD drawing is actually a re-draw of that original design, which was done in early AutoCad, and has been lost to time. I still have the practice blocks I cut this design into many, many years ago.

TW

[brooklynjay]

who would you say are the biggest influences in your cue building career? what made you get into cue building?

[ThomasWayne]

There are a number of cuemakers who insist that “hand-made” is somehow better (or more “pure”) than CNC-built cues.

Bullsh*t.

I built my first cue using just the tools and machines I had in my cabinet shop, and that did not include a lathe. I’ve hand-scribed designs on Mother-of-pearl and cut them out with a jeweler’s saw. I’ve glued those shapes to a cue, scribed around those designs, popped them off with a chisel and then hand carved the recesses. No one, especially these “hand-made-is-best” wannabes, has built a cue that was anymore hand-made than I have. Virtually every one of them is either too poor or too afraid of the technology (or both) to step up their game, so instead they embrace their amateur techniques as if that held some sort of purity. It doesn’t.

What’s funny is that most of the guys who cling to the “hand-made” claim are actually using pantographs and patterns that were CNC machined anyway. No hand-made purity there.

Jim Stadum – whose company (Samsara) has produced some of the most stunning non-CNC cues ever built – said it best when he said: “The only cuemaker who can make any claim of “hand-made” is the guy who own NO machines, and just carves his cues with a pocket knife”. And I would say anyone who wants that guy’s cue is welcome to it. CNC is just another tool, and it all comes down to how you use that tool. I built every CNC machine in my shop, and I’ve built CNC machines for many other guys as well.

Oh, and by the way, I built those machines with my hands.

Thomas Wayne

[ThomasWayne]

The following topics have not necessarily been raised by member questions, but they have entered my thoughts while doing this forum stuff, so I’d like to take one additional post to put forth my views:

Origin of the ACA:

In January of 1992, in Columbia, South Carolina, eight men met in a side room at one of Grady Mathews’ “Legends of One Pocket” tournaments. Those eight men were:

Leonard Bludworth
Jim Buss
John Guffey
Dale Perry
Joe Porper
Tim Scruggs
Thomas Wayne
some guy named “Whitey”

At that meeting the American Cuemakers Association (“ACA”) was formed and Leonard Bludworth was elected its first president. Those are the roots of the ACA and those eight men are the founding fathers of that organization. At the time, some cuemakers refused to attend; some weren’t invited; some were still in diapers (and Bludworth is pretty close to being back in diapers, I’m told). I’m sorry if you weren’t at that inaugural meeting, but history is history and that is that.

Scrimshaw:

It’s become pretty common practice for some cuemakers to put big blocks of Ivory into an otherwise plain cue and then send it out to Sandra Brady (or someone else) and have a bunch of scrimshaw added to it. Some of these cues are kind of interesting, but let’s make no mistake about who the artist was on that little effort.

Jim Stadum said it best when he described the practice as: “…building a ho-hum cue and then handing it off to a real artist”. I personally believe that if the scrimshaw isn’tdone by the cuemaker himself then it is sort of a “cheat”; all scrimshaw that has ever been in my cues (and ever will be) is my own work.

Mike Bender is the lone exception, since his wonderful wife Tracy does all the scrimshaw in his cues -they are both artists and partners.

Ugly butt:

The attached photo is of a butt sleeve that I built many years ago. It is particularly ugly (in my opinion), so I have never finished the cue. The primary reasons I find it ugly are:
1) It has one too many elements - probably the Silver inlay around the Malachite “football” – making it (to quote McWorter) “ten pounds of sh*t in a five pound bag”.
2) It appears to be painted with too “broad” a brush

I keep it around, prominently displayed in my studio, to remind me that just because it seemed like a good idea at the time doesn’t mean it has to become a finished cue.

TW

[ThomasWayne]

Originally Posted by brooklynjay

who would you say are the biggest influences in your cue building career? [...]

One single biggest influence on my cuemaking career doesn't exist; the influences have been many and cumulative; in no particular order some of them are:

Richard Black - who, very early on, told me to sign my work. He also said: "Art is nothing without the artist", and he was right.

Ernie Gutierrez - who taught me to seek perfection in my work. I've never achieved perfection, but diligently seeking it still means everything.

Jerry McWorter - who taught me to never pull up short on a cue just because you've already got too much work in it. He was directly responsible for driving the finishing touches on the "Celtic Prince" (hundreds of hours of relief carving) and so he is directly responsible for carpel tunnel in my left wrist - but I don't hold that against him... much.

Richard Black - who taught me to not be afraid to break new ground with a particular cue design. No one in the world has been more experimental and eclectic with their designs than Richard.

Bob Meucci - who taught me that it's okay to charge a high price for hard work.

Burton Spain - who taught me that for every hard and fast rule there is an exception, and that for every convincing argument there is a valid opposite opinion based on the same data.

Jim Stadum and Dave Doucette (Samsara) - who proved that you can step far away from the beaten path and still get to the end of the road in style.

Of course there have been many, many other influences on my career, but the above are just a few that have popped into my head at the moment. If I've left anyone out (who matters), you already know how I feel about you, and some silly little list on an internet forum is irrelevant to that.

I'd also like to thank my father for coming.

TW

[JimBo]

Originally Posted by ThomasWayne

One single biggest influence on my cuemaking career doesn't exist; the influences have been many and cumulative; in no particular order some of them are:

Richard Black - who, very early on, told me to sign my work. He also said: "Art is nothing without the artist", and he was right.

Ernie Gutierrez - who taught me to seek perfection in my work. I've never achieved perfection, but diligently seeking it still means everything.

Jerry McWorter - who taught me to never pull up short on a cue just because you've already got too much work in it. He was directly responsible for driving the finishing touches on the "Celtic Prince" (hundreds of hours of relief carving) and so he is directly responsible for carpel tunnel in my left wrist - but I don't hold that against him... much.

Richard Black - who taught me to not be afraid to break new ground with a particular cue design. No one in the world has been more experimental and eclectic with their designs than Richard.

Bob Meucci - who taught me that it's okay to charge a high price for hard work.

Burton Spain - who taught me that for every hard and fast rule there is an exception, and that for every convincing argument there is a valid opposite opinion based on the same data.

Jim Stadum and Dave Doucette (Samsara) - who proved that you can step far away from the beaten path and still get to the end of the road in style.

Of course there have been many, many other influences on my career, but the above are just a few that have popped into my head at the moment. If I've left anyone out (who matters), you already know how I feel about you, and some silly little list on an internet forum is irrelevant to that.

I'd also like to thank my father for coming.

TW

Thomas I think I speak for everyone when I say this thread is an instant HOFer. The info here can help out people for a long time. I also speak for everyone when I say THANK YOU for really putting the time in and addressing all our questions. I hope you'll stick around and pop in to some other threads. You are a wealth of knowledge and a joy to read, I for one miss it. I understand that you have lots going on and might be to busy to stick around here. I am honored to call you a friend, I am honored you are a member of the JimBo Army. You are a true master and HOF cuemaker. Your designs and execution are second to none, and I hope you up production and continue to push the envelope of the cue world. You are a true legend and imo underrated (if it's possible). You Rock TW.

Jim <-----Loves TW like a Brother