Category: Sold

Butt & Joint Protector: $1325

BurcHowdy Shaft: $550

8″ Extension: $300

Total: $2,100

Black Cherry Burl, Maple Burl, Spalted/Stabilized Maple, Ebony, and Copper rings

Secretariat. I’m not a horse guy. Not a race guy. Not into gambling. I don’t like crowds. But there was a horse called Secretariat that had an oversize heart, descended from another champion with an oversize heart, and racing against another descendant of the champion — that also had an oversize heart — and defeated him by 32 lengths, or 28, or some crazy number.

I am a firm believer that animals possess awareness comparable to our own and in many cases superior. And I believe in that perfect moment when Secretariat won the triple crown, that it was God himself on the track, nostrils flaring, conscious through his creation, savoring excellence, that heart pounding full throttle experience of living in a total embrace of the calamity of the moment.

We are all Secretariat except we run laps around days, not a track. And when we win by 32 lengths, no one sees: we hold sharp tongues. We provide. We give in private. We praise when we want to be silent. We hurt but don’t complain — just change position. We embrace duty and honor with all we have because we were made to run full throttle and we have but moments on the track. We’re Secretariat and the world we honor with our best life will bury us one day, and the only one who will know those wide open moments is the One who lived them with us.

Anyhow, this stick made me think of Secretariat. It’s going to be an absolute stunner.

Pair with a BurcHowdy low deflection shaft for the ultimate Character Cues experience.

Monthly payments. No interest. No automatic bank draft.

Woods Used: Black Cherry Burl, Maple Burl, Spalted/Stabilized Maple, Ebony, and Copper rings

Butt Length: 30

Core: Purple Heart

Collars: Phenolic

Probable full cue natural weight: 18-21 oz.

Pin: 3/8-10 mod; radial

Glue Date: 2/16/26

Earliest Finish Date: 8/26

CAFETERIA STYLE: email me at Clayton@charactercues.com if you’d like to purchase this butt with any of the following. I’ll protect the page for you and change the listing and price to include the items you’d like to purchase. To discuss on the phone, email first. 🙂

Low Deflection Shafts:

• Carbon Fiber: $450
• Black BurcHowdy (torrefied low deflection black birch shaft): $550

Break Shafts: 

• Purple Heart Shaft: $400
• Osage Orange: $400
• Hickory: $350

Wood shaft: (any species, w/ matching ring) $350

• Maple
• Black Birch (recommended)
• Ash
• Sassafras
• Walnut
• Hickory
• Honey Locust
• Beech
• Cherry

Matching wood joint protectors: $75 each

Extensions:

• 3-6″ Same Wood: $250
• 7-12″ Same Wood: $300
• 3-6″ Like-Design: $450
• 7-12″ Like-Design: $500

Butt & Joint Protector: $1375

BurcHowdy Shaft: $550

9″ Extenstion, new inlay pattern, $450

Total $2,375

Free JP adjustment: (75)

Total: $2,300

Spalted/Stabilized Maple, Maple Burl

What’s cool about this one? The burl centerpiece looks like Bigfoot squeezed it hard enough to leave an imprint. Those are bark inclusions, bark that gets surrounded and trapped by the wild growth of the burl, and ends up inside.

BADASS.

And second…

Normally I dislike inlays. Cue building — to me — is about showing off the miracle of wood. God gave us this crazy artwork in burl and spalted wood, and to me, the perfect design is the one that best allows the wood to speak for itself. The less of me in there the better. That’s why I don’t much care for inlays, especially not the byzantine stuff that wins awards. Mighty achievements, hats off, respect, but I think they’re ugly.

So why the inlays on this one? Because the pattern in the butt sleeve and forearm is homogeneous. Two colors, mostly, both of which are moody. The pattern between them is hard to decipher, so well do they blend. Their glory comes from the ripple that extends throughout, but again, homogeneous. Normally when someone asks about an inlay I ask, which part of this gorgeous grain do you want me to get rid of? But when its all the same, it doesn’t matter — but you’d better get rid of some of it or you’re going to have a boring stick! In this case, the inlay makes the rippled grain more obvious, and that’s the goal. And greenbling is never wrong.

So in this case I guess the inlays add a little greenbling to the cue, and help frame the majesty of the maple burl in the center. Note, this is soft maple. But I felt okay using it because it’s on a 3/4″ shagbark hickory core and surrounded by very dense stabilized maple. The butt will end up in the normal range, weight wise, and will convey little to no vibration. Pair with a BurcHowdy low deflection shaft for the ultimate Character Cues experience.

Monthly payments. No interest. No automatic bank draft.

Woods Used: Spalted & Stabilized Maple, Maple Burl

Butt Length: 30

Core: Shagbark Hickory

Collars: Phenolic

Probable full cue natural weight: 17-19 oz.

