Do Phenolic tips damage pool balls

NoBull9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I spent some time at the Viking Turnament in Duluth,While I was there I herd complaints about the condition of the pool balls mainly the cue balls being damaged.I want name anyone but the complaint was that phenolic tips where damaging the cue balls and causing players to miscue.Has anyone else noticed a problem with the balls and phenolic tips.
 
NoBull9 said:
I spent some time at the Viking Turnament in Duluth,While I was there I herd complaints about the condition of the pool balls mainly the cue balls being damaged.I want name anyone but the complaint was that phenolic tips where damaging the cue balls and causing players to miscue.Has anyone else noticed a problem with the balls and phenolic tips.
I think it depends on, the quality of the balls. I had a Triangle tip that put small curved cracks in a red circle cue ball. I now have a Pro Cup cue ball, that has been hit many times with phenolic tips, without any visible damage.

Tracy
 
No, phenolic tips do not damage pool balls. Pool balls can break, crack, chip, flake and otherwise end up in a less than perfect state for a variety of reasons. In general though pool balls are as hard or harder than the phenolic tips. The tips do not generally do any kind of damage to the balls at all.

As for miscues, those are caused by the player's stroke technique.
 
NoBull9 said:
The cue balls where Aramith measel balls.
I bought a "measel" ball about two years ago that quickly cracked badly - I know not how. I think there were some poor quality "knock-offs" out there for a while being sold as Aramith.
 
I peronally believe that Aramith is putting out a lot of balls that don't measure up to their previous offerings. The spotted cueballs have been know to have all sorts of problems, the new cueball with the Aramith logo on it is impossible to keep clean and rolls "funny" sometimes. I have no clue if it's just because of the sheer volume of diffrent balls they are coming up with that affect production or if these balls are produced in such a different way as to have noticeably different playing characteristics.
 
I have Aramith Super-pros that have been used for about a year and I use a phenolic tip. The CB has some HARD discoloration in the form of marks, but no structural chance.

Bushwhacker does not let 'em in his pool room (that should be on the flyer!).
 
I've got an Aramith TV Ball and it's been through some real hell. No problems here. :cool:
 
I've had a measles cue ball for about a year and a half, and it's full of cracks. It has NEVER hit anything other than another ball. I'm not sure what happened here.

ball1.jpg



ball2.jpg



ball3.jpg
 
measle ball

My measle is doing the same thing but my centennial q-ball has no marks on it.

anyone want to buy a set of level best? pure junk, literally falling apart.

imho centennials are worth the price.

AL
 
Cheez Dawg said:
I've had a measles cue ball for about a year and a half, and it's full of cracks. It has NEVER hit anything other than another ball. I'm not sure what happened here.
First off- If you aren't knockin balls off the table, you aren't doing it the fun way;)

What% of practice is hard-breaking games and what kind of tip is on your break cue?
 
Black-Balled said:
First off- If you aren't knockin balls off the table, you aren't doing it the fun way;)

What% of practice is hard-breaking games and what kind of tip is on your break cue?


I now use a Predator BK2, but I was using a regular BK, with the regular layered tip that comes on them.
I first noticed the cracks about 2 months after I started using the ball.
I'd say about 40% of my practice is hard breaking games. That's the only way I break-HARD.
Maybe I got a dud. I can't see my break being hard enough to do that.
 
I have a pretty gigantuarous break and my spotted ball has a lot of those round cracks in it. I use a stinger.

Eric.A.
 
G-10 tip

A friend of mine uses a jump cue with a G-10 tip/ferrule. I think it's harder than the cueball and does damage it.
 
Black-Balled said:
I have Aramith Super-pros that have been used for about a year and I use a phenolic tip. The CB has some HARD discoloration in the form of marks, but no structural chance.

Bushwhacker does not let 'em in his pool room (that should be on the flyer!).

I will put it on the new flyer for the next tournament.

=)

Thank you for the compliment on our room.
 
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super pro balls

My original measle ball that came with my set (super-pro set) has alot of cracks in it and i use a sledgehammer,i have bought replacements balls seperatlely and these also have cracks in them too...not that it affects the way the cb plays.
 
I was told that it is because the finish used on these new balls is not strong enough.

I am not 100% because I am not expert in balls.

What I was told was that there is a layer of finish being used on the balls to protect it and to make it more glossy. This finish is much more brittle and is also weaker than the material of the ball itelf, that is why a lot of these balls have tiny cracks even when a player is only breaking the balls with a leather tip.

Thank you.

Richard
 
> I really have no idea if the phenolic damages the balls,but it seems like it would leave some kind of scratch. The pics of the cue ball that Cheez Dawg posted with the marks in it are very familiar to me. In the dive that calls itself a pool room here,and several others,those marks are almost always caused by a high-speed collision with a protruding screw,nail,or tack used inside the pockets themselves. In pool rooms with nice fresh Gold Crowns or Diamonds,I've personally never seen marks on the balls in that pattern. One thing you can do is get a 3-sided nail buffer from your girlfriend/wife/Wal-Mart,and use the middle grade on the mark,trying to follow the length of the mark itself the best you can,and see if it disappears or at least erases any coloring in the mark. It doesn't seem possible for a tip to make these marks unless it had an extremely sharp edge,was totally flat,or was made from tool steel. Tommy D.
 
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