Cue tip too big?

angebones said:

Hi I recently bought tips to put on my cue and I bought 14mm because I know they say to get a little bigger than the ferrule diameter My shaft is 12.75. The 14mm tip is HUGE and I put it on but how the hell do I get all that excess stuff hanging over the sides? I mean it actually looks like a mushroom

I tried using my ultimate tip tool with its little mushroom shaver but that takes forever (shows how big these tips are)

Click to expand...

First of all, STOP with the ultimate tip tool, you will end up scratching your ferrule. They're good for shaping tips, but that mushroom-trimming tool is useless.

There are several ways to do this at home, but I would highly recommend you to spend 10 bucks and go to a local repairman or cuemaker. You'll build a relationship plus get a perfect tip everytime, assuming you find a reputable professional.

-Roger

angebones said:

Hi I recently bought tips to put on my cue and I bought 14mm because I know they say to get a little bigger than the ferrule diameter My shaft is 12.75. The 14mm tip is HUGE and I put it on but how the hell do I get all that excess stuff hanging over the sides? I mean it actually looks like a mushroom

I tried using my ultimate tip tool with its little mushroom shaver but that takes forever (shows how big these tips are)

Click to expand...

As funny as this quote really is, I really should agree with the enlightened one, buddah, on above forum and just take it to a professional with the right tools and equiptment. The worse thing you can do is to do it by yourself and really mess up your cue. By the time you know it, those few dollars will be well spent and you will be playing as right as rain.

Agreed, why would you buy a 14mm tip to put on a ferrulle that's just under 13mm (i.e. 12.75)

It would make more sense to buy a 13mm tip in that regard correct?

Furthermore, do you have a lathe? Have you ever tipped a cue?

I don't mean to bash you here but have a professional do it.

If you want to learn to tip cues(and believe me you *can* freehand tip quite decently if you practice a lot).

The best way to do this though, is to buy some cheap 15 dollar walmart stick or something you don't care about, and tip it again and again and again until you actually are "sorta ok" at doing it.

Don't waste your time and money messing up your personal everyday player.

Just my two cents as usual...

Tip Trimmer

angebones said:

Hi I recently bought tips to put on my cue and I bought 14mm because I know they say to get a little bigger than the ferrule diameter My shaft is 12.75. The 14mm tip is HUGE and I put it on but how the hell do I get all that excess stuff hanging over the sides? I mean it actually looks like a mushroom

I tried using my ultimate tip tool with its little mushroom shaver but that takes forever (shows how big these tips are)

Click to expand...

You need one of these and the smarts to figure out how to use it carefully.

What trimmer is that?

What particular tip trimmer is that, I might be interested in snaggin one. Thanks!

Anybody else seen these.

I don't know who makes it. I originally got one at a trade show a few years back. It says ARTEMIS on it. The one pictured I got 5 on ebay a while back. I think they came from Germany?? Its got no markings and is definately cheaper made than mine. They work good you just have to be careful to keep the shaft parallel to the blade. Otherwise you get a very pointy tip!

Hmmm...I'd like something a little more...well...expensive.

I saw one that was a really nice multiple entry crazy contraption that apparently had just went into production and has a patent on it, friggin thing has like 7 different ways to trim, cut, burnish, etc et al to a tip...

I'll have to ask Scooter at Hawley's billiards what that damn thing was and who makes it. Anyone else know any good tip trimmers?

Joe Porper or I guess Mueller now has the big shaver and the little saver.
My pencil sharpener works just fine. shoot I have a friend who is a cuemaker so I hardly need it. It is also good for touching up a mushroom.

Well, if you have to do it at home, a titanium razor blade (thanks Joey) and some coarse and fine sandpaper does a fabulous job...

But I would much, much rather have it done on a lathe by a pro.

-Roger

Yeah, I'll just keep on letting Ben Tubb's do my tip and cue work. Never *ever* had a problem with him.

rackem said:

You need one of these and the smarts to figure out how to use it carefully.

