Keeping tip shape problems. Need help

[MarcusG19]

So this happens all the time, I get a new tip, shape it. Nice and rounded and by the end of a couple days, the shape is gone.
I know some people who only need to shape their tip once and it stays that way untill they get a new tip.
I need to know whats going on, b/c im tired of playing with an almost flat tip.

 

[qexpert_101]

Black Kamui

Play with Black Kamui and you wont have that problem anymore.:thumbup:

 

[scdiveteam]

So this happens all the time, I get a new tip, shape it. Nice and rounded and by the end of a couple days, the shape is gone.
I know some people who only need to shape their tip once and it stays that way untill they get a new tip.
I need to know whats going on, b/c im tired of playing with an almost flat tip.

Hi,

When you get the tip put on the installer should burnish the side wall after he puts the radius and a sharp transition contour at the side wall.

When you get this new tip my best advise to you is to do nothing but chaulk and play. A tip pick or very light scuffing is all you need to do as time goes on.

I own a very large pool hall and have 250 league players plus regular customers. You don't know how mary times I see someone get a shaft back with an absolutely perfect tip geometry and as they are walking away from my repair station they start filing or scuffing with a tool.

Once you mess around with that burnished sidewall of the tip your are opening up a can of worms.

Remember, More is less. I offer a free tip refurbishing to anyone who plays pool at by hall to try to discourage players from messing around without a lathe. The more you mess around with your tip the faster it will need to be replaced.

And yes, I agree a Kaumi or Moori will solve at lot of downstream problems because they hold their contour the best. Again don't mess around with them other than a little scuffing or tip pick once and a while.

Rick Geschrey

 

[yankeepapa]

Tip Shape Problems

No tip's profile is proof to thoughtless chalking habits. Chalk is the most abrasive substance the tip will encounter.

Absent-minded, one handed chalking will flatten a tip in a short time.

pete

 

[peteypooldude]

What tip are you playing with?I am using milk duds from AZ own Pooldawg.They are inexpensive and consistent .Geno done a little article on here not long ago called the best tip I ever got I think was the name of it.Or you can look through post by Genomachino and you will find it.It gives some very good info on just what you are talking about

 

[Mike in MN]

What kind of tip are you using? Maybe it's just too soft for your playing habits. Softer tips will generally lose their shape more often.

 

[Tramp Steamer]

What kind of tip are you using? Maybe it's just too soft for your playing habits. Softer tips will generally lose their shape more often.

Yeah, Marcus, call us back and tell us what it is. Also, on a scale of 1 to 10, tell us how you would rate your skill level.

 

[bobroberts]

What tip are you playing with?I am using milk duds from AZ own Pooldawg.They are inexpensive and consistent .Geno done a little article on here not long ago called the best tip I ever got I think was the name of it.Or you can look through post by Genomachino and you will find it.It gives some very good info on just what you are talking about

I just had a milk dud installed and didn't like it..When i told the installer, he said you cant make a cheap tip better,so i am going to have to have a moori installed now.

 

[TheBook]

Play with Black Kamui and you wont have that problem anymore.:thumbup:

Plus don't shoot every shot as hard as a break shot.

I don't ever reshape my tips. All I ever do is apply chalk. Most times a miscue is do to a bad stroke and not a tip that needs to be scuffed. And missing a shot is not a reason to reshape or scuff the tip.

 

[MitchAlsup]

So this happens all the time, I get a new tip, shape it. Nice and rounded and by the end of a couple days, the shape is gone.

You need a harder tip--something in the 82 range on the durrometer.

 

[brandoncook26]

I second the Kamui Black. I used a moori medium when I started playing and the damn things always mushroomed and had to be reshaped. I bought a Kamui black soft and problem solved. I break and play with my cue (avg break is 22 mph) and it still has the same shape as when it was installed.

These Kamui's are amazing and I will never use anything else.

 

[rayshooter22]

Everest

I play with an everest tip, and this happens all the time to me. I start the day of a tournament with a perfectly round tip, (perfect for me that is). After a full day's competition, by the time im in the finals im struggling with any kinds of extreme english because my tip is flat as they come. For some reason i've experienced this alot lately. Im not sure if it's due to the new construct of the Everest tips or what but it's scary how fast i have to change tips.

Something to note, is all i ever do to my tips are rough up the edges lightly with a tip tapper. Any work that's done on my cues or tips is done on a lathe and by a cue repairman. Ted Harris and I spoke about this last night and he also commented he doesn't understand why the tips (Everest) are flattening out so quickly. These are my preferred tips however going through 2 or more tips a month is just crazy talk. I've been thinking i may need to switch to a le pro or something in order to find a tip that won't lose shape so quickly on me. I know my buddy Uwate uses lepro tips and his last for ever... Hopefully the guys at Tiger products can look into it for us and do an evaluation of how their tips hold shape during competition... Good luck in ur endeavors sir and hopefully u find a tip that doesn't give u so many problems.

