Maintained versus Un-maintained Tip

[KissedOut]

I tell students a minimum of the thickness of a nickel. (On the other hand, Rafael Martinez has been known to sand a brand new tip down to maybe the thickness of a dime on the sides. Crazy.

Yes. Leave it alone. Only if it gets shiny and stops taking chalk should you rough up the surface and without removing leather. Of course lots of players chalk really badly -- members of the Borer Tribe.

When it comes to chalking I am a stroker, not a driller, and I rarely have to do anything to the tip surface. It seems the intrinsic abrasiveness of the chalk, being stroked on, does what's necessary.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

When it comes to chalking I am a stroker, not a driller, and I rarely have to do anything to the tip surface. It seems the intrinsic abrasiveness of the chalk, being stroked on, does what's necessary.

I laugh at DRILLERS, as they only Chalk top of TIP. You miscue because edge slips off,of CB because of No Chalk, and trying to put spin on.

 

[chefjeff]

I try to keep mine the exact same in order to have more consistent hits. That requires preventive maintenance.

I don't care about a few bucks to do that. I here to play better, not save pennies.


Jeff Livingston

 

[hang-the-9]

As someone with much less experience than most here, I would like to dip my toe in the "pool" of knowledge.

I've noticed the condition of a teammate's tip many times. The tip is super thin and really flat. He uses red chalk which is all down the ferrule and probably embedded there. I've often thought it looks like a bloody, boney finger that's being bashed into the cue ball. It doesn't seem to affect his game. He plays very well and is two levels higher than me. The condition of his tip fell into our conversation last night though. He said it's a cheap cue and he just leaves it in his car (in the Florida heat and humidity). He said that he was simply used to the tip in that condition and didn't seem that interested in fixing it. He's good for our team, so who am I to complain.


So I was wondering? He is already a really good player, would having a better maintained tip improve his game at this stage, throw him off his game, or it doesn't matter for an experienced player (Indian-arrow thing)?

All that stuff on his cue, worn out tip, red chalk and messy ferrule is a sign of a player that never really studied the game and just picked up playing from just playing. I would also guess the rules he is aware of are based on bar or league rules not WPA rules or rules pro players play under, and he would not be able to name many pro players.

It's likely he does not know what tip is on it, or that different tips and shapes are a thing, I would not go by what this player does.

For anyone that knows about cues, knowing what tip is on it and what shape it's in is a pretty important thing, it affects the hit and even spin quite a bit. If the tip is too short it can lead to miscues often as well as damage to the cloth.

 

[chefjeff]

I asked a friend what chalk was for, as he was chalking his cue and he said, "I dunno, everyone just uses it."


Jeff Livingston

 

[tim913]

This could be another fine example of why to have a extra shaft for your pool cue, I prefer a thicker tip on my cues maybe it's just a mental thing but for me they seem to play better.
However I'm old fashioned and use Le Pro tips however so far I've now worn down any of the tips on my playing cues .
Instead of a tip trapper I use a small 4 way wood rasp I wrap it in a handkerchief to store it in my cue case.
So there's a tip from a guy in Montana I hope it does you some good . Ha ha

All I’ve ever used on my Predator shafts are LePro. I’ve experimented with a lot of expensive ones but I go back to LePro.

 

[boogieman]

All I’ve ever used on my Predator shafts are LePro. I’ve experimented with a lot of expensive ones but I go back to LePro.

I don't know if I've ever hit a Le Pro, but I imagine they are great tips. I'm a homemade milkdud guy myself. A good one piece tip is hard to beat. The technology of layered may have came a long way since Kamui first came out, but I hated that tip. Always pissing with it and trying to get the least glue layers showing. It may have been just bad fundamentals at that point, but I swear the glue layers effected the hit.

 

[tim913]

I don't know if I've ever hit a Le Pro, but I imagine they are great tips. I'm a homemade milkdud guy myself. A good one piece tip is hard to beat. The technology of layered may have came a long way since Kamui first came out, but I hated that tip. Always pissing with it and trying to get the least glue layers showing. It may have been just bad fundamentals at that point, but I swear the glue layers effected the hit.

They’re just cheap hard tips but I’m surprised at the number of pros, especially those that have been around awhile, that use LePro. I see where a lot of them use blackish LePro’s. Not sure what those are exactly but I like a hard tip, they last a long time and I’m used to how the CB reacts