Anyone tried shaping their tips to account for all the mushrooming/flattening that'll happen in its lifetime?

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dlao02

Member
Has anyone found a successful shape for their tip such that it will settle into a dime radius shape after months of playing, and never ever need to be reshaped again?

I suppose the softer the tip, the more extreme the shape needs to be. For a phenolic tip, the starting shape can be dime radius, and there is very little flattening that goes on.

How about for a very hard leather tip?

I imagine that the initial shape is nearly impossible to play with, and you'd need to bang it in. Then, I imagine that you can play normally until your tip settles into a dime radius?
 
I really don't understand that amount of people that don't want to do tip maintenance. If you have a good tip tool it literally takes seconds to do some maintenance.

Burnish= wet the side of a tip and roll it on a table.
Shape= Apply chalk to tip. Run through shaper till no chalk on center of tip.

It's that easy.
 
For years I've placed the new tip on a hard surface and give it a few light taps with a hammer. Seems to eliminate the mushroom/flattening issue. Then, mount, sand and shape to preference. Maintain as requried.
 
garczar said:
A dime shape Willard's is the nuts for occasional shaping. I use a RAZOR SHARP kiradashi knife to trim mushrooms if they happen. https://www.amazon.com/Right-Carvin...ocphy=9026561&hvtargid=pla-308543204131&psc=1
Click to expand...
I do my own tips and I have the same knife from your link. It makes cutting the tips a lot easier because the edge is only on one side and you can hold the knife to the shaft and just slide down to the tip with no worries of cutting into the ferrule.
 
TommyT said:
I do my own tips and I have the same knife from your link. It makes cutting the tips a lot easier because the edge is only on one side and you can hold the knife to the shaft and just slide down to the tip with no worries of cutting into the ferrule.
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I just learned of this knife a few months ago and it's amazing. Better then any trimmer out there.
 
I use a triangle or Le pro. I play 80 hours or so then, cut off the mushroom and it's good for a year or two without messing with it.
 
garczar said:
I use a RAZOR SHARP kiradashi knife to trim mushrooms if they happen.
Click to expand...
I have one of those knives. For those who aren't familiar, it's a single bevel knife, that allows your to keep the flat side of the blade against the ferrel.

But believe it or not, I typically use one of my chisels, these days. I'm a bit of a sharpening nerd, and have quite a bit of money invested in sharpening equipment for chisels, plane blades, knives, etc. I can get a chisel so sharp, it will do a push cut through the edge of phone book paper. A plane blade works great too, as it is flat on one side (no handle).


I once watched Jack White use a pen knife to trim up a mushroomed tip, for a kid he was playing in an exhibition. He then burnished the tip on the cloth, on top of the rail. You do what you have to do, I guess. :)
 
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It's been a long time since I had a tip mushroom significantly. Also, I rarely shape a tip. I think the way I chalk helps maintain the right curvature.

I have seen tips finished as PJ mentioned -- with a slight bevel -- to compensate for expected mushrooming.
 
Banger said:
I have one of those knives. For those who aren't familiar, it's a single bevel knife, that allows your to keep the flat side of the blade against the ferrel.

But believe it or not, I typically use one of my chisels, these days. I'm a bit of a sharpening nerd, and have quite a bit of money invested in sharpening equipment for chisels, plane blades, knives, etc. I can get a chisel so sharp, it will do a push cut through the edge of phone book paper. A plane blade works great too, as it is flat on one side (no handle).


I once watched Jack White use a pen knife to trim up a mushroomed tip, for a kid he was playing in an exhibition. He then burnished the tip on the cloth, on top of the rail. You do what you have to do, I guess. :)
Click to expand...

Chisel for me.

I have used a pocket knife when I was out playing.
 
Bob Jewett said:
It's been a long time since I had a tip mushroom significantly. Also, I rarely shape a tip. I think the way I chalk helps maintain the right curvature.
Click to expand...
I agree with this. For me, proper chalking - stroking, not grinding - does 90% of tip maintenance. Burnishing the edge of the tip occasionally does the rest.
 
dlao02 said:
Has anyone found a successful shape for their tip such that it will settle into a dime radius shape after months of playing, and never ever need to be reshaped again?

I suppose the softer the tip, the more extreme the shape needs to be. For a phenolic tip, the starting shape can be dime radius, and there is very little flattening that goes on.

How about for a very hard leather tip?

I imagine that the initial shape is nearly impossible to play with, and you'd need to bang it in. Then, I imagine that you can play normally until your tip settles into a dime radius?
Click to expand...
Zan GripHard. Shaped it once. I'll hit it with a kamui gator grip every once in a while to clear old chalk out. I did burnish the sides after a really bad miscue (my fault not the tip's). A hard tip really doesn't mushroom.

I did try this about a decade ago by mistake. I was using one of those tip shaper things and got the sides angled in, where the base was wider than the top of the tip. It played alright but it looked annoying. Didn't really see any mushrooming.
 
dlao02 said:
Has anyone found a successful shape for their tip such that it will settle into a dime radius shape after months of playing, and never ever need to be reshaped again?

I suppose the softer the tip, the more extreme the shape needs to be. For a phenolic tip, the starting shape can be dime radius, and there is very little flattening that goes on.

How about for a very hard leather tip?

I imagine that the initial shape is nearly impossible to play with, and you'd need to bang it in. Then, I imagine that you can play normally until your tip settles into a dime radius?
Click to expand...
I do exactly what you said, once I get the shape right. Which might take a couple go's. But after that I won't touch it again. I use hard or medium hard tips. Thay will last months and wear down naturally. I find messing around too much. Can lead to losing there shape. And thay don't last as long. And a medium will end up as a hard the more it's compressed.
 
I put an original Moori medium on a 314 pre cat shaft . That tip lasted over 10 years with very little attention . I would poke it with a tip pik once in a while . Never mushroomed .

Chuck
 
10 years?
I go through at least two tips per year and I don't shape my tips all that often. I do play at least a little bit most every day though.
 
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