Can a soft tip be hardened while on the shaft?

3kushn said:
I was told by, lets say an historian, that old timers would bounce their cue on a hard floor to create the dreaded mushroom. Trim and Pound again.

We all know tips harden with play. This may be an answer????
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That's what I've always done after installing a lepro tip. Several hundred bounces off the concrete floor. Not hard enough to damage the ferrule but hard enough to simulate striking the cue ball firmly.
 
iusedtoberich said:
If it’s mushy like a spring, cut it off. It will never be fixed. That usually happens during the installation process of Triangles and Lepros. Thankfully most of the pool world has gone to layered tips, and we rarely have to worry about this anymore.
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Yeah, if you can lift it with your thumb nail I don't think there's any helping it.
 
just bounce a soft tip on a hard floor for about 5 minutes and it becomes about medium. shape it as you want.

many top players cant even tell you what kind of tip they have on their cue. or even care. play with a tip for awhile and break it in and you adjust to it unconsciously.
people that have flaws in their play over think tips as a cure all for it.
 
maha said:
just bounce a soft tip on a hard floor for about 5 minutes and it becomes about medium. shape it as you want.

many top players cant even tell you what kind of tip they have on their cue. or even care. play with a tip for awhile and break it in and you adjust to it unconsciously.
people that have flaws in their play over think tips as a cure all for it.
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In 40yrs i've never heard ONE cuemaker recommend doing this to harden a tip. And most(all?) top players know exactly what tip they have on their cue.
 
dendweller said:
I tried the white and black soft and I think a medium as well. Had to buy 10 so I mixed it up. Ended up giving what I had left to a cue maker I know.
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I had a guy make me a carbon fiber shaft to try and he put medium hard ultraskin on it.

I didn't like carbon but the tip wasn't the right choice for that hard as a nail shaft imo but I didn't have any trouble with it like miscuing.

I was thinking the softer ones might be ok. What didn't you like about them?
 
336Robin said:
I had a guy make me a carbon fiber shaft to try and he put medium hard ultraskin on it.

I didn't like carbon but the tip wasn't the right choice for that hard as a nail shaft imo but I didn't have any trouble with it like miscuing.

I was thinking the softer ones might be ok. What didn't you like about them?
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What was wrong with the last tip(s) you
used? Use the same again. If you got a bad one trash it. Garbage in garage out. Cannot fix trash
 
336Robin said:
I had a guy make me a carbon fiber shaft to try and he put medium hard ultraskin on it.

I didn't like carbon but the tip wasn't the right choice for that hard as a nail shaft imo but I didn't have any trouble with it like miscuing.

I was thinking the softer ones might be ok. What didn't you like about them?
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US's are great tips. That's all me and DuaneRemick and a few others at the 'hall have used for years. The softer ones will 'firm up' a lil with usage. They make three softs: s,ss, and pro soft. i'd try the ss and it will play into a soft pretty quick. The pro is realllly soft, softer than a Elk.
 
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336Robin said:
I had a guy make me a carbon fiber shaft to try and he put medium hard ultraskin on it.

I didn't like carbon but the tip wasn't the right choice for that hard as a nail shaft imo but I didn't have any trouble with it like miscuing.

I was thinking the softer ones might be ok. What didn't you like about them?
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Probably nothing that would make any sense. There's a certain bump to a good triangle that I like for whatever reason, maybe because I've used them for so long. I thought I'd try the layered band wagon, wasn't all that impressed. I'm sure I'm in the minority and don't think anyone that likes them is wrong.
 
dendweller said:
Probably nothing that would make any sense. There's a certain bump to a good triangle that I like for whatever reason, maybe because I've used them for so long. I thought I'd try the layered band wagon, wasn't all that impressed. I'm sure I'm in the minority and don't think anyone that likes them is wrong.
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I'm with you. I started with Triangles and like them until I played with Elk Masters and they got broken in. Just a touch less hardness than a triangle with plenty of grip if you need it. Hey' Efren plays with an Elkmaster Medium press. Can't be all that bad.
 
xradarx said:
There’s more to making a cue play and hit like you want it to, from the first stroke to your last stroke on any attempt to play.
This applies to any cue from $15 house cues with any kind of tip that they chose to have on the cue, to the finest custom cues out there, with your choice of tips.

