A rookie question about tip care...

[Bob 14:1]

I found the Cuetec Bowtie tip tool for a great price; $12.55 delivered, so I bought one.

I would like your opinions on using the tip pick.

My current tips are a Moori laminated soft and the Everest that came with my 314/2; perhaps a medium/hard.

Can careful use of the multi pointed tip pick cause any damage to these two laminated tips? I understand it cannot be rotated at all once inserted so as to avoid tearing the leather fibers.

I also see various videos suggesting that the pick be rapidly applied to the tip, while others recommend a slow and deliberate puncturing of the leather surface with a great deal more force, resulting in somewhat larger and deeper punctures.

What are your thoughts? For twelve bucks, I can always toss it out. I just couldn't resist the great price! :shrug:

Thanks for your replies!

 

[West Point 1987]

I found the Cuetec Bowtie tip tool for a great price; $12.55 delivered, so I bought one.

I would like your opinions on using the tip pick.

My current tips are a Moori laminated soft and the Everest that came with my 314/2; perhaps a medium/hard.

Can careful use of the multi pointed tip pick cause any damage to these two laminated tips? I understand it cannot be rotated at all once inserted so as to avoid tearing the leather fibers.

I also see various videos suggesting that the pick be rapidly applied to the tip, while others recommend a slow and deliberate puncturing of the leather surface with a great deal more force, resulting in somewhat larger and deeper punctures.

What are your thoughts? For twelve bucks, I can always toss it out. I just couldn't resist the great price! :shrug:

Thanks for your replies!

I used Kamui Black Soft for two years, and would use a tip pick about twice a week, with NO issues. I would rapidly/lightly punch down into the tip with no rotation, just barely roughing up the surface/deglazing the tip. Did just fine. I would use a Willard's shaper about once every two or three months, brushing the surface (not twisting) to reshape it...although I've always found that your playing style and proper chalking technique usuallly keeps your tip at its optimum bevel/shape.

I now use POOLDAWG8's milkduds, and love them. I pretty much use the same pick/shaper technique with no issues, although it's a single layer tip, so not applicable to this discussion.

 

[Bob 14:1]

Thanks, Bill. Everything I needed to know! :wink:

I've also been using an old Willard. I used double sided tape to affix 80 grit carborundum cloth over their "file" area, and I hold it loosely between my thumb and index finger and let it bounce off the tip without any pressure. It works quite well. May try some 50 or 36 grit if I can remember to pick some up at Lowes or Depot.