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  • Stick 158: Watching the Animal

    Stick 158: Watching the Animal

    Butt & Joint Protector: $775

    I’ve been wanting to use the maple handle in a cue for more than a year. I had it on my building board, where I put outstanding pieces of wood to wait on inspiration, for months, next to a couple pieces of red and yellow maple. I decided to build the butt and all of a sudden, the red and yellow just bored the hell out of me. I started looking around and tested a bunch of colors with the handle and went back to the red and yellow. Soon as I saw it again I knew there was no way I’d ignore the voice saying no way, turn back, that dog don’t hunt.

    Lo and behold, a piece of beech with a dark shadowy figure in a cloak — I like! — and loogidat walnut! With a bark inclusion? Hell yea. Hell yeah.

    It spoke. I listened. It’s glued and I can’t wait to see this one with a finish.

    –Clayton

    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/

     

     

    Monthly payments. No interest. No automatic bank draft.

    Can be set up with specific monthly payment amount or you can make periodic payments on your own schedule until finish time.

     


     

    Woods Used: Spalted & Stabilized  Beech forearm, Maple handle, Walnut butt sleeve

    Butt Length: 30″

    Core: Hickory

    Collars: Phenolic

    Probable full cue natural weight: 18-19 oz.

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

    Glue Date: 8/18/25

    Earliest Finish Date: 4/26

     


     

    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. 🙂

    Butt $700

    Low Deflection Shafts:

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

    BREAK SHAFTS: 

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

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

    • Maple
    • Birch
    • 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

     

    $775.00
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  • Stick 144: Elder

    Protected: Stick 144: Elder

    Spalted butt & joint protector: $775

    Purple Heart Shaft & joint protector: $475

    Purpleheart core: $50

    Total: 1300

    20% discount: ($260)

    Total: $1040

    Adjustment for slot rings on prior cue: -100

    TOTAL $940

     

     

    Preference is to use box elder burl, then walnut, then pecan. Blue forearm & butt sleeve, slot rings, plain/no-dye added burl handle section. If metal is used, silver color is preferred. Yellows to be avoided.

     

    Woods Used: spalted/stabilized box elder, walnut, pecan

    Butt Length: 30″

    Core: purple heart

    Collars: tbd

    Target Weight: 

    Pin: 3/8-10 mod

    Collar: .84″ (to match Revo)

    Glue Date:

    Earliest Finish Date:

     


     

    $940.00
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  • Stick 157: Manifest

    Stick 157: Manifest

    Butt & Joint Protector: $775

    The interesting thing to me is the blue is the same on each end. Stark and bold. It’s exactly like my favorite suit, which hopefully I will never wear again. Alive. But the jazz is in the transition in the middle, which features the heavy, open- wound grain of white ash. The three rings on the bottom are black and the three on top are blue. The addition of the rings creates the transition effect from dark to light. Otherwise it’s just an angry blue handle. Butt’s name is MANIFEST

    –Clayton

    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/

     

     

    Monthly payments. No interest. No automatic bank draft.

     


     

    Woods Used: Spalted & Stabilized  Beech, White Ash (soon to be extinct, very possibly).

    Butt Length: 30″

    Core: Honey Locust (hits like hard maple)

    Collars: Phenolic

    Probable full cue natural weight: 18-19 oz.

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

    Glue Date: 6/19/25

    Earliest Finish Date: 1/26

     


     

    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. 🙂

    Butt $700

    Carbon Fiber Shaft $450 

    Purple Heart Shaft: $400

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

    • Maple
    • Birch
    • Ash
    • Sassafras
    • Walnut
    • White Oak
    • Hickory
    • Honey Locust
    • Beech
    • Cherry

    Matching wood joint protectors: $75 each

    Extensions:

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

     

    $775.00
    Quick View
  • Stick LE150: Limited Edition Batch 2: Blessed are the Reconcilers

    Stick LE150: Limited Edition Batch 2: Blessed are the Reconcilers

    Butt & Joint Protector: $775

    I made my second limited edition batch in response to a request that I do more out of non-dyed stabilized wood. All of the Beatitudes butts began as a single piece of spalted wood long enough to be both a forearm and butt sleeve. Some were long enough to also offer an extension as an add on, if wanted. The Beatitudes Limited Edition have product numbers from LE149 to LE156. The grain in each contiguous piece is aligned even when the pieces are not contiguous, as when there is a ring set or handle in between. All of the designs were dictated by the wood itself, as my cuts were placed where I could get the straightest sections to work with.