 

[MarcusG19]

Yeah, Marcus, call us back and tell us what it is. Also, on a scale of 1 to 10, tell us how you would rate your skill level.

i play with a medium moori, i think im gonna try using as hard moori instead next time.
i would say a seven i guess. cpa 8 ball would be a 7 a,d 9 ball would be an 8 or a 9 depending on how well i play the last few weeks.

 

[MarcusG19]

No tip's profile is proof to thoughtless chalking habits. Chalk is the most abrasive substance the tip will encounter.

Absent-minded, one handed chalking will flatten a tip in a short time.

pete

i always thought it might be the way i chalk, but i dont know a right or wrong way. how should i be chalking?

 

[Tramp Steamer]

i play with a medium moori, i think im gonna try using as hard moori instead next time.
i would say a seven i guess. cpa 8 ball would be a 7 a,d 9 ball would be an 8 or a 9 depending on how well i play the last few weeks.

Then you have me a bit confused, but then I've been confused before.
In my experience players who are rated a one through three are generally the ones who need the most tip maintenance. That is not an indictment of their skill level, but more descriptive of their style of play. Newer players offtimes tend to hit whitey harder than necessary, such as breaking with their playing cue. They misscue more often due to stroke errors, and they may be more lax in the overall care of their tip.
Players who fall into the four through six group suffer less misscues, but will on occasion, continue to strike the cue with more force than is required. Long draw shots for instance. This group may also continue to search for just the right shaft and tip combination before settling in on one.
The last group is the eight through ten segment of players. They are the ones who have, for the most part, solved the mysteries of cue tip selection and cue tip care. They are the top league players, the local shortstops, and the pros. We need only to acknowlege them.
Yes, I know. You're wondering about those players at the seventh level. Well, they are the one's who have given up playing pool altogether and have taken up selling low cost car insurance.
I don't know whether this little diatribe has been of any help, but if you are at the level you say you are then you should have stopped worrying about tip maintenance a long time ago.

 

[Ken_4fun]

Its the tip.

I play with layed tips and that problem went away.

I prefer Moori or Kaumi soft tips. YES they cost more, but in the end they are MUCH cheaper. Mine last forever and I never have to screw with it.

I get any other tip (usually on a new or traded in cue) and I am in the same boat as the OP and I really dont like to screw around with tips either.

Ken

 

[rlb444]

You get what you pay for with those cheaper tips. When you want to play your best dont go cheap. Just buy a kamui for about 18 bucks and you wont have to buy another tip for many years or even rehape it in that time. I have alot of sticks and try many different tips just to know what they are about. I may put a tip on and 2 weeks later cut it off and throw it away. The small price of tips dont concern me. Almost all tips are going to mushroom. I havent tried them all but if you want to put one on and forget about it with absolutly no mushrooming and years of service just put on a kamui, period, end of discussion. 18 dollars is cheap, very cheap. Also dont use soft tips, use at least a medium of any brand thay you may use. You will get more consistancy with a harder tip and thats the name of the game in billards.

 

[softshot]

i always thought it might be the way i chalk, but i dont know a right or wrong way. how should i be chalking?

if your chalk looks like this

you are chalking correctly by swiping the chalk on your tip as you slowly rotate the shaft..

if your chalk has a hole drilled in the middle of it.. like the chalk found in bars your doing it wrong

 

[yankeepapa]

Keeping Tip Shape

Originally Posted by yankeepapa View Post
No tip's profile is proof to thoughtless chalking habits. Chalk is the most abrasive substance the tip will encounter.

Absent-minded, one handed chalking will flatten a tip in a short time.

pete

Marcus writes back:


i always thought it might be the way i chalk, but i dont know a right or wrong way. how should i be chalking?


I wouldn't presume to advise. I apply the chalk with the same pressure I use if I'm stroking the head of a cat or caressing a br...., following the radius of the tip. I look at what I'm doing, to see that the chalk is applied lightly and completely covers the tip. In order to cover the shoulder, the chalk must be "rolled" over the tip.

My good pool playing buddy, on whose Oldhousen nine-footer I spend lots of time, typically chalks with the cube held by the thumb, index and middle finger tips, and pinkie, ring and base of thumb of the same hand holding the upper shaft. This is what I meant by "one handed chalking" in my original post.

Anyway, my buddy grinds the chalk a half dozen or so times across the face
of the tip as he surveys the table/his next shot.

About once a week, when a thermo-nuclear draw shot produces a ladyfinger result, he looks at the flat-as-a-table-top tip, pulls out a tip tool and starts drilling for oil.

tl:dr: when chalking, I chalk. Lightly and completely.

pete

 

[ridewiththewind]

I just had a milk dud installed and didn't like it..When i told the installer, he said you cant make a cheap tip better,so i am going to have to have a moori installed now.

Not all Milk Duds are created equal either. I have tried out many of the different ones on the market currently, and I have found that the ones that Mike Johnson of Jensen Cues makes are absolutely consistent, and definitely hold their shape. I even break with them and have noticed no flattening/mushrooming whatsoever. They do everything I ask for, and well. I know that I will continue to use them.

Lisa