Darrin Hill – Master Cue Maker & Design Engineer of Cue Making Machinery

Darrin Hill is a full time Master Cue Maker and his shop is located in McHenry Illinois about 40 miles north of Chicago. He has made a reputation from his outstanding workmanship and fascinating design coordination of exotic woods, point veneers, ring work and inlays.  His trademark “High Point Look” on his half and full splice cues make Hills Cues highly recognizable from across the room in any pool hall.

Not only does Darrin match skill sets with the top cue makers in the world, he stands at the top of the list as a designer and modifier  of machinery to perform specific tasks required in cue making.  Darrin has never purchased a piece of equipment from a cue maker machine supplier because he considered them to be mere toys.  He has taken heavy duty professional machinery a transformed then in to highly accurate functional work stations with his own special tooling modified for each task.

Darrin has been involved in the billiards industry working large tournaments since 1996 when he started his cue repair business on a portable Atlas Clausing Lathe that he modified for cue repair. Darrin was a excellent local pool player in the Chicagoland area with a passion for the game and had built his own Plain Jane Player’s Cue at the age of 17 years old.

Today Darrin is 37 years old and in 1985 at the age of 12 years old his father bough him his first lathe as a birthday present.  His dad owned a machine shop and Darrin was fascinated by the machine technology.  At the age of 16 Darrin was on a school work program and left high school to take a full time job as an apprentice lathe and mill operator.  When his apprenticeship was over, Darrin upped his skills by taking a job in a auto body shop where he learned to be a professional auto body painter from one of the best custom hot rod painters in the world.

During these formative years, little did Darrin know that he was destined to become one of the best cue makers in the world and his career path was on a head on collision with the launching of Hills Cues in 2001.

Today Darrin is very busy everyday in his shop building custom cues to be shipped all over the world.  He loves his profession and is constantly improving or upgrading every detail of his craft.  He uses only the finest hand picked exotic wood materials, glues, and coatings for his masterpieces. Darrin’s triple “A” Rock Maple Shafts, custom made joint pin and his famous shaft taper are the reason why you see so many players “On The Hill” with a Hills Cue.

Take some time to view Darrin’s Cues and take his shop tour on this site and I am sure that you will be amazed at his pride of workmanship, organizational skills and work ethic.  A purchase of a Hills Cue today is an investment for the future.