Best tip for carbon fiber and why

R

RobitailleRE

Registered
After 17 years sorting with the same cue with various maple low deflection shafts from predator and most recently a Bob Danielson 11.8mm SS360, I'm giving Carbon Fiber a try.

I'm only about 10 hours in and there is definitely a VERY noticable difference in action. I've been using the victory soft tips for as long as I can remember so I naturally went with it in my new 12.4 revo.

What have you found to be the best tip for your CF shaft... and why?
 
im using a ki tech medium from outsville. Former champion Mary kenniston recommended it to me. I am new to cf as well. I had the same tip on my old wood shaft as I do on my cf, and i too noticed a major difference with my cf shaft. Spin applies much more easily, as well as draw. I was over drawing everything for a while. I dont care what any of the cf haters say. This shaft draws easier than my wood shaft.
 
skiergd011013 said:
im using a ki tech medium from outsville. Mary kenniston recommended it to me. I am new to cf as well. I had the same tip on my old wood shaft as I do on my cf, and i too noticed a major difference with my cf shaft. Spin applies much more easily, as well as draw. I was over drawing everything for a while. I dont care what any of the cf haters say. This shaft draws easier than my wood shaft.
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Mary knows her stuff. I’d go with that 8 days a week.
 
skiergd011013 said:
im using a ki tech medium from outsville. Former champion Mary kenniston recommended it to me. I am new to cf as well. I had the same tip on my old wood shaft as I do on my cf, and i too noticed a major difference with my cf shaft. Spin applies much more easily, as well as draw. I was over drawing everything for a while. I dont care what any of the cf haters say. This shaft draws easier than my wood shaft.
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PSSSST.......Shhhhhhhhhhhhh.......mums the word.
 
skiergd011013 said:
she is wonderful, and she autographed a cueball for me. Complete class act
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I met Mary in 87ish in Reno. It was snowing and everyone was leaving the Sands to go over to Key Stone Cue & Cushion. I jumped into a car with her and 2 others. Was way to cold to walk over. That when we met, then in 91-92 I moved to Vegas and she had her room going full blast, at the time was the BEST room in Vegas hands down. Fast forward 30 years I went to her HOF dinner a couple months ago at the Rio. The last time I played a serious set of pool was on New Year’s Day at her house in Vegas, I was dead out of stroke then-we had a great time playing. I have always loved Mary as a friend and to play her. She plays hard, I love & respect that. She’s one of the few people I can play with out betting for as many sets as possible.

Best
Fatboy
 
All totally subjective, but after trying many on my CF shafts I’ve settled on Kamui Black Softs (regular, not the clear pad ones), and Ultraskin black Mediums. Many folks claim they glaze over quick, but for me they are great, after initial dime shaping & few days of breaking in, just need light scuffing to maintain. For me, these two play almost identical and perfect. Most soft tips are too soft and need too much maintenance and most medium tips are a bit too hard for me with CF shafts. These two brands play like what I would call a “medium-soft”, in the low 70’s durometer range I guess. Said another way, The Kamui black soft plays a bit harder than most softs I’ve tried and the US black medium plays a bit softer than other mediums.

Out of a long list of others I’ve tried the last 2 years, other contenders for me were Tiger Sniper & Tiger Onyx - these both play similar & hold shape great, are in the so called medium hardness range - but are a bit harder than the above ones and on CF shafts I like the slightly softer ones.

For reasons that I can’t explain, I’ve found that I preder black color tips over others.

I think there are no shortcuts to finding your favorite tip, just gotta try them with your cue & your stroke. But I hope the above helps you some.

✌️
 
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Patrick Johnson said:
What does “offset the stiffness” mean? More comfortable feel or something else?

pj
chgo
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This is based on my small sample size but because the CF shaft has less flex a tip will feel much harder. A soft tip will feel like a hard tip on a maple shaft. An Elkmaster on my CF shaft feels much, much firmer than a Le Pro on my conventional maple shaft. I don't think I'd say it's uncomfortable but it can be very "crisp."
 
Kamui black/clear medium I like and have played the most with. But I have a cf shaft with a Kamui soft coming. Also have a McDermott Defy cf shaft with a Navigator Automatic Soft on it. It definitely has a more cushioned feel than the Carbon Pro with Kamui Med. I haven't decided what I like best yet.

I think the firm feel is as much the speed with which a cf shaft stops vibrating, especially with a foam filled core. It's instant.
 
tomatoshooter said:
This is based on my small sample size but because the CF shaft has less flex a tip will feel much harder. A soft tip will feel like a hard tip on a maple shaft. An Elkmaster on my CF shaft feels much, much firmer than a Le Pro on my conventional maple shaft. I don't think I'd say it's uncomfortable but it can be very "crisp."
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This matches my experience also, but not as drastic.

I’d say most tips feel about 1/2 to 1 full “level” harder on a CF shaft. Meaning a medium on a traditional maple then on my CF it will feel more like a medium-hard or hard. A soft tip on maple will feel like a medium-soft or medium on CF.

This is pretty consistent for me with several Meucci & Cynergy CF shafts on a slew of traditional full splice butts with phenolic/elphoryn/ivory collars, 3/8-10 and 5/16-14 joints.
 
So I can only go by the Cuetec as all the others I played with had stock tips, but I have finally settled on a kamui black soft.

I went through several mediums. Kitech, Ultraskins, to name a few before I decided to try a soft. For some reason I was always told to use a medium on carbon fiber but don't remember where that notion came from.
 
northdakotafats said:
A good Elkmaster is all you need for any shaft.
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But for real though. I got a pack with the Tweeten tip repair kit, and it has changed my life forever. 3 years ago I started with a Kamui Black Soft that comes stock on PureX low deflection cues. After noticing how hard it has become and not getting the English I needed even after scuffing all the time (not to mention easy miscues if not chalked frequently), I finally had a pro shop change the tip 2 weeks ago to a Le Pro. The tip fell off after 2 days of having to shape it from mushrooming after every single rack. This is why I brought my own kit. I brought a pack of triangles that look really nice, but why change it when I'm getting all I could ever ask for out of a plain Elkmaster? Hit is great, and English is so good I had to relearn to use less. I can hit the cueball all the way on the left/right outer edge, and have the cueball hit the dead center diamond at the other end, then come back 2 rails to hit the center diamond where the ball started. I think I can put even more English to make the corner pocket but haven't tried yet.

Have you tried the triangles? How do they compare to the perfectness of the Elkmaster? BTW all I did was give it a good burnishing with a $2 bill after shaping to the ferrule. I'm ordering a custom Cuetec and have been torn between either an Elkmaster tip or the Cyborg Quick M which I've heard good things about as well (there's a review on AZ billiards). Seems SVB uses HOW tips himself.
 
Best is like High, each person has a favorite or something they think
Is best.

We do not live when Henry Ford was selling first Model T’s, and you could have ANY COLOR.🤫


As long as you want BLACK, today go to most Pool stuff Supply site, could choose from 50 Tips.

I like TIGER TIPS, I like only said like.
 
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