Pin: 3/8-10 mod; radial

Glue Date: 2/15/26

Earliest Finish Date: 8/26

CAFETERIA STYLE: email me at Clayton@charactercues.com if you’d like to purchase this butt with any of the following. I’ll protect the page for you and change the listing and price to include the items you’d like to purchase. To discuss on the phone, email first. 🙂

Low Deflection Shafts:

• Carbon Fiber: $450
• Black BurcHowdy (torrefied low deflection black birch shaft): $550

Break Shafts: 

• Purple Heart Shaft: $400
• Osage Orange: $400
• Hickory: $350

Wood shaft: (any species, w/ matching ring) $350

• Maple
• Black Birch (recommended)
• Ash
• Sassafras
• Walnut
• Hickory
• Honey Locust
• Beech
• Cherry

Matching wood joint protectors: $75 each

Extensions:

• 3-6″ Same Wood: $250
• 7-12″ Same Wood: $300
• 3-6″ Like-Design: $450
• 7-12″ Like-Design: $500

Butt & Joint Protector: $975

Puzzling has no signature or number on the body of the butt. I’ve been asked, so I know some folks prefer no sigs. The reason this doesn’t have one is I used gold ink and it vanished under the finish. Maybe it’s there under the right light. I can’t find it.

Both black cherry red rot and walnut, along with black cherry (handle) and maple (red, with all the black squiggles). Comes with black cherry burl joint protector.

I need to get lunch. Then I’ll come back and write up the description. Lots to enjoy on this one!

PS… Want to add the best wood shaft on the planet to your order? I’m on a quest to build the best low deflection wood shaft on planet earth. Check out my reasoning and progress here… and maybe grab one of the first 30 along with a prototype shaft for testing and feedback: https://charactercues.com/product/black-burchowdy/

Woods Used: Spalted & Stabilized Black Cherry, Maple, Walnut, Black Cherry Red Rot (dash inlays)

Butt Length: 30 3/8″ with bumper

Butt Weight: 15.1 oz.

Core: shagbark hickory (stronger and more dense than hard maple, the standard)

Collars: White Tomahawk (top shelf. Great hit.)

Pin: 3/8-10 mod

Glue Date: 9/16/25

CAFETERIA STYLE: email me at Clayton@charactercues.com if you’d like to purchase this butt with any of the following. I’ll protect the page for you and change the listing and price to include the items you’d like to purchase. To discuss on the phone, email first. 🙂

Low Deflection Shafts:

• Carbon Fiber: $450
• Black BurcHowdy: $400

Break Shafts: 

• Purple Heart Shaft: $400
• Osage Orange: $400
• Hickory: $350

Wood shaft: (any species, w/ matching ring) $350

• Maple
• Black Birch (recommended)
• Ash
• Sassafras
• Walnut
• Hickory
• Honey Locust
• Beech
• Cherry

Matching wood joint protectors: $75 each

Extensions:

• 3-6″ Same Wood: $250
• 7-12″ Same Wood: $300
• 3-6″ Like-Design: $450
• 7-12″ Like-Design: $500

Butt & Joint Protector: $825

Spalted/stabilized maple on a purple heart core.

A very nuanced screamer. ACHTUNG!!!!! has a forearm and butt sleeve that had each end soaked in purple stabilizer and then the whole piece was submerged in black stabilizer, then after saturated under vacuum, cooked until solid.

The purple is obvious in the forearm, less so in the sleeve. I went with red for the handle because it is a component color of purple and the black has traces of red in it, as I wanted it to harmonize with deep space/galaxy colors for another build, and this butt benefitted.

Built on a purple heart core, expect a very solid feel in the hand and a steady, firm shooter. Full stick weight likely to be 19-21 oz, natural. Add a purple heart shaft for a break butt that leaves no one in doubt as to who owns the table. Or pair with a BurcHowdy or carbon fiber shaft for a low deflection statement shooter.

One other option: buy a glass cabinet and just look at her all day. 😉

Monthly payments. No interest. No automatic bank draft.

Woods Used: Spalted & Stabilized Tiger Maple

Butt Length: 30″

Core: Purple Heart

Collars: Black phenolic

Probable full cue natural weight: 18-20 oz.

Pin: 3/8-10 mod; radial, or QR

Glue Date: 10/6/25

CAFETERIA STYLE: email me at Clayton@charactercues.com if you’d like to purchase this butt with any of the following. I’ll protect the page for you and change the listing and price to include the items you’d like to purchase. To discuss on the phone, email first. 🙂

Low Deflection Shafts:

• Carbon Fiber: $450
• Black BurcHowdy: $400

Break Shafts: 

• Purple Heart Shaft: $400
• Osage Orange: $400
• Hickory: $350

Wood shaft: (any species, w/ matching ring) $350

• Maple
• Black Birch (recommended)
• Ash
• Sassafras
• Walnut
• Hickory
• Honey Locust
• Beech
• Cherry

Matching wood joint protectors: $75 each

Extensions:

• 3-6″ Same Wood: $250
• 7-12″ Same Wood: $300
• 3-6″ Like-Design: $450
• 7-12″ Like-Design: $500