Click to expand...

looks like a pencil sharpener for those thick pencils back in elementary school

If you do your own tips that cool but make sure you buy this tool here in the picture. I do a great job with this one

Although somewhat helpful, the past posts have not given the best information on performing a retip. It isn't very helpful to reply to someone's "How do I.." post with an answer like "take it to somebody." Especially if the task is as simple as shaving off excess leather from a tip.

It IS correct to buy a larger tip to put on a smaller ferrule. What you need to do, is to buy at least 4 or 5 different grits of sand paper. Preferrably, you will want to start with a course sandpaper (60 or 80) to remove the excess leather from the tip. Fold the paper in half (doubling it over) and with your right (or dominant) hand, while holding the cue stick vertically with your other hand, press firmly against the tip and move up and down while pressing against the end of the cue. After you have taken off most, but not all, of the excess (you want to be careful not to scratch the ferrule or shaft) you'll want to go up in grit to a medium like 120 or so and finish off removing excess while making the tip flush with the ferrule. You will also clean off the ferrule and shaft in this process by going up and down much further than you did with the coarse sandpaper. You can remove small scratches and dings with this method also.

After using the medium grit sandpaper and making the tip edge flush with the ferrule, you should go up in grit successively until it is smooth as silk. Go all the way to like 800 or 1000. After all of that, you should burnish the tip with a piece of leather. I like to use Qwiz. Use a very small amount of water (or spit) and put it on the outer edge of the tip.

Some people like to use a polish or shaft cleaner and a very fine cloth or old t-shirt while rubbing vigorously to get a nice smooth glossy finish. Should be like new.

Remember while doing these last few steps to use long strokes and to slowly spin the cue stick in your hand as to not make flat edges on the cue shaft.

Hope this helps (unlike you other guys who say see a professional for this hugely daunting task of using sandpaper.)

Doing cue repair on your own is a cheap, and somewhat fun, way to make sure your cue is in perfect playing condition at all times.

belmicah said:

Although somewhat helpful, the past posts have not given the best information on performing a retip. It isn't very helpful to reply to someone's "How do I.." post with an answer like "take it to somebody." Especially if the task is as simple as shaving off excess leather from a tip.

It IS correct to buy a larger tip to put on a smaller ferrule. What you need to do, is to buy at least 4 or 5 different grits of sand paper. Preferrably, you will want to start with a course sandpaper (60 or 80) to remove the excess leather from the tip. Fold the paper in half (doubling it over) and with your right (or dominant) hand, while holding the cue stick vertically with your other hand, press firmly against the tip and move up and down while pressing against the end of the cue. After you have taken off most, but not all, of the excess (you want to be careful not to scratch the ferrule or shaft) you'll want to go up in grit to a medium like 120 or so and finish off removing excess while making the tip flush with the ferrule. You will also clean off the ferrule and shaft in this process by going up and down much further than you did with the coarse sandpaper. You can remove small scratches and dings with this method also.

After using the medium grit sandpaper and making the tip edge flush with the ferrule, you should go up in grit successively until it is smooth as silk. Go all the way to like 800 or 1000. After all of that, you should burnish the tip with a piece of leather. I like to use Qwiz. Use a very small amount of water (or spit) and put it on the outer edge of the tip.

Some people like to use a polish or shaft cleaner and a very fine cloth or old t-shirt while rubbing vigorously to get a nice smooth glossy finish. Should be like new.

Remember while doing these last few steps to use long strokes and to slowly spin the cue stick in your hand as to not make flat edges on the cue shaft.

Hope this helps (unlike you other guys who say see a professional for this hugely daunting task of using sandpaper.)

Doing cue repair on your own is a cheap, and somewhat fun, way to make sure your cue is in perfect playing condition at all times.

Click to expand...

