Burnishing Water Buffalo

B

Butterwheel

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To all those saavy in tip grooming:

Is there a trick to getting a good, lasting burnish on the sides of layered water buffalo tips? I'm talking about the Talisman med WB in particular (I really love this tip, went through dozens before settling on this one.)
I've successfully installed quite a few tips, both for myself and others, mostly layered pigskin of some kind. Without much effort, I can burnish the sides of a pigskin tip to a beautiful, hard, shiney surface that lasts. But try as I might, the buffalo tip just won't "hold" the burnish. I can get it nice and shiney and relatively hardened, but after a night at the table, the sides of the tip look a lot like the top :( .
I've tried progressive sanding all the way up to 2000 grit - no help. I've burnished with and without wetting the leather, using many different tools/materials including leather, the backside of wet/dry sandpaper, denim, block of dense hardwood, The Ultimate Tip Tool, even glass. In desparation, I purchased a bottle of "Liquid Leather Burnisher", but that didn't make any difference either. No matter if I do it slow and gentle or spin the cue until it gets warm. All these produce a decent finish at first, but the tip sides always goes back to rough and dull after a few rack.
Any advice appreciated, except for "just take it to a professional" :)
 
I don't know about that tip specifically but I get good results folding up a fresh dollar bill a few times using the back side and rolling the cue shaft back and forth across my legs while I sit in a chair and have the bill folded around the tip. I do this two or three times wetting slightly and rolling fast until I can no longer tollerate the heat generated by rolling the shaft.
 
Put a little Duro Super Gel on the sides of the tip, spin it at high speed on a lathe and burnish it with a piece of kraft paper or paper towel until it gets good and hot.

Fats
 
I use a magic marker gel pen, and a paper towel. just be careful to not get ink on the ferrule.



SPINDOKTOR
 
These are my favorite tips also, they're great tips right? Alot of spit and a nice piece of smooth leather and go to town. They shine right up. This works for me on my Talisman WB-M & H.
 
I use this:
tipburnsher.jpg


It's a tip burnisher, costs about $5, takes about 10 seconds, and works great.

-djb
 
Secaucus Fats said:
Put a little Duro Super Gel on the sides of the tip, spin it at high speed on a lathe and burnish it with a piece of kraft paper or paper towel until it gets good and hot.

Fats
Click to expand...
I have tried the super glue trick, but I just sort of painted in on as if I were applying a sealer or stain. The result was very uneven and bumpy - effective but ugly. Your method make a lot more sense. I'll definitely give it a try.
Much thanks and cheers,
 
Jeffrey Gale said:
These are my favorite tips also, they're great tips right? Alot of spit and a nice piece of smooth leather and go to town. They shine right up. This works for me on my Talisman WB-M & H.
Click to expand...
Ah, another Talisman WB-M fan! Yessiree, the finest tip there is. It holds it shape like an extra hard tip, yet holds chalk. It's hard enough to break with yet soft enough for delicate touch shots. A lot of tip makers claim to have all these apparently contradictory characteristics, but I discovered that the Talisman WB is the only one that actually does.
As for our burnishing methods, the only difference I see is your use of "alot" of spit. Usually, making leather too wet is counterproductive, but I'll give it a try. I only have 6 shafts to experiment with :)
Thanks for the info Jeff!
 
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