HOW cue tip hardness?

[boogieman]

Problem is, tip hardness can vary between batches. Especially the old stuff like Elk Masters. They can range from sponge soft to almost break tip hardness.
Part of what makes the modern layered tips better is that they are more consistent. Some do this better than others. A chart can be helpful, but ultimately unreliable, and should only be used for reference. Actual testing is the only way to be sure.

I agree on the consistency. That's why I like milkduds. I have a press but I recently bought a few from pooldawg8 on here and they are perfect. I would get 2 perfect/magic DIY ones out of about 6. The rest be good tips but would go on house cues or free to friends and such. Honestly with how good his duds are I prefer them to layered.

I'm not bashing layered but I've had issues in the past. Some de-lamination, the edges can get funky on miscues. Glue line miscues, more care needed to shape, and many where it just didn't have the hit I liked. I've not tired many but the ones I found the best were Zan, but again, I've not tried many.

 

[Sheldon]

Pressing tips is a way to improve consistency, and I believe this is part of why "milk duds" became semi-popular.
You still need to grade them before pressing, since pressing a crappy tip rarely improves them. It just takes tips that would otherwise have been soft, medium or hard and makes them all hard.

 

[Colonel]

Pressing tips is a way to improve consistency, and I believe this is part of why "milk duds" became semi-popular.
You still need to grade them before pressing, since pressing a crappy tip rarely improves them. It just takes tips that would otherwise have been soft, medium or hard and makes them all hard.

Truthfully, banging a small piece of leather against a hard phenolic ball makes all tips hard pretty quickly. Given that, it seems the multiple selections of tip hardness is more about how much you want to trim and shape your tip after initial installation. Your mileage may vary.