I have been in several Cue Makers shops over the years, and they always used a larger Tip. I watched as they put the shaft in the lathe and shaped and burnished the sides of the tip while the shaft was spinning.
That just always amazed me.

angebones said:

Hi I recently bought tips to put on my cue and I bought 14mm because I know they say to get a little bigger than the ferrule diameter My shaft is 12.75. The 14mm tip is HUGE and I put it on but how the hell do I get all that excess stuff hanging over the sides? I mean it actually looks like a mushroom

I tried using my ultimate tip tool with its little mushroom shaver but that takes forever (shows how big these tips are)

Click to expand...

You don't need any tip trimmer at all.

Buy a 14mm(diameter) shaft and fit your 14mm tip on it. That should clear all doubts.

angebones said:

Thank you very much i started off with sandpaper but it just was going too slow, I actually made some progress with a nail file, but I had to leave. I will try the different grit papers

Click to expand...

Okay. To start the process, get yourself a razor blade, preferably a titanium one. If using a regular blade, press the tip into a cutting surface, so the shaft is standing upright, vertically. With great care, cut the overhang from the tip, all the way around. Pay attention to not angle the blade, but concentrate on cutting straight down.

If using a titanium blade, you can do the same thing or, if you have steady hands, simply lay the blade flat against the ferrule (you should be sitting down, holding the shaft horizontally) and swipe the blade away from the shaft to cut away the excess leather. Get a good feel to how much pressure is needed to cut through your particular tip.

Now that you've trimmed away most of the excess leather, it's time to make it perfect. The goal here is to remove leather ONLY, and not nick, scratch, or f-up in any way that pristine white ferrule.

You will need a range of sandpaper, from 300-800, a magazine, scotch tape, and some sort of stopper for the tip.

On a flat surface, lay your shaft down with the joint end supported by a magazine. Tape up your ferrule with a piece of scotch tape, right to the edge of the tip. This is added insurance. Draw a dot on the tape; this will guide you around the sanding process.

Place your tip on the piece of rough sandpaper, with only the tip resting on the edge of the sandpaper. Move the stopper (I use a cd case) until it is pressed against the top of the tip. At this point you can either carefully turn the sandpaper/stopper unit over and tape it, or just press down firmly on the stopper.

There should only be a strip of sanding surface exposed, the width of your tip height.

Now, with the dot you drew on the tape facing upwards, slowly grind the tip back and forth on the sandpaper, with gentle pressure towards the stopper. Start with 2-3 passes, then rotate the tip a fraction of an inch, and keep sanding thusly until you see the dot pointing upwards again.

**make sure the stopper has not moved, you don't want to scratch the ferrule!**

Inspect the tip, and see how much more you have to sand. Also, look for raised bumps in the sidewall and take care of those first. If the first pass took off a lot of leather, move onto the finer grade sandpaper. If not, repeat with coarser paper.

When the tip is trimmed to your satisfaction, burnish the sidewall. I use a rough piece of leather and spit. Shape the tip to the desired radius, and you should be good to go.

Here's a pic of the sandpaper trimming gadget that I just snapped off now. All of this I gleaned from this very site, I forgot who described the sandpaper jig but the titanium blade was suggested by JoeyinCali, and that was a great help.

Good luck,
Roger

*That, btw, is the new T O O L album...the greatest band in the universe!*

That method is interesting, albeit somewhat intricate and detailed. My suggested method however will ensure that the tip and ferrule are exactly flush, and that the entire shaft is cleaned, smooth, and without knicks, scratches, or dings. Yours only addresses the tip sidewall. While some like to stay away from touching the shaft (for fear of losing width or something stupid like that) I advise doing this every 40 or 50 hours at the table.

This is why my shaft is always like new, without dings, and plays like the day I bought it.

except its now 9mm instead of 13.

belmicah said:

That method is interesting, albeit somewhat intricate and detailed. My suggested method however will ensure that the tip and ferrule are exactly flush, and that the entire shaft is cleaned, smooth, and without knicks, scratches, or dings. Yours only addresses the tip sidewall. While some like to stay away from touching the shaft (for fear of losing width or something stupid like that) I advise doing this every 40 or 50 hours at the table.

This is why my shaft is always like new, without dings, and plays like the day I bought it.

Click to expand...