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Hard Maple Pool Cue Dowels

ROLAINE Enterprises, Inc. offers precision machined 1" diameter, 30" long dowels made from Sugar Maple  (Acer saccharum).  These are graded for pool cue shaft quality, which means that they are bright-white sapwood, straight-grained, physically-straight, tight-grained, and vacuum kiln-dried down to approximately 6% moisture content  (very stable and stress relieved).  These dowels are made from trees harvested in far-northern Wisconsin, and Upper Peninsula Michigan.  Trees growing in these extremely cold climates are very slow-grown, and on average, results in wood with extremely high ring counts.  In fact, this area in northern Wisconsin is one of the high-density growth regions for Sugar Maple - see the map below.

To further improve the quality of these pool cue shaft dowels, we only process dowels made from trees harvested in the Fall and Winter.  Trees that have dropped their leaves no longer have sap, and this results in far fewer sugar streaks commonly seen in Sugar Maple.  Because of this, you will find that the availability of our shaft dowels is very seasonal.  We do try to stock up in the early Spring, to carry inventory until the next Fall.

Why do we process Hard Maple dowels?

We also own the hard maple baseball bat company - RockBats.    http://www.rockbats.com/

Our bats are approved for use in Major League, European, and International Baseball.  We process through alot of Hard Maple.

Our Cue Dowel Processing
The processing starts with a trip to northern Wisconsin.  I wish I could make these trips in the beautiful summer months, when it only reaches 65-degrees there, but that is not the best time to go select freshly-processed Hard Maple lumber.  Be sure to note the temperature on my rear-view mirror!!!

Due to all of my sawmill contacts I have throughout the state of Wisconsin, I am able to grade and sort through some of the highest-quality Hard Maple lumber possible.

About 12,000 board feet shown here.

Why do we make pool cue dowels?

The reason is because this is a product that we process in tandem with one of our other fabulous products.  Our laminated baseball bats, which also requires high-quality, straight-grained 5/4 Hard Maple.

 

In my travels, I get the opportunity to grade and sort only the highest-quality lumber (yes, that's me in the photo).  Only lumber that is straight-grained can be used to make both baseball bats and pool cue dowels - only a small percentage of lumber meets that criteria.

 

Once the lumber is selected at the sawmill, it is taken to our processing facility where we have developed a fabulous system for processing both products at the same time.  The bat planks get processed into longer 41" sections.  The extremely tight-grained stock is processed into shorter 32" sections for pool cue dowels.

 

<<< Longer boards for baseball bats.

 

 

  "Extreme" tight grain for cue dowels>>>

 

 

 

How tight-grained is "Extreme" tight grain"? .....

 

 

 

 

All Extreme tight-grained stock gets processed into dowels, and the longer bat stock gets processed into 3" wide planks.  The remaining width after ripping 3" wide planks get processed into dowels also.

 

This will make cue makers cringe...

Yes, pool cue quality maple is being used to make our laminated baseball bats.  But not to worry, we do have a 2nd round of sorting to make sure that any Extreme tight grained stock is transferred over to the pool cue dowel processing.  Left photo shows 3" planks getting straight-line ripped for bat planks.  On the right, the "straightest-grained" end is being spray painted on the ends - this is the handle end of the bat.

 

Note, however, that there are some 3" planks that have a line drawn through them (on the right side of the stack).  Well, those were just too beautiful, and tight-grained, to make into baseball bats.  So those types of 3" planks get transferred over to the pool cue dowel process

 

In the end, we process the 5/4 maple from both of our process streams, and end up with 1" diameter dowels that are precision end trimmed to 30" long.  This produces the highest yield of straight-grained stock possible.  After all that, these dowels are still subjected to our strict grading criteria which sorts these into the various categories.  Even after all that, there is STILL only a small percentage that make Grade 1 and Grade 2.

 

Pool Cue Shaft Grades.

If you visit our Hard Maple baseball bat site  (RockBats.COM), you will see that we are very familiar with grading high-quality Hard Maple.  Solid-wood baseball bats is another product that requires high-quality Hard Maple.

 

Over the years, we have developed a simple, yet objective, grading system that provides the cue maker a clear picture of the grain structure they can expect to receive when ordering from us.

 

Pool Cue Shaft Dowel Grading System

While viewing the annual rings at one end of the dowel, we follow the center annual ring to the other end of the dowel  (30" of length).
Grade 1.   The center annual ring at one end remains near the center at the other end.  Not more than plus or minus 1/4" deviation from the center.
Grade 2.   The center annual ring at one end deviates slightly more than plus or minus 1/4" at the other end of the dowel, but less than 1/2"  (i.e.  the center annual ring remains on the dowel - NO RUN-OFF)
Grade 3.  The center annual ring at one end of the dowel runs down the center for about 1/2 the length, but then runs off the shaft.  These are best oriented such that the straight-grained section of the dowel coincides with the narrow end of the shaft.

Grade 4.  The center annual ring runs off the dowel right away.  This is a low-grade dowel based on grain structure.  However, it is given a pool cue dowel grade because it is PHYSICALLY STRAIGHT.   Physically-straight, bright-white maple dowels are still high-quality dowels.

 

(if you ever browse the dowel bin at your local hardware store or lumberyard, you will find that nearly all the dowels are warped, and none are as bright white as those offered here)

Grade 5.  These are dowels that are NOT physically straight.   Their grain structure may be grade 1 through grade 4 quality, and they are always bright-white... but if they are not straight, they are lumped in this final grade.   Great for smaller lathe projects: chess men, pen blanks, etc.

