Breaker

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What features make a cue good for 8 ball breaking? Looking for opinions on cue construction and materials such as tip, ferrule, shaft taper, stiffness, joint and balance.
My breaking stick is a 60" Dymondwood with phenolic ferrule/joint and Samsara tip. It weighs 21 oz., that is as light as I can get it keeping with Dymondwood
My highest break speed is 18 mph.
Len
 
What features make a cue good for 8 ball breaking? Looking for opinions on cue construction and materials such as tip, ferrule, shaft taper, stiffness, joint and balance.
My breaking stick is a 60" Dymondwood with phenolic ferrule/joint and Samsara tip. It weighs 21 oz., that is as light as I can get it keeping with Dymondwood
My highest break speed is 18 mph.
Len

Please don't tell this forum you are trying to create a cue to improve a specific task in this forum.

There are a lot of "purists" here who will accuse you of ruining the sport if you mess with cues in any attempt to create something that adds more speed on the break.

Oh wait...........sorry, no they have no problem with better break cues, only with jump cues....don't build those. :-)

I don't have any good advice for you on break cues. At one time I was skeptical that the configuration made a difference. Then I went to work with Fury and got to be present when they would test various models against each other and saw first hand that indeed a cue can absolutely be built that breaks better than another one and by a lot.

I recommend trying the Hammerhead tip by Ki-Tech though. It's probably the best tip I have seen in the past 20 years of selling jump cues and break-jump cues.

John Barton - former owner of the Bunjee Jumper Break-Jump brand.
 
You might be too heavy. If you want an interesting exercise, try buying a J&J spark break cue with the phenolic tip and adjustable weights. For a whopping $60, I got a 3 mph bump from my older breaker. I'm a small guy, about 155 lbs and went from 20-23 mph rather effortlessly. You have 3 oz of wiggle room with the weights. I bought it at 17.9 oz and stuck with that weight.

Moral of the story is for a small cost, you can see what works best for you. Then decide later if you want to spend more money on one.

Generally speaking, harder materials, a break-tapered shaft, Samsara or phenolic tip, and the right weight are the most relevanat factors.
 
I don't like the way phenolic tips hit or sound and, being a bigger guy, I don't need the crutch. If I even get a break cue it will be with a leather tip and it will not be expensive. I'm not always the wisest with my money, but I'm smart enough not to throw pointless money away on a mere break cue. Most likely one of two Scmelke's for me - a $105 break cue with their ugly brass joint (I've a feeling it will hit sufficiently hard) or a $160 model with a purpleheart shaft.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
 
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What features make a cue good for 8 ball breaking? Looking for opinions on cue construction and materials such as tip, ferrule, shaft taper, stiffness, joint and balance.
My breaking stick is a 60" Dymondwood with phenolic ferrule/joint and Samsara tip. It weighs 21 oz., that is as light as I can get it keeping with Dymondwood
My highest break speed is 18 mph.
Len

I have a friend who breaks with a 61" 24 oz. cue.

I have another friend who breaks with a 59" 19 oz. cue.

Another who breaks with a 54" 18 oz. cue.

Yet another with a 58" 15 oz. cue.

They all say their cues are the best for breaking. They are all absolutely correct!
 
I had a discussion about breaking with Busty a while back and as most know, he is on the very short list of all time best ever power breakers.

He said lighter cues (19oz was fine) are ideal for achieving better speed and, in fact, placing your back hand slightly forward will help even more with your speed coming through the ball.

best,
brian kc
 
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