Best tip for using english

manwon said:
Actually, a hard tip will give you more control, and the softer a tip is the more action it will give you. With that said, soft tips make control more difficult due to all the spin that you can put on the ball.

Take care
Click to expand...

Then I stand corrected.
 
Kind of reminds me of an instance this weekend playing a guy at the hall. I went to drain my radiator and came back he was hitting a few balls with my cue. His first words were "what kind of tip do you have on this cue, it sure does spin the ball". I told him "it doesn't have anything to do with the cue, or the tip, it's the Indian, not the arrow". He got a good laugh out of that.

I then told him it was a Kamui super soft, which I will have cut off next week because it mushrooms like hell, and that absolutely drives me crazy. I will be going back to something layered, a lot harder and firmer.
 
onepocketron said:
Kind of reminds me of an instance this weekend playing a guy at the hall. I went to drain my radiator and came back he was hitting a few balls with my cue. His first words were "what kind of tip do you have on this cue, it sure does spin the ball". I told him "it doesn't have anything to do with the cue, or the tip, it's the Indian, not the arrow". He got a good laugh out of that.

I then told him it was a Kamui super soft, which I will have cut off next week because it mushrooms like hell, and that absolutely drives me crazy. I will be going back to something layered, a lot harder and firmer.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info on the super-soft! I was gonna try one, but not now! I play with the soft and have had no mushroom issues, so I think I will stick to the soft!!
I heard something recently, when you go to shape your tip, do not break the crown as it will last longer!!
 
Last edited:
onepocketron said:
Kind of reminds me of an instance this weekend playing a guy at the hall. I went to drain my radiator and came back he was hitting a few balls with my cue. His first words were "what kind of tip do you have on this cue, it sure does spin the ball". I told him "it doesn't have anything to do with the cue, or the tip, it's the Indian, not the arrow". He got a good laugh out of that.

I then told him it was a Kamui super soft, which I will have cut off next week because it mushrooms like hell, and that absolutely drives me crazy. I will be going back to something layered, a lot harder and firmer.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree with you on that, in my own experience and from what people have told me the tip does have something to do with it no matter how little it is, it might not be a lot but it does have some to do with it. But I do agree it mostly is the shooter but the equipment he uses can also help, and as far as the cue, that can have a dramatic difference in the spin, a low deflection shaft at least in my experience has always gotten A LOT more post object ball contact spin than a normal shaft. The butt on the other hand has nothing to do with spin.
 
I can spin the cue ball as good as anybody. But I can spin it with less effort with a layered tip as opposed to a solid tip.
 
To the OP, "liking to use english on almost all shots" is an interesting statement. I'm no pro, but I would try to stay a little more center cue ball with a bit of stun, slight draw/follow. If you are using english on most shots and don't know what tip you like ... well, I wish you the best.

I happen to like the Onyx tip, but that is just my preference. I don't use english on most shots, I actually try to play a run out with a bunch of planned out stop/stun shots if I can, but I guess trying to fling the cue ball off a bunch of rails and trying to hit the speed just right is also an art form.
 
It isn't the tip that gives you spin, it is the eccentricity of the hit on the cue ball that gives you spin. I can shoot a ball 8 feet away and draw all the way back to the starting point, and then some, with a Triangle tip. I used to do the same thing with a Chandivert Rocky, and that was a whole lot harder than a LePro.
 
i would like a recomendation for a hard non layerd tip whats out there ?
 
A nickel bevel works MUCH better for control and action for me...I used a nickel bevel for almost 30 years, then recently went to a dime bevel for the past year. I seemed to have less action on the cue ball. Went back to the nickel bevel and the cue ball is juiced like before. I think the nickel bevel must be ideal to the curvature of an average cue ball, allowing better (maybe a micro second longer?) contact. Whatever it is, it's definitely not my imagination...I get much more action with the bigger shape.

Oh, and I now prefer Kamui Black Soft...fantastic tip!
 
PaulieB said:
To the OP, "liking to use english on almost all shots" is an interesting statement. I'm no pro, but I would try to stay a little more center cue ball with a bit of stun, slight draw/follow. If you are using english on most shots and don't know what tip you like ... well, I wish you the best.

I happen to like the Onyx tip, but that is just my preference. I don't use english on most shots, I actually try to play a run out with a bunch of planned out stop/stun shots if I can, but I guess trying to fling the cue ball off a bunch of rails and trying to hit the speed just right is also an art form.
Click to expand...