 

(if you have a special steam-bending technique that can possibly form these dowels back to straightness... these might still be worth considering for pool cue shafts.)

 

 

Ring Counts

In addition to grain straightness, cue makers also search for Hard Maple with extremely high ring counts.  The histogram below shows data that we gathered from a batch of dowels.  Note that a very small percentage of dowels have ring counts above 20 rings per inch.  The majority of dowels will be expected to have 8 to 15 rings per inch.

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Why is straight-grain needed for pool cue shafts?

All wood undergoes changes in moisture content... from summer to winter;  day to night; indoors to outdoors.  When moisture content increases, wood expands;  when moisture content decreases, wood shrinks.  It is important to understand that the maple in your pool cue shafts WILL change in moisture content  (i.e.  it will expand or shrink).

 

Wood expands or shrinks differently in the 3 axes:  Radial, Tangential, and Longitudinal.

 

Expansion/Shrinkage in the Tangential direction is about twice that in the Radial direction.  The figure below of the end section of a warped board illustrates this phenomenon.

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     T = 2xR 

 

 

 

A dowel will remain straight through changes in moisture content if the expansion/ shrinkage is symmetric throughout the length of the dowel.  If you have the same annual ring running the whole length of the dowel  (i.e. straight-grained), then the expansion/ shrinkage characteristics of the wood is the same throughout the whole length.

 

If you don't have straight-grain, one end of the dowel will have wood that is slightly closer to the outer bark of the log, and the other end of the dowel has wood that is slightly closer to the pith of the log.  This results in wood that has different expansion/ shrinkage characteristics at each end and along the length - and one each face.  This makes a dowel that is more prone to warp.

 

Who is this guy?  - he's not a cue maker.

I get the same question in the baseball bat industry...  he's not a wood-turner, or a former baseball player, or someone who's been in the business for 40 years.

 

Well, I am a "retired" Forest Service research wood scientist.   I say "retired" in quotes, because I decided to pursue my dream of running a major league baseball bat business - so I "retired" at age 40, after 17 years of doing research on wood and wood products.

 

Forest Service Wood Handbook (1999)

If you are familiar with the Forest Service Wood Handbook, which is considered the "encyclopedia of wood"...

 

...well, I am the author of the chapter on Glued-Structural Members - in the 1999 version.

 

 

 

 

Today, our maple wood bat business is indeed - approved for major league baseball, as well as leagues all across the world.  We have some of the finest players in the world using our wood in the game of baseball.   Their bats are not made by a wood turner, or a former player - they are made by a wood scientist.

 

We are applying the same principle to our pool cue dowels - and we hope that you will consider using these for the manufacture of your cue shafts.

 

 

Availability.  Everyone always asks for grade 1 dowels having 30 rings per inch and higher.   We hope that the histogram below clarifies the ring counts that you can expect on a regular basis.  Dowels with 25 rings per inch, or higher, make up less than 1% of the ring count population. 

We based our pool cue categories on the frequency of ring count.  Using the data that we have gathered, you can expect 25% of all dowels to have 7-9 rings per inch; the next 25% have 10-12 rings per inch; the next 25% have 13-15 rings per inch; and the last 25%  category has about 16-20 rings per inch.  Any dowels above 20 rings per inch are considered RARE... and their price and availability reflects that.

Pricing

The following table shows how we organize our price structure, based on rings per inch and grade.  Click on the ring counts and grades to get more details.

 

Ring count Grade
1 2 3 4
7-9 $10 $8 $6 $6
10-12 $14 $12 $8 $7
13-15 $18 $16 $10 $8
16-20 $22 $20 $12 $10
20+ $30 $30 $20 $15

Above prices apply to orders of 1 to 15.

 

 

Click on the link below to view our page that we have setup for ordering the above pool cue dowels.   We call these our "sight unseen" listings.    If you order from this link - you can be assured that you will receive all-sapwood white dowels, that match the grade exactly, and are physically straight  (that's part of the grade).  

 

When you order using the link below, if the item shows up in your shopping cart, that means we've got it in stock.   If the shopping cart says "unavailable", that means we are sold out... this is how we manage our inventory.

 

ORDER

 

 

Web Specials!

There are several reasons why we place dowels in our WEB SPECIALS section - below.   

 

Sometimes we grade dowels and have an entire box of dowels that are all exactly the same ring count, or same grade... so we photograph the actual dowels and we post them here.   

 

Sometimes we have a set of dowels that have fabulous grain, but they may have some very minor imperfections - such as a mineral streak dot, or more suger streaks than we'd like to send "sight unseen".  So, the best thing to do is offer them here with ACTUAL PHOTOS of the dowels.

 

Sometimes we have some spectacular Grade 1s, but only have 4, 12, or 24.    We don't make these available in the shopping cart section, because we don't have enough for a large order - so we take photos of the actual dowels and post them here.

 

See the WEB SPECIALS below.   Each item is unique.  Once you purchase - the website will get updated by the following morning.  Visit back often!

 

 

 

 

Shipping.  Most common sizes of packages are 4-packs, 10-packs, 36-packs, and 64-packs.   More than 64 dowels are shipped in multiple UPS Ground packages of 64 dowels each.

 

Our 4-pack sets are wrapped in poly bags, to protect from moisture during shipment.ROLAINE Enterprises

 

 

 

 

 

WEB SPECIALS!!! 

 

(be sure to check back often)

 

 

 

 

 
ROLAINE Enterprises, Inc.   ·   P.O. Box 6713   ·   Monona, WI  53716   ·   Lumber@ROLAINE.COM