Use the "seating the chalk" procedure with a tip tapper to prevent glazing
I play with a 314 shaft and a layered tip with masters chalk. I've tried numerous different layered tips and all seem to glaze over after a few days of use. Are there any layered tips that don't need constant picking or scuffing? I'd like to have one that doesn't require all that maintenance. I'm even considering switching to a triangle or similar regular tip because I'm sick of the chalk not sticking.
mnShooter:
The problem may lie not in the tip, but in how you're preparing/maintaining the tip. If you're constantly tip-picking and scuffing, I offer that you're doing something wrong. It might be how you're chalking the tip, that is causing the glazing.
Have you ever tried the old-timer's trick of "seating the chalk"? You'll need only one tool to do this: the miniature frying-skillet-shaped "tip tapper":
I would venture to guess that MOST POOL PLAYERS do not know that the knurled part of the tip tapper was not intended to be used as a "file." Instead, that knurled part is intended to be rolled across the tip.
Here's the chalk-seating procedure:
- Chalk the tip as you normally do (which, hopefully, is a brush-on method instead of a drilling method). Do not blow, tap, wipe, or brush any excess chalk off.
- Using the tip tapper with the knurled part embedded in the palm of your hand (knurled pattern facing out, obviously), handle facing upwards towards your fingers (basically the tip tapper is "upside down" in your hand -- just as you see it positioned in the picture above), you "roll" the knurled part with a little bit of pressure all over the chalked tip. Do NOT rub or scuff the tip tapper across the tip! You want a rolling action, with only modest pressure; you're not trying to stamp or impression metal, so ease up on the pressure. Continue rolling the tip tapper across the tip until you actually see the knurling pattern evenly distributed across the entire surface of the tip. It should only take about 5 seconds of rolling, but if you don't see the knurled pattern across the entire surface of the tip, keep doing it until you do.
- Chalk the tip again, and you're ready to play.
- You probably want a maintenance regimen of seating the chalk once every 6 or so racks, or more often if need be.
"Seating the chalk" does NOT damage the tip, like filing/tip-picking/scuffing do. What it does do, is to help bond the chalk to the tip by gently impregnating it. This prevents the glazing from taking place.
I actually keep two different types of tip tappers in my kit:
- The tip tapper with the knurled pattern you see above (available in the AZBilliards MarketPlace) -- this one I use for the chalk-seating procedure.
- The newly-redesigned tip tapper from the original designer/manufacturer. The newly-redesigned one has a true file surface on it (roughly equivalent to a machinist's mill file). As the product literature says, "A new precision one directional pattern acting as a true file or rasp."
I use this second tip tapper as, just as the literature says, to gently file and shape the tip. I don't use it even remotely as often as the knurled version, but it's there in my kit if I needed it. I probably use it once every blue moon, to shape the tip. The beauty about using a file, instead of an abrasive, is more precision in the process -- it doesn't take as much off the tip as abrasives do.
I'd rather stay with a layered tip as I'm afraid I won't get the same consistency and spin with a regular tip but it might be worth it.
I'm not sure I agree with this statement. I use both layered and standard/regular tips on my cues. My favorite tip at the moment is ElkMaster -- yes, a soft tip, but when I install a new one, I play some "slam ball" for about a day or two to compress it (which also has the secondary benefit of letting my stroke out for power shot practice), and then after that, I'll shape the mushroomed portion off the sides, and reburnish. I don't have to do much after that, for the life of the tip.
I haven't found a tip that, for me, gives as much controlled spin as a compressed ElkMaster. I really like soft tips for this purpose.
I've tried Moori's (Quick, Med, Soft), Sniper's, Everests, Kamui Black and Brown and all of them have the same problem. It seems the glue that holds the layers together seems to come to the surface and create a smooth surface that won't hold chalk. Moori's seem to be the worst.
There's some truth to that, IMHO. And it seems the more layers the tip has (equating to each layer being thinner), the more layers' glue gets exposed when the correct shape is applied to the tip. If you have a dime-shaped radius, even more layers' glue gets exposed over a nickel radius.
So although seating the chalk helps to prevent the glazing (and I've not experienced any problems with layered tips), I'm still a fan of one-piece leather tips, like the ElkMaster. YMMV.
Hope this is helpful,
-Sean
