How long should my tips last?

[hang-the-9]

Leave my driving habits out of this!

My tips are more like oil changes. I'm going to step up to a firmer tip.
It's not really the expense, but the need to stay on top of it and/or maybe be without my shaft. I guess I'm going to have to get a spare shaft.

Yes spare shafts are good, not only "in case of an oops" but also they let you play with several tips at once to compare them.

My tip wear is probably less than most because I rotate through about 4 shafts, 3 normal use ones and a shaft I have been using for travel. I am on the road for work 60-80 days a year and I try to play most nights I am traveling so it's a fairly significant time of tip wear.

 

[Guy Manges]

Rd 395 all the way...

 

[tomatoshooter]

What tip and hardness are you using?

It's been my experience with Ultraskin Medium, Kamui Black Soft, and Elkmaster. I probably wasn't as judicious with the scuffer with the Ultraskin.

When I played full time for decades using La Pros. 2-3 mths max.
I was playing at least 30-40 hrs a week.

I use triangle tips and start them low 3/32” for the sidewall. When I’m playing full time 40 hours a week I get about on average 120-140 hours of play on a good one. On a average one 80-100 hours. Which is 2-3 weeks.

That's good to hear. So my tip usage is in a reasonably normal range. I hear people saying they get months and years, basically indefinite life, and I feel the clock ticking away every time I pick up my cue.

I think the main factor is how often and how you chalk your tip. I had a customer that chalked while thinking what shot to take. He was constantly chalking. I changed his tip every 3 or 4 months. if you give it a quick brush before your shot it will last longer.

I was wondering about my chalking routine. I'm scared to grind away the tip with a scuffer so I end up chalking harder. My friends think I'm crazy believing that the chalk is eating my tips.

So, I guess short tip life is something I will probably learn to deal with and maybe I can eke out a bit more. Thanks for all the replies and advice, everyone!

 

[Cue Alchemist]

A good tip from a new medium hard or hard should last at least 3 or 4 months, from being shaped and put on. If you leave them alone.but If you have to reshape alot. It will wear down quicker.all tips wear down naturally, I had an old elkmaster from soft to very well played in. Lasted about 2 years. In all that time, I Bearley touched it. It held its shape, really well. You don't come across those very often.
I think what your experiencing is about right.

 

[Fatboy]

It's been my experience with Ultraskin Medium, Kamui Black Soft, and Elkmaster. I probably wasn't as judicious with the scuffer with the Ultraskin.


That's good to hear. So my tip usage is in a reasonably normal range. I hear people saying they get months and years, basically indefinite life, and I feel the clock ticking away every time I pick up my cue.

I was wondering about my chalking routine. I'm scared to grind away the tip with a scuffer so I end up chalking harder. My friends think I'm crazy believing that the chalk is eating my tips.

So, I guess short tip life is something I will probably learn to deal with and maybe I can eke out a bit more. Thanks for all the replies and advice, everyone!

I’ve got months and years from tips. But they were on cues that didn’t get many hours of play. Some tips dry out and still play good-so yes very old tips can last a very long time. I have tips on cues that are 30 years old and play just fine. I know because I’ve owned the cues that long.

I start at 3/32” tall which is short or low for the side wall. I only use a tip tapper to get the glaze off. Once in a blue moon I need to re-crown a tip and get a radius I like, when I do I cut very little off the tip. I wear them down to almost the ferrel. That’s how I like my tips-most players don’t. They like them a bit taller. Took me years to figure out what I like and it’s subject to change.

SVB was at my house once with his grand dads shaft he used before he got his contract, I think that shaft eventually broke. Was a very long time ago 08 or 09

Anyways the tip on his ferrel was just a crown. There was no side to it. I asked him if he was on short $ and couldn’t afford a tip. There was no tip-just a crown. He said that’s how he liked it. I don’t like it that low. He won the Rum Runner tourney with that “crown”. I hit a few balls with it, was ok-but a bit too low for me.

I chalk before every shot no matter what chalk I’m using or if I need it or not. I don’t chalk “hard” and when I use a tip tapper I roll it to raise the fibers. I don’t sand or stroke it back and forth. Unless I’m re-crowning and that’s rare.

If I get a tip that plays good I hope it lasts. If it sucks it’s gone after a few hours. How long a tip lasts me doesn’t matter. I use Triangle tips and have cue makers install them. For some reason some guys can just do better tip work-not how it looks but how it plays. I have one friend do my tips who isn’t a cue maker and he’s good too. Again not how it looks, how the tips play.

It varies a lot for me also because I use Triangle tips and until you put it on and use it, it’s mostly guess work. I start with the 15mm’s which are hard to find. But are the most consistent.

Best
Fatboy.

 

[philly]

Tips don't wear down from chalking or playing pool with them.
Chalking just covers them with chalk.
Playing may compress them but not wear them down.
They get worn down from constant shaping.
If you are continually shaping them with an abrasive they will wear down.
Period.

 

[JolietJames]

I currently play Tiger Sniper tips. I get about 4 months out of a tip playing 6hrs./wk.

 

[Fatboy]

I currently play Tiger Sniper tips. I get about 4 months out of a tip playing 6hrs./wk.

