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The
custom pool cue shop...located only a mile east of exit #20 and 
on Hollywood Blvd... and ˝ mile south at;
808 South Dixie Highway in the heart of Hollywood.
South Florida has been very receptive to our custom cues, our cue
repair services, and our presence...for that we are very
appreciative!! Hollywood Billiards, Gold Crown Billiards and Toby's Billiards are less than
5 minutes away well door to door! Please call
305.677.3434 if you have any questions...
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Tribute to 9.11.01...was taken on
September 11, 2001, in the backyard of our previous location, the Clifton
Estate. If you would like to check out the old shop &
surroundings of the Clifton Estate...click
here.
The American Flag is
flying on the tractor. Posting this picture here is our way of
letting the world know that we have not forgotten.
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Shop security!...These two clowns are shop
security! They protect the pool cues day and night, providing they
don't decide they want to play, "bring me the stick!"
Boomer is a Labrador and Bugaloo is the Australian Cattle Dog.
Boomer is a little overweight and rarely gets the Frisbee or the
stick but when he does, he just takes it away and chews it up!
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Bugaloo!...decides to take
break to cool off and rest after washing his Frisbee for a moment
before making the next passerby throw it for him.
Ever heard the term "doggie Ritalin?"
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Main lathe for joinery
work...The creation of pool cues
is very time consuming and tedious. It is necessary to
have very accurate equipment in order to meet the exacting
specifications desired in our pool cues. To the left is the
lathe where all of the high precision joinery work is performed on
your pool cues.
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Traveling repair station...at Amsterdam Billiard
Club in New York City for the 1998 WPBA Brunswick Classic. The
lathe and box are mounted on an ambulance gurney...the legs collapse
and it loads right into a 5' x 8' enclosed trailer for easy hauling
back and forth to tournaments.
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Traveling lathe from working
side...while set up in my shop.
It is crucial that it remain completely organized for easy use.
Note the way everything is organized very well. The light
collapses down to fit flush with the box, and there is a top and
back that lock up for security at the shows. This lathe still
gets lots of work done in the shop; wrapping cues, turning tenons,
shaft cleaning, etc.
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The milling machine...can
be used to make just about any part, fixture, or jig needed in a
cuemaking shop. This is where the V-groove for the points gets
cut into the front, handle, or butt sleeve. The milling
machine uses a 90* double angle cutter for milling in the point
grooves. There is a fixture on the milling table that
holds the front of the cue between centers that is indexable while
the point grooves are being milled. This is also the machine
where the slotted ring work is made.
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Grizzly table saw...where all
the point stock is cut precisely square for joinery into the fronts,
handles, and butt sleeves. The fence on this saw is an
aftermarket fence made by Shop Fox. It is a much more accurate
fence than the one that came with the machine. On the left
side of the table are some mitered veneers that are glued up and
waiting to be glued into the fronts along with their points as well.
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Delta 9" band saw...cue
stick maker machinery
can be quite complex, and very simple at times. This little
Delta band saw was just purchased recently and works perfectly for
the purposes used here. There is quite a bit of engineering in
this little machine. All adjustments can be made via plastic
molded knobs, and it even came with a light for less than a hundred
bucks!
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Delta 4" belt sander...another fine tool that performs many tasks on a daily basis.
It is used for everything from sanding the backs of tips, to doing
some pretty trick stuff with veneers. This shop could not make
cues of this quality without this great little machine.
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Wood lathe for sanding and
polishing shafts...Custom cue work requires
even the most rudimentary woodworking machinery. However, with
just a few modifications for custom cue work these two standard wood
lathes have proven to be among the most valuable machines here at
Ted Harris Custom Cues. The lathe to the left is where all the
shafts are sanded to match the butts, buffed and polished, then
sealed and waxed before delivery.
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Wood lathe for sanding and
polishing butts...is used for
sanding all butts to match up to the shafts. It is also where
the wet sanding, buffing and polishing of all butts is done as well.
After the cue has been wet sanded and polished, it will be wrapped
with Irish Linen, leather, lizard or ring lizard here as well.
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Scripta
pantograph with a Haas digital indexer...with a cue stick mounted in
it for inlaying mounted right behind the template table. There
is also a vacuum table that is used to hold down the inlay material
for cutting into parts. In the bottom right hand corner
is a little piece of the vacuum table, sitting on top of one of the
dehumidifiers. Up until about 7 years ago, the pantograph and
indexer were Joe Gold's of Cognoscenti Cues. This pantograph
was the same machine that Joe Gold used to make the pool cues that were
photographed and used in the
original "Hand of the Master's" Cuemaker calendar and for
a short time thereafter. Shortly
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after the calendar came
out, he stepped up to a super high end custom 4 axis CNC.
Prior to Joe Gold/Cognoscenti era it was utilized by Gordy Hart, of
Viking Pool Cues. On the wall behind the HAAS control box is a
humidistat and thermometer. There are also three more
humidistats around the shop to ensure that the readings are
accurate.
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This is the original
shaft machine...that Mike Bender of Bender Cues used years ago.
It was purchased from Joe Gold in 1994, after he had several years
use out of it. It still works fine and is used to turn all the
wood stock round. It has interchangeable templates for the
front, handle, butt, and shafts. The shaft turning assembly
itself rests atop a Powermatic 66 table saw. It has been used
here for several years now, and is an excellent machine.
