In making a high-grade cue, a choice piece of imported wood, such as ebony, mahogany, or rosewood, is cut into blocks about three inches square and twenty inches long. One of these is then roughly turned down on a lathe until it is round and slightly tapers all the way from one end to the other. At the narrow end it is then sawed four ways toward the thicker end, a distance of seven inches. This is the “butt.” The next section of either domestic or imported hard wood is forty-four inches long. This, too, receives a rough rotundity and tapering on a lathe. At the thicker end, a sawing-out process creates an opening, so that the “butt” and shaft can dovetail to a depth of seven inches. The cue is then sawed across into halves. On the base of the upper half a hard wood screw is inserted and at the top of the butt a threaded hole is bored. To strengthen the joint, the hollow screw-hole end is capped with an ivory ferule sunk flush with the surface. This is the jointed cue--a great convenience to the player who travels or carries his cue home when he plays at the club or public academy. At the narrow end of the cue, the tapering ceases about three-quarters of an inch from the end and flanges out according to the kind of “tip” the player prefers. This end is capped with an ivory ferule and upon the top of the latter, the leather tip is glued. Before this latter operation, the finished tapering, smoothing, varnishing and polishing is done by hand. Sometimes a flat surface a few inches long is planed on the circumference of the cue, extending up from the butt end and a mother-of-pearl name plate is sunk into the handle. Cues run in weight from fifteen to twenty-two ounces. This means the manufacture of cues according to weight, as well as taper, material, finish and quality of the tip. Each of these embrace a mass of detail too voluminous for recital here. _The Balls._--In the past, as far as we can historically trace, billiard balls were made of ivory. Until recently no superior substitute had been invented, but it is the consensus of opinion among expert billiardists that the newly manufactured synthetic ivory ball is equal, if not superior, in action and wearing quality, to real ivory. [Illustration: MAKING CUES] Elephant-tusk ivory, the only kind used in billiard ball manufacturing, is growing scarcer every year, with a consequent increase in price. In the ivory storage vaults of one large company, there is held from $150,000 to $300,000 worth of ivory, ranging from the tusk up to the finished product.