    Woods used in the batch: Oak, maple, apple, walnut, yellow birch, black birch burl, black cherry red rot, and of course, all on shagbark hickory cores. I harvest rotting wood from around where I live in western PA, dry it to zero percent humidity, and stabilize with Cactus Juice resin. The resulting material is significantly more dense than the original wood was — that’s why I can use a soft wood like walnut or cherry and have it produce a hit like hard maple or some other dense wood.

    BLESSED ARE THE RECONCILERS is a dumb luck fluke. I had wood stabilized for a batch of 7, but when I started layouts I realized the black cherry red rot wasn’t dark enough to use for bold contrasts. Some sticks need bold contrasts. I went to the heater where I keep punky wood ready to stabilize, grabbed enough walnut for one small cook, which basically fits in 2 toaster ovens, and stabilized a batch of walnut. All the other butts in the group were pieces set aside because they were a long single piece and had so much activity in the grain and spalting, I knew they’d deliver. But when I cleaned up the walnut after the cook I realized that two of the pieces were contiguous. The walnut I have is such a gnarled, beautiful mess I have to cut out parts of a pool cue section by section. These two pieces must have slipped my mind to set aside. They are separated by black birch burl. Brass rings.

     

    –Clayton

    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/


     

    Monthly payments. No interest. No automatic bank draft.

     


     

    Woods Used: Spalted & Stabilized Figured Walnut, Black Birch Burl

    Butt Length: 30″

    Core: Shagbark Hickory (firm hit)

    Collars: Phenolic

    Probable full cue natural weight: 18-19 oz.

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

    Glue Date: 6/17/25

    Earliest Finish Date: 1/26

     


     

    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. 🙂

    Butt $700

    Carbon Fiber Shaft $450 

    Purple Heart Shaft: $400

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

    • Maple
    • Birch
    • Ash
    • Sassafras
    • Walnut
    • White Oak
    • Hickory
    • Honey Locust
    • Beech
    • Cherry

    Matching wood joint protectors: $75 each

    Extensions:

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

     

    $775.00
    Quick View
  • Stick LE156: Limited Edition Batch 2: Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

    Stick LE156: Limited Edition Batch 2: Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

    Butt & Joint Protector: $700

    I made my second limited edition batch in response to a request that I do more out of non-dyed stabilized wood. All of the Beatitudes butts began as a single piece of spalted wood long enough to be both a forearm and butt sleeve. Some were long enough to also offer an extension as an add on, if wanted. The Beatitudes Limited Edition have product numbers from LE149 to LE156. The grain in each contiguous piece is aligned even when the pieces are not contiguous, as when there is a ring set or handle in between. All of the designs were dictated by the wood itself, as my cuts were placed where I could get the straightest sections to work with.

    Woods used in the batch: Oak, maple, apple, walnut, yellow birch, black birch burl, black cherry red rot, and of course, all on shagbark hickory cores. I harvest rotting wood from around where I live in western PA, dry it to zero percent humidity, and stabilize with Cactus Juice resin. The resulting material is significantly more dense than the original wood was — that’s why I can use a soft wood like walnut or cherry and have it produce a hit like hard maple or some other dense wood.

    BLESSED ARE THE HUMBLE is glorious spalted Hormtown Oak. The patterns are simply a delight. Nothing else is like spalted oak. Look close at the forearm and butt sleeve.

    Also look close at the walnut handle. The grain is chock full of swirling black and tan contrasts. Spalted and stabilized so its much denser than regular old walnut, which is three steps removed from balsa. This stuff is more akin a rock.

    Blessed are the Humble is the most understated butt of the collection at first glance, and easily the prettiest per square inch when you look close.

    That’s significant.

     

    –Clayton

    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/

     

     

    Monthly payments. No interest. No automatic bank draft.

     


     

    Woods Used: Spalted & Stabilized Oak, Figured Walnut, Black Cherry red rot rings set between Copper rings.