See Bob Meucci’s cue tip video. He explains and demonstrates the deformation of soft tips and why to use the hardest tips out there.
On some strokes, the deformation doesn’t return to its normal shape and must be reformed prior to the next stroke or you don’t have any idea what part of the tip will contact the cue ball.

I have used many drill bits and can properly grind the correct drilling angle(about 12-1/2 degrees) onto any drill bit. Use the angle of a half inch drill bit to pound the chosen tip to the hardest angle that you like around the outer edge of the cue tip leaving the center three mm of the tip to be the softest part of the cue tip.
I, personally choose the single layer leather LePro cue tips that are starting about R74.
I use a flat cue tip steel shaper to pound the outer angle to the hardness that I desire which is to make the LePro tip about the same hardness as the water buffalo tips which are about R80 or so.
I then shape the tip to about a dime radius and flatten the center three mm with a small flat bastard file.
That flat center and the angled 1/4mm are the only part of the cue tip that ever touches the cue ball.
There will be no mushrooming of the tip, either.
Single layer tips can be prepared to take chalk with a tip pick.
Multi layer tips do not allow for use of a tip pick unless you intend to keep peeling tip layers off.
The entire process of hardening any tip correctly requires about 15 minutes.
More about cue tips later, maybe.
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Cement would be good, with rebar and extra fiber. Get it damn hard and never shape the tip again.
Pool is about the feel the shooter needs to perform his best, not what Bob Meucci says is proper.
 
336Robin said:
I have no idea what kind of tips these are, but they are soft, tall and a little poofy.

Has anyone any experience with what to add to the tip to have it play in a little quicker
and hopefully get a little harder?
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Cut or file half of the tip off then round it to your preferred profile. Then hit some balls hard with it or bounce it on the floor. I do this to all my new tips. It should get hard. If you can push your fingernail in the side of the tip and it feels mushy (like an accordion) throw it away, it will never be any good.
 
Tennesseejoe said:
Cut or file half of the tip off then round it to your preferred profile. Then hit some balls hard with it or bounce it on the floor. I do this to all my new tips. It should get hard. If you can push your fingernail in the side of the tip and it feels mushy (like an accordion) throw it away, it will never be any good.
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I got the cue out an looked at it and did that. It's not all that, but it sure hits soft and I think on one long days play its tightening up some.
I'm going to play on it some more and see what happens before I try anything else. It started out real soft.
 
3 pages and not a single picture from the OP..
Any reply would just be a guess. But if the tip is too soft, it's the easiest thing in the world to fix, just play with the cue, within a week the tip will firm up. That's a good time to trim and shape the tip.
 
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336Robin said:
I got the cue out an looked at it and did that. It's not all that, but it sure hits soft and I think on one long days play its tightening up some.
I'm going to play on it some more and see what happens before I try anything else. It started out real soft.
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Practice your break shot with it...this usually works.
 
maha said:
many top players cant even tell you what kind of tip they have on their cue. or even care. play with a tip for awhile and break it in and you adjust to it unconsciously.
people that have flaws in their play over think tips as a cure all for it.
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This^^^

Played with a hard Morri for nearly 10yrs. Latest hard tip has been a different player for well over 1.5yrs... ...and no I don't know the manufacturer. The name brand doesn't change the way I play, so I could care less.

Helps if you have a long standing and good relationship with your cue guy. ;)
 
Tennesseejoe said:
Practice your break shot with it...this usually works.
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Here it is. Spreading out a little, but it appears to be playing in ok.


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