Sounds about right

 

[Cue Alchemist]

I’ve got months and years from tips. But they were on cues that didn’t get many hours of play. Some tips dry out and still play good-so yes very old tips can last a very long time. I have tips on cues that are 30 years old and play just fine. I know because I’ve owned the cues that long.

I start at 3/32” tall which is short or low for the side wall. I only use a tip tapper to get the glaze off. Once in a blue moon I need to re-crown a tip and get a radius I like, when I do I cut very little off the tip. I wear them down to almost the ferrel. That’s how I like my tips-most players don’t. They like them a bit taller. Took me years to figure out what I like and it’s subject to change.

SVB was at my house once with his grand dads shaft he used before he got his contract, I think that shaft eventually broke. Was a very long time ago 08 or 09

Anyways the tip on his ferrel was just a crown. There was no side to it. I asked him if he was on short $ and couldn’t afford a tip. There was no tip-just a crown. He said that’s how he liked it. I don’t like it that low. He won the Rum Runner tourney with that “crown”. I hit a few balls with it, was ok-but a bit too low for me.

I chalk before every shot no matter what chalk I’m using or if I need it or not. I don’t chalk “hard” and when I use a tip tapper I roll it to raise the fibers. I don’t sand or stroke it back and forth. Unless I’m re-crowning and that’s rare.

If I get a tip that plays good I hope it lasts. If it sucks it’s gone after a few hours. How long a tip lasts me doesn’t matter. I use Triangle tips and have cue makers install them. For some reason some guys can just do better tip work-not how it looks but how it plays. I have one friend do my tips who isn’t a cue maker and he’s good too. Again not how it looks, how the tips play.

It varies a lot for me also because I use Triangle tips and until you put it on and use it, it’s mostly guess work. I start with the 15mm’s which are hard to find. But are the most consistent.

Best
Fatboy.

Nice read, This is very true. I'm the same, in one week I think it was 4 tips, I went through. Normally you can tell straight away. And some will just, sand down to nothing.
That's why I couldn't justify spending $25 on a tip. That I felt was useless. When I do find a nice triangle, elk or a good price layered one, I try and hang on to them, for as long as possible. My current one I put on. back in aprill. Its getting low!!

 

[cjr3559]

Just reached three years with the same Kamui medium. Always stays in shape, needs only an occasional scuffing, use Taom chalk.

I hit over a couple hundred balls a week.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

Tip killer, one of many.

 

[Cornerman]

Is it normal to wear a tip down in 3-4 months? I use the shaper and scuffer as rarely as possible, like twice, and as gently as possible removing as little material as possible. I shoot a lot, probably 2-3 hours a day, and that is usually practice, so the shot volume is much higher than in games, I'd estimate 150+ shots per hour.

I get the impression that tips usually last a while. I'm wearing my tips down to under 1/16" around the edge where I feel like the end is near so I'll replace it before it goes kaput. This has happened with a Ultraskin Medium, a Kamui Black Soft, and an Elkmaster.

When I played a couple hours every day with the same cue, my Triangle tips would last a couple of years. Years.

 

[mrpiper]

I always used triangles and got years. Just switched to a G2 med for 1 cue and a moori on the other. The moori seems much harder and glazes quickly so more scuffing. I hope I get a year. The G2 I absolutely believe is the best balance of longevity and playability. It seems to almost never need scuff or pick and plays beautifully. My 2nd cue will soon have a g2 m as well.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

I have used different TIGER layered tips for years, only scuffing I do is wot 220 or 300 grit sandpaper.

Bailey scuff, just enough to create some round surface to hold Chalk.

Love petiole who miscue, and their tip is like polished surface that will not hold Chalk.

 

[dirtvictim]

That's what she asked, I said till about 35-40 years old. Oh tips! Never mind.

 

[Thunder Thighs]

The last time I changed a tip because it wore down was when I was 17. Wish I could play as much as you guys. Now I replace tips only to try a new one or to replace one from a used shaft I bought.

 

[Woodshaft]

I use triangle tips

Same. I have no use for expensive layered or soft tips. Triangles for the win! Chalk with Master's.
I re-tip myself, 14mm to start.

 

[9BallKY]

I usually get about 6 months out of a tip regardless of the hardness. I used triangles for a long time. Now I’m using a kamui soft. Life of the tips are about the same.

 

[Island Drive]

Single layer tips in CO/Dry climate do not last as long as layered tips. They are more prone to drying out.

 

[The_JV]

Tips don't wear down from chalking or playing pool with them.
Chalking just covers them with chalk.
Playing may compress them but not wear them down.
They get worn down from constant shaping.
If you are continually shaping them with an abrasive they will wear down.
Period.

Ah, a healthy dose of reality. Much appreciated...

Speaking as an excessive chalker. I have had tips last for many many years. One M/H Morri, which eventually compressed to Hard, lasted near 10yrs, (top layer finally popped off). My explanation...?..., I don't use shaping tools or sand paper. ...ever. Either that or there's some alternate dimension centered on the ferrule on my Z2 shaft that prevents the application of chalk from wearing down my tips.