    Butt Length: 30″

    Core: Shagbark Hickory (firm hit)

    Collars: Phenolic

    Probable full cue natural weight: 18-19 oz.

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

    Glue Date: 6/17/25

    Earliest Finish Date: 1/26

     


     

    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. 🙂

    Butt $700

    Carbon Fiber Shaft $450 

    Purple Heart Shaft: $400

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

    • Maple
    • Birch
    • Ash
    • Sassafras
    • Walnut
    • White Oak
    • Hickory
    • Honey Locust
    • Beech
    • Cherry

    Matching wood joint protectors: $75 each

    Extensions:

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

     

    $700.00
    Quick View
  • Stick LE155: Limited Edition Batch 2: Blessed are the Sorrowful

    Stick LE155: Limited Edition Batch 2: Blessed are the Sorrowful

    Butt & Joint Protector: $775

     

    I made my second limited edition batch in response to a request that I do more out of non-dyed stabilized wood. All of the Beatitudes butts began as a single piece of spalted wood long enough to be both a forearm and butt sleeve. Some were long enough to also offer an extension as an add on, if wanted. The Beatitudes Limited Edition have product numbers from LE149 to LE156. The grain in each contiguous piece is aligned even when the pieces are not contiguous, as when there is a ring set or handle in between. All of the designs were dictated by the wood itself, as my cuts were placed where I could get the straightest sections to work with.

    Woods used in the batch: Oak, white ash, maple, apple, walnut, yellow birch, black birch burl, black cherry red rot, and of course, all on shagbark hickory cores. I harvest rotting wood from around where I live in western PA, dry it to zero percent humidity, and stabilize with Cactus Juice resin. The resulting material is significantly more dense than the original wood was — that’s why I can use a soft wood like walnut or cherry and have it produce a hit like hard maple or some other dense wood.

    BLESSED ARE THE SORROWFUL is, I am pleased to say, going to be the first of many white ash butts. Alpaca Luke excels at many things, among them are owning dead and rotting trees. White ash is disappearing fast due to a beetle and the outlook is grim. However, there are “lingering ash” that seem like survivors, and tree people and hippies and other good people are trying to ensure they soldier on as a species. I hope so. Ash is good for nearly everything. Especially Character Cues.

     

    –Clayton

    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/

     

    Monthly payments. No interest. No automatic bank draft.

     


     

    Woods Used: Spalted & Stabilized White Ash, donated by Alpaca Luke. Walnut from over at John’s hunting camp and black birch burl between copper rings

    Butt Length: 30″

    Core: Shagbark Hickory (firm hit)

    Collars: Phenolic

    Probable full cue natural weight: 18-19 oz.

    Pin: Uniloc QR

    Carbon Fiber Shaft: 12.2mm

    Glue Date: 6/17/25

    Earliest Finish Date: 1/26

     


     

    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. 🙂

    Butt $700

    Carbon Fiber Shaft $450 

    Purple Heart Shaft: $400

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

    • Maple
    • Birch
    • Ash
    • Sassafras
    • Walnut
    • White Oak
    • Hickory
    • Honey Locust
    • Beech
    • Cherry

    Matching wood joint protectors: $75 each

    Extensions:

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

     

    $775.00
    Quick View
  • Stick LE154: Limited Edition Batch 2: Blessed are the Gentle

    Stick LE154: Limited Edition Batch 2: Blessed are the Gentle

    Butt & Joint Protector: $775

    I made my second limited edition batch in response to a request that I do more out of non-dyed stabilized wood. All of the Beatitudes butts began as a single piece of spalted wood long enough to be both a forearm and butt sleeve. Some were long enough to also offer an extension as an add on, if wanted. The Beatitudes Limited Edition have product numbers from LE149 to LE156. The grain in each contiguous piece is aligned even when the pieces are not contiguous, as when there is a ring set or handle in between. All of the designs were dictated by the wood itself, as my cuts were placed where I could get the straightest sections to work with.

    Woods used in the batch: Oak, maple, apple, walnut, yellow birch, black birch burl, black cherry red rot, and of course, all on shagbark hickory cores. I harvest rotting wood from around where I live in western PA, dry it to zero percent humidity, and stabilize with Cactus Juice resin. The resulting material is significantly more dense than the original wood was — that’s why I can use a soft wood like walnut or cherry and have it produce a hit like hard maple or some other dense wood.