I have said this twice so I will say it again, I am NOT trying to improve my game by randomly trying new tips, I am just trying out new tips to see if I come across something I like, I play a lot of angles more than anything so when I don't need english I don't use it, but when I do need it and use it I like to use a smooth stroke without a lot of power so I am trying to base my search for tips that favor my type of stroke. And when I say I use english on almost all shots I never said I use a lot, its not like im using 2 tips of english every shot, I simply meant I use english of some sort whether its barely any or a lot.
 
I'm always trying new tips to find one that grabs like a soft tip but holds shape like a harder tip. So far I like the Kamui Mediums and Talisman Mediums. Whatever comes stock on Pechauers feels nice too (everest? emerald? maybe). I used to play with an 11mm and the only tip I could find that held it's shape and grabbed the ball right was a talisman med... but now on my 12.5mm, most medium layered tips feel ok. Maybe try a Kamui Med-soft and cut it down to half size to keep it from mushrooming. This has been a recipe for success for me in the past. I recently played with a LePro for awhile... and though the single layer feels very different in comparison... it did feel good. I might try one next time I re-tip.
 
Last edited:
I just brought a Hirano hard tip. I found it really grabs the white very well:cool: Not bad price ether:thumbup:
 
I tried going to a softer tip once, with the idea that I might get more spin. Didn't like it, though. I didn't like the feel of the tip, it mushroomed quickly, and it wore out quickly (which, actually was a good thing, so I could replace it with a harder tip)...
 
The Renfro...The Jacksonville Project proved otherwise. Size of the contact patch remains consistent at about 3mm...regardless of tip size, hardness, or curvature. Even at higher stroke speeds, where it appears that there is a larger "chalk dot", it's just chalk dust blowback off the tip. Contact size remains basically the same. Pretty difficult to refute super high speed video (4000-12,000 fps).

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

The Renfro said:
Basically what you are getting with a hard tip is a smaller contact patch so for the same offset the hard tip will seem to get more english. You are also more accurate in your application of english because of this IMHO......

I actually just showed this to a guy at derby and he had never even considered that different tips will produce different sizes of contact patch... The other thing noone ever considers is the fact that a dime radius will produce a smaller contact patch as well...

Contact patches in pool are not the same as in racing... In racing you are wanting as much of a patch as possible because you have the ability to apply more power than the tire can handle... In pool as long as chalk is in use and your tip is properly maintained spin will be determined by tip offset. A soft tip may look like it is able to hit further out than a harder tip but when the contact patch is considered it usually isn't the case.....
Click to expand...
 
Scott Lee said:
The Renfro...The Jacksonville Project proved otherwise. Size of the contact patch remains consistent at about 3mm...regardless of tip size, hardness, or curvature. Even at higher stroke speeds, where it appears that there is a larger "chalk dot", it's just chalk dust blowback off the tip. Contact size remains basically the same. Pretty difficult to refute super high speed video (4000-12,000 fps).

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

Scott I play with phenolic so I guess the extreme in my case might not have shown up in the Jacksonville Project... I can definitely show you a couple of imitation red circles that have stress cracks the size of the chalk mark my phenolic tip makes...

I know there is blow back with masters but the Kamui chalk impact marks are definitely contact marks..... The mark my phenolic leaves is consistently 1/3rd the size of a contact patch made by a similar diameter Kamui SS.....

Do you know the year of the Jacksonville Project? I am wondering if all the changes in tip technology might cause the results to no longer be valid?

And as to refuting the science of the high speed.... I am pretty sure most all of our current science has been built on what has came before and then refuting and refining the areas in which science was mostly correct but not completely correct......

I'll research the Jacksonville stuff tonight since it has peaked my interest... Be interesting to see if they stayed with just center ball pendulum strokes or altered attack angles, tip paths thru the cue ball and tip offset......
 
master_cueist said:
Thinking of trying a new tip and looking for suggestions. I like to use english on most of my shots and am curious about everybodies opinion of the best tip, to get the most action with the least amount of power and english.
Click to expand...
As you can tell by the wide range of advice you are getting, tip choice is a very subjective thing, and people can play well will all sorts of tips.

Cue tip size and shape can be important, but those are independent of tip type.

Cue tip hardness certainly has some effects, but it is debatable whether are not there is a direct correlation to playing performance (with the exception of super-hard phenolic tips used on break and jump cues, where the tip efficiency is very important).

Tip hardness does have a dramatic effect on the cue "hit" and "feel," and these qualitatives are very important to some people; however, the effect of hardness on actual playing performance capability is very debatable.

I hope that helps make your decision even more difficult. ;)

Bottom line: Try different tips and see if they make a real difference for you. Then pick the one you think you like the best. You should be able to learn to play as well with any tip (provided it holds chalk).

Regards,
Dave
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top