How to polish the side of a cue tip

july9x · Nov 24, 2015

From time to time the side of the tip becomes dry, rough and looks old. How do I polish (or burnish) the side of the cue tip so that it becomes smooth and shiny again, like it was just freshly installed from a pro shop, it maybe also reduce chance of getting mushrooming, without using professional tools such as lathe and not to scratch the ferrule?

How to make the tip from this:

To this:

Tony_in_MD · Nov 24, 2015

A little spittle on the side of the tip, then burnish with the back side of a piece of wet-dry sandpaper. This can be done by spinning the shaft on your thigh with your land while the have the sandpaper back wrapped around the ferrule and tip.

july9x said:
From time to time the side of the tip becomes dry, rough and looks old. How do I polish (or burnish) the side of the cue tip so that it becomes smooth and shiny again, like it was just freshly installed from a pro shop, it maybe also reduce chance of getting mushrooming, without using professional tools such as lathe and not to scratch the ferrule?

How to make the tip from this:

To this:

july9x · Nov 24, 2015

Tony_in_MD said:
A little spittle on the side of the tip, then burnish with the back side of a piece of wet-dry sandpaper. This can be done by spinning the shaft on your thigh with your land while the have the sandpaper back wrapped around the ferrule and tip.

No kidding right

, most cue tip installing videos I saw on Youtube , they apply some kind of liquid/glue/gel to the side of the tip and burnishing with a piece of either sand paper or leather (using lathe), I mean that liquid makes it look so shiny without even doing anything else, you may just go ahead and wipe it off a little bit and it's good to go. :embarrassed2:

erriep · Nov 24, 2015

july9x said:
No kidding right , most cue tip installing videos I saw on Youtube , they apply some kind of liquid/glue/gel to the side of the tip and burnishing with a piece of either sand paper or leather (using lathe), I mean that liquid makes it look so shiny without even doing anything else, you may just go ahead and wipe it off a little bit and it's good to go. :embarrassed2:

magical liquid ? meh. IMHO you should forget that for now.

Tony Marcino's tip is excellent. That's how i burnish the side of my tips for 35 years ...

Colonel · Nov 24, 2015

Same result can be had from spit and burnish with a piece of leather.

Tony_in_MD · Nov 24, 2015

The nice thing about spittle or spit, is that it is always with you.

pdcue · Nov 24, 2015

Tony_in_MD said:
The nice thing about spittle or spit, is that it is always with you.

The good news is you can make it shine with some kind of liquid.

The bad news is it doesn't give the benefit polishing on a lathe does.

Good ol' water works fine - spinning with a lathe allows you to harden the sides
much more effectively than rotating by hand. But water makes leather hard, so the hand method will
result in improvement... given enough time.

Shining liquid will make it shine.

Dale

Tony_in_MD · Nov 24, 2015

I agree nothing beats a lathe, but the OP wanted solutions that did not require one.

pdcue said:
The good news is you can make it shine with some kind of liquid.

The bad news is it doesn't give the benefit polishing on a lathe does.

Good ol' water works fine - spinning with a lathe allows you to harden the sides
much more effectively than rotating by hand. But water makes leather hard, so the hand method will
result in improvement... given enough time.

Shining liquid will make it shine.

Dale

Redneck Jim · Nov 24, 2015

Spittle Shining By Hand (and leg)

The highly technical method of "Spittle Shining By Hand"
is covered briefly in the following video at the 5:40 minute part. Don't blink... it's brief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0TKkgHfL4s#t=103

.
.

ElCorazonFrio · Nov 24, 2015

Leather craftspeople generally use gum tragacanth and a wooden fid. I've used it on tips to great success.

pdcue · Nov 24, 2015

Tony_in_MD said:
I agree nothing beats a lathe, but the OP wanted solutions that did not require one.

Believe it or not, I can read. IF I had wanted to be impolite I would have just posted
"you can't". Often other readers want to pick up more info than just an answer to a
question asked, but thanks for stopping by.

Dale(disseminator of oft time valuable information)

conetip · Nov 24, 2015

Dale, probably the only thing I have not tried is a piece of wood and water.
Maybe next time on my next tip, I'll give it a try.
I see the leather crafters use a Dremel or similar tool and home made wood pieces for their burnishing as well. Maybe a wood split lap will work quite well over a tip. Just another thing to mess with I guess.
Thanks for the thought nudges there Dale.
Neil

Kim Bye · Nov 25, 2015

Tiger wax gives you that finish.

jb1911 · Nov 25, 2015

I get great results with Renaissance Wax.

Michael Webb · Nov 25, 2015

At the pool room. I use spit and my jeans. Works perfect and under 20 seconds.

thepavlos · Nov 25, 2015

cold hard cash! and you can't really screw anything up!

waynewrc · Nov 26, 2015

Polish sides of a tip

In a pinch I've used a little spit and rubbed the side of the tip on the Formica rail of the table. Also have used my leather wallet.

Bavafongoul · Dec 14, 2015

Anyone else notice it looks like it's actually two entirely different shafts & tips in the above photos?
The wood grain is different and the tip in the 1st photo is brown leather over black & the 2nd photo
it's black leather over brown. I dunno what the red circle is either but to my eye the tips are different.

ElCorazonFrio · Dec 14, 2015

Bavafongoul said:
Anyone else notice it looks like it's actually two entirely different shafts & tips in the above photos?
The wood grain is different and the tip in the 1st photo is brown leather over black & the 2nd photo
it's black leather over brown. I dunno what the red circle is either but to my eye the tips are different.

That is his point, he owns the top one and wants to make it look like the bottom one.

Rain-Man · Dec 14, 2015

Bavafongoul said:
Anyone else notice it looks like it's actually two entirely different shafts & tips in the above photos?
The wood grain is different and the tip in the 1st photo is brown leather over black & the 2nd photo
it's black leather over brown. I dunno what the red circle is either but to my eye the tips are different.

Yes, they are different. The top pic is of a McDermott G-core shaft with an Everest tip, and the bottom pic is (most likely) a Poison Venom shaft with a Sarin tip (which is basically an Everest that's been colored a little differently, specifically for Poison).:thumbup:

How to polish the side of a cue tip

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