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Top view of shaft machine
assembly cutting a shaft...in
this particular pass, it is cutting a round dowel from 1" to
.900" at the tip with my taper. This is only one of about
24 passes that will be made on the shafts for my cues. This
pass is the deepest cut the shaft will get. After this, the
cuts will all be .025" each time.
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Side view of shaft machine
assembly cutting a shaft...in the picture you can see the
saw blade is lined up directly under the shaft, and the shaft is
being dragged in parallel across the blade. Notice all the
micrometers and the air nozzle that keeps the sawdust off the roller
bearings.. This is a very nice machine, and they are not
cheap!
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Delta 1HP drum
mounted vacuum system...pictured at left is the vacuum itself.
It has a separator that collects dust as small as 5 microns, and
sucks the bigger particles into the can. This type of system
is called a cyclone, and generally has better results than a regular
vacuum system.
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Glue table and workbench...is where the high
end cue parts are assembled. The handles are joined to fronts,
the points are glued in, the ferrules glued on, joints and butt
plates, and every other form of gluing goes on here. There are
many kinds of adhesives used in the making of your high end cue,
including epoxy, polyurethane glue, white glue, yellow glue, super
glue, and contact cement.
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Paasche spray booth for
applying the high tech finish...was designed for
just that. It has an explosion proof motor, and 18" duct
work that sucks out something like 2000cfm. It also has a wood
lathe that has been modified to variable speed for rotating the cues
while the finish is being applied. This is all done to give
you a glass smooth, high gloss finish that will stand up to years of
use.
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Compressed air dryer...removes all moisture from the air system. This is yet another
step taken to provide you with the best possible finish. The
finish used is a high gloss urethane automotive finish. Each
cue has at least 6 coats of finish applied before the final buffing
stage. After buffing, the finish is very high gloss and free
from defects.
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Pool cues require proper drying in order to season the woods properly.
Some of the ways this is accomplished here is with the right
airflow, temperature, and humidity . All wood for the billiard
cues that is turned round is hung from the ceiling after the first
turn. There is plenty of room around each piece to guarantee
proper airflow. There are also fans keeping the airflow moving
on a year round basis. These procedures are some of the steps
taken to insure that you get the most out of these fine billiard
cues..
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Shaft storage...there is room for about
600 shafts in this room. The shafts are also dipped in a
stabilizer that helps prevent the wood from taking on or releasing
moisture at a rate that will cause problems such as warping.
Shafts are turned at least 20 times throughout the process of
building your cue. All these steps are done to insure that
your pool cues will remain straight for a lifetime.
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Laminated handles and cores in the works...there are about 300
of these that have had the tenons turned on them. The handles
and tenons get turned at least 6 times before being joined to the
front of the cue. After it is joined to a front, it then gets
the butt sleeve, and then another half dozen turnings and a dipping
or two.
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Fronts
that are in the works...the fronts that are on the first six
rows are all have laminated cores for stability as well. There
are also five curly maple handles that are cored with laminated
handles for stability as well. The fronts are turned at least
a dozen times before they get the points milled in or get joined to
a handle.
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Point stock for your pool
cues...being stored in these oak
shelves that are about 20' long, and are full of all kinds of exotic
woods. Some of the woods are purple heart, cocobolo, bocote,
rosewood, ebony, Amboyna burl, Thuya burl, snakewood, pink ivory,
kingwood, birdseye, fiddleback or curly maple, redheart, tulipwood,
etc. Hanging from the shelves are ebony, birdseye, and curly
buttsleeves.
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Red tool box and the
oak box...are my traveling set-up. All tools that are
used for any kind of repair are kept in this tool box. The oak
box underneath has a compartment on the left for a custom air
compressor that is very quiet. The drawers in the oak box hold
tube and rod for ferrules, joints, and butt plates. It also
carries "stuff" that is sold at tournaments, and also it
is where extra emergency parts are stored for my cue repair lathe in
case of breakdown. The box is on casters and has doors that
lock up tight.
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Oak toolbox...is used to
house all the tooling for the pantograph. It is made of oak,
and sits on a metal cart that rolls around the shop if needed.
Underneath is a 5-C collett holder for the milling machine and Haas
digital indexer on the pantograph. The toolbox was a gift from
my dear friend Gene Isaac, the owner of Cue & Cushion Billiards
in Newark, Delaware. Gene also has a cue repair service called
the Cue Smith. He is gaining popularity in the Wilmington/
Philly area as the man to see for cue repair.
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Moppe
boxes...can be purchased from IKEA.
This is where all the small cue parts are stored. It is very
convenient storage as the boxes are mounted on a shelf that hang on
the wall.
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Thank you for taking the
tour. I hope this gives you a clear understanding of the time
and effort that goes into making your pool cues.
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_________________________________________________ Telephone...305.677.3434
Business Hours;
Monday - Sunday
10:00am - 7:00pm
Ship
all packages, repairs & correspondence to this address...
Please
do not send joint protectors!!!
Ted Harris Custom Cues
808 South Dixie Highway
Hollywood, Florida 33020
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