Building The Butt Sleeve

Here we show how the butt sleeve is done. You'll gain a basic understanding of how this is completed.

Cutting The Tenon

This is being shown from scratch so that you'll understand and see how's it's done.

The first thing is to cut a tenon. We first decide how long our sleeve area needs to be to accept the sleeve and ring work. Basically you add all the part lengths up and cut an equal tenon. The tenon is cut over a period of a few weeks along with the handle itself; this is done between centers. As we're incrementally reducing the handle, we're also cutting the tenon for the sleeve over the same period of time and once again between centers. It is very important that this all be done between centers to maintain integrity of the piece.

Once this is completed, we also cut threads and glue relief slots. The glue relief slots are for more surface area contact of the glue than actual relief.

Please Note: The butt sleeve may be just glued on the tenon as many cue builders do. However, for added structural integrity, all our butt sleeves are threaded on. Most advanced cue builders will use this method of mating the butt sleeve to the tenon. We have not shown this technique here but we will be showing the actual threading prodeedure in a different construction section.

Drilling The Sleeve

We decide what flavour of wood we're going to use. We have many various woods all precut for sleeves. We then proceed to drill a hole through the sleeve itself.

Just Add Glue

All the parts are 'faced off' and sanded for a smooth and tight fit. We test fit the parts and if they all fit well, we then add glue.

Once the glue has set we then turn the piece down while still remaining oversized.

The Finished Product

And here's what the finished sleeve looks like.