Lifespan of a Ferrule

ace911

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What is the typical lifespan of a ferrule? Say if you played with the cue your whole life.


The other day I'm going to the bathroom, and I let my friend hit a some balls, he miscues and pops the tip off and slightly nicks the edge of ferrule. The cue repair guy has to take my ferrule down a little, not much. I was thinking about replacing the ferrule, but it's not that much, but I'm just thinking if I should ever replace it later on, or leave it.

P.S. that friend is not touching my cue again, this is the second time he's popped my tip off with his horrible stroke.
 
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What is the typical lifespan of a ferrule? Say if you played with the cue your whole life.


The other day I'm going to the bathroom, and I let my friend hit a some balls, he miscues and pops the tip off and slightly nicks the edge of ferrule. The cue repair guy has to take my ferrule down a little, not much. I was thinking about replacing the ferrule, but it's not that much, but I'm just thinking if I should ever replace it later on, or leave it.

P.S. that friend is not touching my cue again, this is the second time he's popped my tip off with his horrible stroke.


First off, please post a video of his stroke. It must be something.

I do a lot of ferrule work and can tell you that facing off a few thousandths is really not a harm to the ferrule. If you are happy with how the cue plays, just leave it on. Micro cracks developing in ferrules can be trimmed off this way, as well, before they get worse.
 
My It's George dates to around 1990 or so. Both shafts still have original ferrules.

Play with it until the wheels fall off.
 
In my mind,only thin-walled,soft ABS type ferrules like the old Meucci,or some of the new "fashionable" low-deflection type ferrules are ever likely to crack or come apart bad enough to need replacements.

I've had customers with Schons and other shafts that have old-school 5/16-18 capped ferrules,and unless they have real power in their breaks or jump a LOT,they hardly ever come to me with cracks or damage bad enough to warrant a replacement.

I see more people come to me needing a light scratch from Tip-Pick damage,etc and asking me to shorten the ferrule a tad to remove that than I am needs for true replacement. The most I've ever faced off in length was around 1/16,but the customer asked for that,it wasn't done behind his back.

I hold my facing cuts to .002 or so as often as I can. Most of the time,it's not enough to make a noticeable difference in the PAD,if there is is one. I can't see a single human being able to detect a noticable difference in playability from there.

Now,there were some guys back in the day that would come with an old Meucci that had 1/4 long cracks in the ferrule,and ask me to just cut off enough to remove the crack,but I haven't done that in over 10 years.

Now I prefer to recommend replacing those ferrules with Juma/Elforyn or something from the linen/phenolic or melamine class if left with the thin wall option in the interest of trying to keep the original install method.

If asked what I would do if it were my shaft,I'd do a full length 1 1/4 ferrule with a 1" long tenon and a .250 cap. Tommy D.
 
Thanks guys, maybe I just needed to vent for something so stupid to have happened to my cue...
 
I have to note, that if a miscue caused your tip to come off, I would be more concerned about finding a new cue guy, as a miscue should not pop a tip off unless there was a defect in the install to begin with. I have seen some of the ferrules on fiberglass cues not take well to some glues, but other than that, a miscue shouldn't cause this to happen.
JMO,
Dave
 
I have to note, that if a miscue caused your tip to come off, I would be more concerned about finding a new cue guy, as a miscue should not pop a tip off unless there was a defect in the install to begin with. I have seen some of the ferrules on fiberglass cues not take well to some glues, but other than that, a miscue shouldn't cause this to happen.
JMO,
Dave

I had a tip come off this past week and part of the tip was still stuck to the wood tenon, but the ferrule had rejected the glue. I had that happen on some other imported cues a few years ago. Some of these imported ferrules have a high oil base and therefore reject tips. But what puzzles me is that the orginal tips stay on. So I wonder what kind of glue are the Asian manufacturers using that we do not know of?
 
I had a tip come off this past week and part of the tip was still stuck to the wood tenon, but the ferrule had rejected the glue. I had that happen on some other imported cues a few years ago. Some of these imported ferrules have a high oil base and therefore reject tips. But what puzzles me is that the orginal tips stay on. So I wonder what kind of glue are the Asian manufacturers using that we do not know of?

Chris, I have wondered the same thing. Especially when I first started out and I thought it was me. You can't get the original to pop off if you wanted too but put a new one on and it's a problem.
 
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