Pool Cue News and Review

So this is kind of interesting. I was wasting time digging around in Google Patents and amongst the giant pile of things that will never be developed was a patent for a new shaft from Steve Titus, the Predator 314 guy. Could it be that the future of Predator is… a composite shaft??? The shaft features a wood core and composite skin described in the patent application as a carbon fiber or epoxy. The patent also refers to one of Predator’s key patents in their 314 shaft, so there’s really very little doubt that we’re looking at a potential Predator product.

According to the application, “the very light core combined with the extremely strong composite skin allow the billiard cue shaft to be very stiff where required without being too heavy and very light in areas where low mass is most critical for maximum performance while maintaining adequate stiffness”. This is interesting, but the real question is how is the thing actually going to feel. There’s a big difference in feel when you look at a wood shaft versus a composite or even a wood/composite hybrid shaft. One could speculate that the feel is what is holding development of the shaft up, as the the patent was awarded almost 2 years ago. At any rate, its an interesting read.