icebreaker break tip

berlowmj

berlowmj

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
As I read the ad, I get the impression that the Icebreaker could give me the speed & power associated with the phenolic along with the control associated with a leather tip.

The prospect of "having my cake & eating it too" always makes me pause.

Is it possible that such a utopian outcome is likely in the case of the Icebreaker?
 
I was watching a video on Johnny Archer teaching someone to break posted here recently. He explained something about the ball jumping up and not hitting the 1 ball fully hence a reduction in the power.

I was thinking that a very hard tip that most break cue has especially a jump break is most likely to make the cue ball take flight more in a break.

Not much choice if it is a jump break.

I am using a 3rd Gen X breaker. Not sure what kind of tip is that. But though it is a jump break, the breaking part feels surprisingly soft. I was thinking maybe it could be because of the black thing i can see between the ferrule and the tip. Or it could also be something about the cone shape base of the tip that will seat deep into the ferrule. It could also be because of the X breaker damper at the butt that kills off the impact partially. When you use it as a jump cue the butt is remove so it makes sense.

This is probably as close as it would get to a perfect solution that i can find for now. Any other opinions?
 
Icebreaker tip

I had the same feeling you have and 2 months ago i decided to re-tip my BK2 with a Tiger Icebreaker tip.

The tip was installed by a reputable cue maker on a lathe.

About a week later i broke as normal, probably only 60% power, i noticed a weird sound looked down and the tip had failed.

The tip is made of phenonlic on the outer layer and leather in the middle, the middle part had gone straight through the ferrule, splitting it and also splitting the shaft wood.

This left me with a shaft i cannot use anymore and cost me 100 pound to buy a replacement shaft.

I would advise you not to use the Icebreaker tip.

I have a picture of the ferrule with a large crack down the side and a crack about a centimeter into the shaft wood. The picture is on my phone if i can tranfer it to my pc i will put it on here.
 
ukpooladdict said:
I had the same feeling you have and 2 months ago i decided to re-tip my BK2 with a Tiger Icebreaker tip.

The tip was installed by a reputable cue maker on a lathe.

About a week later i broke as normal, probably only 60% power, i noticed a weird sound looked down and the tip had failed.

The tip is made of phenonlic on the outer layer and leather in the middle, the middle part had gone straight through the ferrule, splitting it and also splitting the shaft wood.

This left me with a shaft i cannot use anymore and cost me 100 pound to buy a replacement shaft.

I would advise you not to use the Icebreaker tip.

I have a picture of the ferrule with a large crack down the side and a crack about a centimeter into the shaft wood. The picture is on my phone if i can tranfer it to my pc i will put it on here.
Click to expand...

You should be able to salvage that shaft. If the crack truly only goes into the shaft wood 1 or 2MM then it should be able to be re-faced, then a new tenon hole drilled with a new tenon added, then new ferrule/new tip. The only difference would be your shaft being 1 or 2MM shorter. Bring it by my shop, I'll do it for free. :smile: (but the cost of you getting here might be a little much);)
 
the reason why your shaft broke is because preadtor bk2 shafts have to have the carbon fiber pad between the tip and ferrule. yours was prolly taken off when you got the icebreaker tip put on!
 
I bought an IceBreaker tip, and it's being installed. Haven't actually *used* it yet, but it's on a spare shaft I don't really use anymore (which had a water buffalo tip on it), and I'm looking forward to trying it out. I looked at the White Diamond tips as well. Depending on how the IceBreaker feels (and performs), I might try one of those as well. Just hoping my shaft and/or ferrule doesn't split like the previous poster! :eek:
 
HustlinYou said:
the reason why your shaft broke is because preadtor bk2 shafts have to have the carbon fiber pad between the tip and ferrule. yours was prolly taken off when you got the icebreaker tip put on!
Click to expand...

