Billiards can be a blast, when you own a nice cue, you set it against a table and it falls down your cue can be damaged. To protect from this I built this functional yet eye catching cue rest out of left over pieces of African hard wood, teak and leather. Thank you for looking and please VOTE for this!

Step 1: Tools and Materials

TOOLS:

drill press

table saw

scroll saw/jig saw

torch

clamps

square

drum sander

Router/ router table

MATERIALS:

hard wood

leather

lead/steel bar

glue

old mouse pad

varnish

Step 2: Cutting the Shape

Always use caution and proper safety equipment when handling shop equipment and tools!

First you need to figure out how many pool cues your rest needs to accommodate, I went with four slots. This also was made to fit in a pocket in my pool cue bag, so take that in to account when designing yours.

I cut the main wood piece to about 6 inches in length. I then used a bottle cap to trace for the cue slots and spaced each around a quarter inch from each other. I then sanded, with a drum sander attachment on my drill press, each slot smooth. From here I measured and cut the teak sides and the table stop.

Step 3: Adding a Little Weight

Please use extreme caution when following this step, lead needs to be handled in a safe manner and liquid metal can cause serious harm. Avoid touching lead with your bare hands!

Weight needs to be added to the rear of the rest to make sure it stays put on the table, I used lead. If you do not feel comfortable melting lead, you can use lead shot or a steel bar.

I drilled a pilot hole in the bottom of the rest, around 3/8" in depth. then I used a router to cut a slot about 5" in length. I used old fishing weights, melted them down in a ladle and poured that into the wood slot. DO NOT USE ANY THING FOR FOOD AFTER MELTING LEAD INTO IT!

Step 4: Installing the Leather

I wanted some thing soft to rest my pool cues on and had some left over leather laying around. I cut a 3/4" strip about 10" in length and secured it to the rest with rubber cement. This looked good and also made sure that my cues would not get scratched.

Step 5: Gluing It Up and Adding the Table Stop

I took the teak and applied wood glue, secured them around the rest with clamps, then let cure over night. There was a notch cut in the teak to allow room for the leather on the sides of the rest. I installed the table stop and braces in-between each of the cue slots.

Step 6: Installing the Rubber Padding and Finishing - Final Thoughts

I cut the rubberized material off an old mouse pad to add grip to the bottom of the rest. It was attached with rubber cement. This also encapsulated the exposed lead on the bottom. Using 100 - 220 grit sand paper sanded smooth any imperfections and finished with 5 coats of teak oil, giving ample time between coats.

I am really proud of this cue holder and everyone asks questions about it when I'm at the bar or pool hall. If you end up building one similar i'd love to see it! and please vote for this Instructable!

Thanks for looking!