    BLESSED ARE THE GENTLE is more of Alpaca Luke’s maple log that floated from somewhere on his land to somewhere else, where it waited possibly quite a few years for him and I to wander along with a chainsaw seeking beauty. I’ve gone back several times. Every piece gets hauled out on my shoulders. The log produces the wood that’s been all over some of my best butts. Those jagged double black lines bring much to the imagination.

    The handle is black cherry red rot with evidence of some kind of white rot fungi — a name that refers to an actual thing. There are several such fungi and I haven’t figured out which is featured on Blessed are the Gentle. But I’m sure its an actual thing too! Those white marks will appear in the finished butt, though the exact patterns throughout the butt will change as the diameter is reduced over the next 6 months until the end of 2025.

     

    –Clayton

    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/

     

    Monthly payments. No interest. No automatic bank draft.

     


     

    Woods Used: Spalted & Stabilized Maple from Alpaca Luke’s, Black Cherry Red Rot, Walnut rings, Brass rings.

    Butt Length: 30″

    Core: Shagbark Hickory (firm hit)

    Collars: Phenolic

    Probable full cue natural weight: 18-19 oz.

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

    Glue Date: 6/17/25

    Earliest Finish Date: 1/26

     


     

    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. 🙂

    Butt $700

    Carbon Fiber Shaft $450 

    Purple Heart Shaft: $400

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

    • Maple
    • Birch
    • Ash
    • Sassafras
    • Walnut
    • White Oak
    • Hickory
    • Honey Locust
    • Beech
    • Cherry

    Matching wood joint protectors: $75 each

    Extensions:

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

     

    $775.00
    Quick View
  • Stick LE153: Limited Edition Batch 2: Blessed is the Just

    Stick LE153: Limited Edition Batch 2: Blessed is the Just

    Butt & Joint Protector: $775

    I made my second limited edition batch in response to a request that I do more out of non-dyed stabilized wood. All of the Beatitudes butts began as a single piece of spalted wood long enough to be both a forearm and butt sleeve. Some were long enough to also offer an extension as an add on, if wanted. The Beatitudes Limited Edition have product numbers from LE149 to LE156. The grain in each contiguous piece is aligned even when the pieces are not contiguous, as when there is a ring set or handle in between. All of the designs were dictated by the wood itself, as my cuts were placed where I could get the straightest sections to work with.

    Woods used in the batch: Oak, maple, apple, walnut, yellow birch, black birch burl, black cherry red rot, and of course, all on shagbark hickory cores. I harvest rotting wood from around where I live in western PA, dry it to zero percent humidity, and stabilize with Cactus Juice resin. The resulting material is significantly more dense than the original wood was — that’s why I can use a soft wood like walnut or cherry and have it produce a hit like hard maple or some other dense wood.

    BLESSED IS THE JUST is made of the piece of wood that gave me the idea for the batch. It was the first one that I set aside, cut extra long and big from the getgo, with a single cue in mind. there’s another contiguous piece that would make the extension. Alpaca Luke and I were out on his land the year I started Character Cues and when I sawed open the log I cried. It has made some of the most dazzling butts to come out of Character Cues.

    This is one.

     

    –Clayton

    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/

     

    Monthly payments. No interest. No automatic bank draft.

     


     

    Woods Used: Spalted & Stabilized Maple (Alpaca Luke’s), walnut rings, brass rings

    Butt Length: 30″

    Core: Shagbark Hickory (firm hit)

    Collars: Phenolic

    Probable full cue natural weight: 18-19 oz.

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

    Glue Date: 6/17/25

    Earliest Finish Date: 1/26

     


     

    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. 🙂

    Butt $700

    Carbon Fiber Shaft $450 

    Purple Heart Shaft: $400

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

    • Maple
    • Birch
    • Ash
    • Sassafras
    • Walnut
    • White Oak
    • Hickory
    • Honey Locust
    • Beech
    • Cherry

    Matching wood joint protectors: $75 each

    Extensions:

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

     

    $775.00
    Quick View