Depending on what you are looking for in the wide variety of pool cue shafts, it is essential to find the one you are most comfortable using. It can be tough to decide on the best shaft for you and your playing style with all the options out on the market. It is choosing between a standard shaft with a straight maple and differing tapers. Or the laminated shafts, mainly composed of different sections of wood cut into pieces that are then glued tighter in other formats and then turned down and tapered. The latest trend is with the carbon fiber shafts that are very stiff and have a significantly low deflection feel on the table. Also, there are torrification wood shafts, better known as a KeilWood shaft. What is your preference?
There is a process of taking the wood and baking it at high temperatures for a sustained period. This process takes all the moisture, sap, and sugar out of the wood, makes it stiffer, and gives it a golden baked look just like honey. The name KeilWood is trademarked, and although the process has been around for about the last five years, it’s just getting popular in the previous year. This process is also prevalent in the music industry for guitars and other wooden instruments.
Each shaft looks and feels different, and it’s up to you to find the shaft that meets and exceeds your specific splaying style. The KeilWood shaft is made out of a straight piece of maple, so you would naturally think that there is little to no LD “low deflection” properties, but that is not the case. The wood Torrication process is about an ounce lighter than your standard shaft giving the shaft its feel on the table. The lightness helps with the LD properties and provides the shaft with a unique feel of a classic wooden shaft that also has an LD feel. The process makes that standard maple shaft stiffer than a traditional wooden shaft. So the lightness and the stiffness give it a unique feel which people are raving over. You definitely can feel that you don’t get as much action on the cue ball with the KW shaft as the Carbon fiber shafts. You can feel the difference in energy transfer of the different shafts that Jacoby offers. The vibration in this shaft gives excellent feedback and feel to the shaft.
Jacoby has been a leader in the industry for many years. So it’s no natural surprise that they have entered the market and have the shaft hat they market as the KW by Jacoby shaft. This process of Torrification to the wood makes for a very sturdy new material. I don’t want to dare say dink proof, but that’s where I’m leading as the shaft has its unique feel of ruggedness and fences at the same time. On the low deflection side, it’s on par with most of the shafts out there on the market today. The stiffness isn’t as much as you might find on the cousin shaft being the Carbon Fiber shafts.
Check out this video from Cue Listings about the Kielwood Shaft by Jacoby. What is Kielwood?
You can get these shafts from Jacoby at the price point of $350, which is on the lower side of the industry standard for keilwood shafts. They offer them in almost all the different joints and tip diameters out there. You can get this shaft in a 29” and a 30”. It has a standard tip of the tiger Everest made by tiger tips. This shaft stands as its great option and an excellent option for those diehard wooden shaft fans that refuse to go to the Dark side of carbon fiber. “Pun intended”
I will usually do the pros and cons of a particular shaft, but I can’t find a negative thing to say about it. It’s not a carbon fiber shaft, and it’s not a low deflection shaft, and it’s not a standard maple shaft. It’s the Jacoby Torrification KW shaft, and it stands alone as an alternative to the other shafts on the market with a unique look and feel.
This shaft has a great price point and has all the characteristics of a low deflection shaft with a unique look and feel of a standard wooden shaft Dipped in honey. The KW shaft by Jacoby gets the Sneaky Pete Mafia seal of approval.
