There is very little that Ole Florida Joe say's that I would take for gospel but one thing that stands out for repeating. Just take a short piece of a broken or old shaft and practice your technique of putting on ferrule and tips. A few cheap ferrules wasted and you come up with a technique that lasts the rest of your life and ruins no ones shaft. Install one or two boxes of LePro tips on your new ferrules and you should be ready to put tips on any shaft with no fear of any damage.
People want everything given to them. They want to read a book or ask a question and then believe they are experts and know it all. These sources will give you an idea of what is needed but the fact is, the only way to learn is by making mistakes. Once you ruin a ferrule or shaft or any other part of a cue you won't forget the experience and that knowledge will last for the rest of your life. You will see what caused the error and then understand what in your technique needs improvement. Doing it over and over on a stub of a shaft costs so little with no fear of doing damage to anything more than a 30 cent tip.
Dick
This is True, I don't feel there's anything wrong with being pointed in the correct direction, because It can help avoid some of the pit falls, but for sure You can't teach a horse to drink, and It does not make anyone a expert, only trial and error can teach us the error of our ways, and from that is how we improve, and know what to look out for ahead of time.
Somethings that I do, I don't feel I can explain so well in words, and they may be better seen in action, so Anytime anyone asks me how I do something, I try to make clear that they should practice on scrap until they are sure they are ready. Some will take that advice and some will learn the hard way, but we all have to learn somehow.
With that said I have been there, and screwed up My own stuff early on a time or 2, but when It comes to customer work I've been lucky I suppose. The worse I have done was trashed a tip or cut a new ferrule installation too small trying to save Myself some hand work, but none of that did any damage to the shaft, It just cost me more time, work, and material. In the end all was well. hearing of other people's experiences may have helped me though. I know It has helped me improve some of My methods. There are some things that You only pick up on through Your own experiences though, and occasionally you pickup on something new.