Kamui tip mushroomed after a few games

M4verick

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So I had had installed Kamui black medium tip on my predator 314 and it mushroomed after a few games. I shaped the tip using williards dime tool and as brand new it was a perfect dime shape, but when i started play with the cue, the tip have flattened and now it's more of a nickle.

The mushroom is very minor it seems that the layers pressed together after some firm shots which increased their diameter near the top. It's barely visible to be honest but I've read that layered tips shouldn't mushroom.

Should I be worried or is it normal ?

Would the kamui gator grip be appropriate to delicately trim the edges of my tip ?
 
I just had a SS kamui installed and it is my third one in 2 years. I have not had any problems with them and love them. There are a lot of fake kamuis out there, did yours have the hologram on it? If it did not you may have got a fake. Take a look at the youtube video on how to spot a fake one and check the ones that your supplier has to see if you got burned.
 
Kamui

So I had had installed Kamui black medium tip on my predator 314 and it mushroomed after a few games. I shaped the tip using williards dime tool and as brand new it was a perfect dime shape, but when i started play with the cue, the tip have flattened and now it's more of a nickle.

The mushroom is very minor it seems that the layers pressed together after some firm shots which increased their diameter near the top. It's barely visible to be honest but I've read that layered tips shouldn't mushroom.

Should I be worried or is it normal ?

Would the kamui gator grip be appropriate to delicately trim the edges of my tip ?

I have a Kamui black super soft and a medium on two of my cues. Both of my tips did mushroom the first day of play. I took a few layers off of both tips and they have been fine ever since. I even use the medium to break with very often. You should be fine and not have any more problems if you take a couple of layers off.

I used an ultimate tip tool to varnish the side of my tips and then shaped them to get rid of the mushroom. They have been playing very well ever since.

My Super Soft is on a Predator Z2 shaft and the medium is on a Mcdermott.
 
I have a Black Super Soft on one shaft and a Black Soft on a other. It was a while ago, but I do believe I had to reshape my SS early on, but it has been fine since. I don't recall ever have any mushrooming on my Soft though.
 
I bought the tip from official Polish Predator dealer so I'm pretty sure these are not fakes.

The sides were burnished.
 
I bought my Kaumi SS from my local guy here who installs tips and he had about 6 of them but the one that I picked out of his pack was the only one with the hologram on it.
 
Would the kamui gator grip be appropriate to delicately trim the edges of my tip ?

No, the Gator Grip is not a tip shaper or trimmer. You could use the "Ultimate Tip Tool" to trim and reburnish the tip.
 
It's a misconception that layered tips won't mushroom like single layered unpressed tips do. They almost all mushroom a tiny bit and that's why a lot of cue repair guys and makers put a slight taper on the tip. The taper allows the tip to be less likely to become wider then the ferrule when it does mushroom. I've seen the laminated tips spread a bit although nothing like a soft unpressed single layer tip even including the legendary original Moori's. The trick is what has been said. Trim the tip a bit maybe down a layer or two and you'll stop seeing that mushrooming. I find that this is just a breaking in period with new tips allowing them to compress that last bit which depends on how hard you tend to hit the ball with them. So it's sort of a customization to your playing style and feel. Hmm. I think I just made mushrooming a feature:) After a trim or two you get what you wanted when you had that tip installed in the first place.

When I get a new tip I usually ask for the tip to be trimmed a bit or I put some time into pounding some harder shots with it to speed the process along. I just don't like the extra rebound you get with a new super thick tip. IMO a lot of the layered tips even up to the medium hard ones are just a bit spongy at full size and trimming a layer or two off or compressing with a bit of shooting makes them just right ;)

Good shooting to ya.

Kevin
 
I had a Kamui SS installed on my Predator Z2 and it muchroomed with in the first week, Never broke with it.
 
Thanks for your replies,

I just bought a porper tip burnisher through ebay, it should help ;)
 
Bad move, the tip burnisher will pull the layers apart if used agressively. The sides should be trimmed by a competent mechanic.
 
I've installed about a dozen Kamui Black SS tips. None mushroomed. They do have a tendency to glaze and occasionally miscue.

I'm seriously considering going back to a Moori III Medium on my cue. They mushroom slightly after about a week of play but after a little tuneup on the lathe, no more mushrooming. And miscues are very rare. :cool:

And BTW, I would be very careful using any of the tip tools on layered tips. It's pretty easy to delaminate the tips. On my lathe, I always bring out a fresh razor knife blade to trim layered tips.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top