Nope the black pad was left on and still happened..might of just been a one off but i'll just stick to normal BK2 phenolic tip, even before it broke it didnt give me more power or control at all.JMO
 
ukpooladdict said:
I had the same feeling you have and 2 months ago i decided to re-tip my BK2 with a Tiger Icebreaker tip.

The tip was installed by a reputable cue maker on a lathe.

About a week later i broke as normal, probably only 60% power, i noticed a weird sound looked down and the tip had failed.

The tip is made of phenonlic on the outer layer and leather in the middle, the middle part had gone straight through the ferrule, splitting it and also splitting the shaft wood.

This left me with a shaft i cannot use anymore and cost me 100 pound to buy a replacement shaft.

I would advise you not to use the Icebreaker tip.

I have a picture of the ferrule with a large crack down the side and a crack about a centimeter into the shaft wood. The picture is on my phone if i can tranfer it to my pc i will put it on here.
Click to expand...

I would doubt that this was caused by the tip. Can you get that pic? I want to see how the tip was installed. Predator claims that you need to leave some of the original tip AND the carbon fibre pad intact when installing a new tip, of any kind. It may have been a bad ferrule or improper installation but I could be wrong.
 
The original pad on the BK-2 is carbon fiber, I believe. If the pad was replaced with the typical vulcanized fiber pad, then it would have provided little if any sheer strength, which is what the carbon fiber pad is for.

I too would like to see the pictures. From your description, I think it would be very unlikely that the icebreaker tip failed in such a way to penetrate the carbon fiber pad and go into the center of the cue shaft.

I'm not trying to be difficult, but I just think there is a piece of the puzzle that is missing.


Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
 
ukpooladdict said:
I had the same feeling you have and 2 months ago i decided to re-tip my BK2 with a Tiger Icebreaker tip.

The tip was installed by a reputable cue maker on a lathe.

About a week later i broke as normal, probably only 60% power, i noticed a weird sound looked down and the tip had failed.

The tip is made of phenonlic on the outer layer and leather in the middle, the middle part had gone straight through the ferrule, splitting it and also splitting the shaft wood.

This left me with a shaft i cannot use anymore and cost me 100 pound to buy a replacement shaft.

I would advise you not to use the Icebreaker tip.

I have a picture of the ferrule with a large crack down the side and a crack about a centimeter into the shaft wood. The picture is on my phone if i can tranfer it to my pc i will put it on here.
Click to expand...

This has peaked my interest as well. Pic please...
 
Figured I would post an update on my ICEBREAKER tip. Picked my shaft up on Saturday, cost me $10 at my local pool hall to get it installed. Played with it yesterday. First break, not bad. Good control, doesn't "sound" like a phenolic tip, good cue ball control. Definitely takes some getting used to, compared to the (full) phenolic tip I was using. Holds chalk well.

One thing I noticed is that the tip is tall; the phenolic tip is much "shorter", whereas the ICEBREAKER tip looks like a "regular" leather tip, height-wise. Not that it's a problem, just interesting (to me, at least.)

Tried to jump some balls with it, but I can't jump worth a damn anyway, so that was useless. :rolleyes: I need to practice doing that more, but IMO, I sorta like the phenolic tip better for jumping, because I think it's easier to jump with; however, for breaking, the ICEBREAKER tip definitely performs like a phenolic, but "feels" and "sounds" more like a leather tip.

Worth the $20 (well, $30 installed)? Eh...if you have a spare shaft and want to use it, sure. If you only have one shaft, I wouldn't give up a phenolic tip for it.
 
I use an Icebreaker cue as well had quite a few friends of mine using the new IceBreaker tips and hey are all monster slam breakers, I mean tons of power on the cue ball and I am still waiting to receive compaints on the Icebreaker tip. They love it since it grabs chalk extremelly well and gives them a ton of control. One of my best friends had to replace his worn out tip off of his XBreaker and he just absolutelly loves it - a lot more control on the cue ball.
 
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