Benton City artist right on cue

BENTON CITY -- Bob Danielson has been playing pool for 42 years, but his real talent is off the billiards table designing intricate pool cues.

The Benton City man has found a way to meld that skill with his passion for underground comics, and is working on a one-of-a-kind project he hopes to sell for $25,000.

The custom-made pool cue with an ivory handle features an original strip by renowned San Francisco cartoonist S. Clay Wilson, whose reputation in the underground comix movement is to depict aggressively violent and sexually explicit characters. Danielson has made it on spec, but doesn't expect a problem finding a buyer.

"It is the only underground art cue in existence," he said.

A Seattle native, Danielson spent most of his life there before moving to the Tri-Cities three years ago to care for his dying mother.

He and his girlfriend got a home in rural Benton County and turned an unattached building into his climate-controlled workshop.

The 55-year-old is a machinist and a mechanic who had a garage in Seattle and was self-employed for "20-some years."

Danielson started shooting pool at 13 when he and a friend began going to a bowling alley. For his 14th birthday, his parents gave him an hour a week of pool.

He still plays in a league a couple of nights a week and travels to tournaments, but "to really be good" requires at least eight hours a day. Instead, he prefers to spend that time creating unique collector pool cues.

There reportedly are more than 2,000 custom cue makers in the U.S.

Danielson started making laminated shafts 12 years ago, then stepped up his work about five years ago to include butts -- the bottom half of a cue that attaches to the upper shaft.

He built his own fixtures and jigs to make the cues.

He uses a "six-pie construction" for each butt, which involves taking one piece of wood, cutting it into six triangles, smoothing the face of each triangle with a router, then putting it all "back together again so you end up with all these patterns that you can't get otherwise. That's what is unique about what I do."

Danielson said he's never found anyone else who makes laminated butts with his special technique of hollowing out the inside when using heavier woods.

Since the butt alone must weigh between 181/2 and 191/2 ounces, Danielson has figured out a way of scalloping the inside of his triangle pieces to remove some bulk. For example, after scalloping six pieces of ebony to make the cue butt, he has reduced the weight to 19 from 24 ounces.

Danielson works with a variety of woods, including maple, purpleheart, bubinga and cocobolo.

While the shaft must be left plain, the butt can have anything from leather-wrapping to ivory inlays or an entire block of cored ivory.

"Some people like them really, really plain ... and some people want it to look better," he said.

Danielson uses pre-ban ivory purchased online or from bona fide dealers in America. The designs are his own creation.

"I think it's getting better all the time. I'm learning more. You just have to do it often enough, learn how it can play better," he said. "The nicer wood you put into it, the better it is. You can play just fine with ugly wood but it's still ugly wood."

Cue construction all comes down to playability. Though one laden with ivory may have the right weight and balance, it will not play as well as an all-wood cue because too many glue joints don't transfer energy as well, Danielson said.

The scrimshaw is done by Howard Thomas of Fort Wayne, Ind. His graphic work, which often centers around nude women, can be found at sailorsdream.com.

Danielson finishes the cue after the artwork has been applied.

In addition to his underground comics cue, Danielson has two cues with rodeo scenes scrimshawed into ivory on the very end, also known as a butt sleeve. One is on display at Hamley & Co. in Pendleton.

Danielson said to date he has sold 40 cues. Last year he made nine and this year he hopes to do 30. A simple cue takes a minimum of six hours to make, while inlaid designs can take up to 15 hours.

Prices for each cue range from $350 to $5,200.

But the Wilson artwork cue will be in a class of its own, and Danielson expects it to take about 200 hours. That includes four hours Wilson put into each of the six comic frames and the 80 hours needed to scrimshaw the comic strip onto three 4-inch sections of ivory.

The cue, a special carrying case featuring The Checkered Demon -- the comic's main character -- on an ivory inlay, and the original framed artwork are all included in the $25,000 price tag. The artwork alone is worth $5,000, Danielson said.

The cue is made from ivory and natural woods, a small portion of which was dyed to make red flames.

"I love what I'm doing. Who else can do it?" Danielson said. "What's not to love?"

Danielson said Wilson gave him permission to use The Checkered Demon character on his business website, bdcuesandcomix.com, where he also sells underground comix.

The agreement with Wilson also allows Danielson to make 20 cues with The Checkered Demon scrimshawed onto an ivory butt sleeve. Those will retail for $3,500.

Danielson anticipates all 21 cues to become even more valuable because Wilson's future as an artist is unknown after he suffered a severe brain injury in November.

He said he hopes to get 14 other underground artists to work with him on similar projects.

The Wilson underground cue and original artwork will be on display June 4-30 with a variety of other underground artwork at The Life gallery in Portland.