[West Point 1987]

As many of you know, I was asked to review a Willie Blade cue as the winner of a contest. I received the cue a little over a week ago, and put it to the test, playing about 10 hours with it. Bottom line, this is a very finely made cue, with beautifully executed overlapping butterfly splices, point splices and gorgeous woods.



The cue is made of white hornbeam (shaft), black hornbeam, Ziricote (crazy figuring!), and Paducah...it's just a tad over 58 inches long, equally split between shaft and butt. The shaft has significant splices running up over 1/3 of it's length from the joint. Shaft is a European/conical taper, ferrule is fairly small, made of light weight caprolactum (nylon) with a soft snooker type single layered leather tip. The joint is a proprietary piloted pin, threaded half its length, with the pin set in the shaft and the insert set in the butt, like a carom cue. When put together, the joint is nearly seamless, marked with two stainless steel rings and is faced perfectly. The cue appears to weigh about 20 oz...the butt is noticeably thinner than your average cue, as the hornbeam (deep glossy black and a creamy white that looks and feels like hard rock maple) is much harder and denser.



Performance: Bottom line, this cue hits VERY nice, similar to a full splice cue with a flat faced joint and lakewood shafts...the denser, heavier wood (including the shaft) makes for a very solid feel. The cue is balanced a little more forward, which I like. The reaction of the shaft is stiff; yet I was surprised at the limited deflection--I was expecting more, yet this cue seemed to keep the cue ball where you wanted it to track...I normally don't prefer European tapers, but I must admit I was surprised at how well I liked it. I was potting balls more reliably than my daily player, so much so, I considered using it in competition this weekend--although I think I need to get one of my favorite tips put on first. In my opinion, the tip is too soft for such a solid hitting cue; I'm in the process of putting a Milk Dud (Pooldawg) on it, likely next week. I'll post an update to this review after I try a firmer tip.



I had thought of recommending he consider putting one of the standard joint types we prefer in the States, giving customers the option of putting after market LD shafts on their Willie Blade cue...but on second thought, I think there's really something to the way he's constructing his shafts and how the cue is balanced. Not sure I'd change a thing.

This is a LOT of cue for the money. It's beautifully made, hits fantastic and feels like substantial quality in your hands. Check out Willie Blade Cues on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/billiard.cue.craft/?fref=ts

[Anton_Bzh3]

Thank you for an excellent review! Glad you are happy! Enjoy the stick