Milk Duds and Making Milk Duds....

Pool Player

Pool Player

A Padawan Learner
Silver Member
Hi all,

I'm on the verge of learning how to tip my own cues and making some milk duds. Tried my friend's Elk Milk Dud and found it to be very soft. So been wondering if Triangles will make a medium to hard hit playing tip.

Also, is it alright if i soak multiple tips at the same time for 1 day and clamp them seperately at different days? The closes thing i could find to a clamp is the pencil sharpener shown in the pictures. Could I use to clamp the tips instead of the actual c or g clamp?!

DSC00296.jpg


DSC00297.jpg


Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

Stephen
 
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i'm thinking maybe your friend didn't leave it in the vice/c clamp long enough or he didn't tighten it enough.

a buddy of mine made some milk duds with elkmasters and they were hard as a rock.

i think if you're going to make your own milk duds you should go ahead and buy a vice. a small vice'll run you maybe 20-25 bucks
 
You can do 2

things. Go to home depot and get 2 bessey parallel clamps. Use those to clamp 2 longer boards together with as many tips as you like. That would be more expensive, but you would not wait as long.

or, go to the masonry section and get some flat slabs. use the natural weight of the slabs to compress them.
 
Thanks for the replies. I guess I will be aiming for the parallel clamps.

One more question, the temperature doesn't affect the end product does it? E.g soak in fridge/room temperature.
 
Milk Duds

I press elk masters 24 at a time in a hydraulic press & depending the amount of pressure used They can be made hard enough to be used as break tips with very little to no mushrooming. You also need some type of die to maintain size & keep the tip concentric.
 
Where??

It is in the shop with the lathes, the mill, the drill press, band saw, wood plane, tubing (shaft) sander
across the hall from the UV paint room.
Pool Player said:
Jeez where do you get this things?
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Sorry to bring up this old post.

I left abit of the old cue tip on my ferrule so i'm wondering what grid of sandpaper should i use to sand the remaining off.
 
Pool Player said:
Hi all,

I'm on the verge of learning how to tip my own cues and making some milk duds. Tried my friend's Elk Milk Dud and found it to be very soft. So been wondering if Triangles will make a medium to hard hit playing tip.

Also, is it alright if i soak multiple tips at the same time for 1 day and clamp them seperately at different days? The closes thing i could find to a clamp is the pencil sharpener shown in the pictures. Could I use to clamp the tips instead of the actual c or g clamp?!

DSC00296.jpg


DSC00297.jpg


Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

Stephen
Click to expand...

Hello Stephen, the first time I heard the term Milk Dud as applied to cue tips was in the 1970's. The tips people were using then were Le Pro's, they would place them in a bowel of milk and put them in the Refrigerator for 24 to 48 hr's. Then they would be removed and placed in a vise and it would be tighten down until the moisture starts coming out. Over the next few days the vise would be tightened until no moisture comes out. Then the vise is given a half turn and the tips are removed the next day.
 
"Bowel" of milk?

manwon said:
Hello Stephen, the first time I heard the term Milk Dud as applied to cue tips was in the 1970's. The tips people were using then were Le Pro's, they would place them in a bowel of milk and put them in the Refrigerator for 24 to 48 hr's. Then they would be removed and placed in a vise and it would be tighten down until the moisture starts coming out. Over the next few days the vise would be tightened until no moisture comes out. Then the vise is given a half turn and the tips are removed the next day.
Click to expand...

Manwon, I dare not ask what this is or where you get it -- from the nearby butcher? :D
 
I've been experimenting with these also, now on my 5th batch. So far, my best results have come from soaking them in half 'n half at room temperature for three days, until it starts to curdle. Clamp tightly getting most of the liquid out, re-tighten once or twice a day for seven days. Bake in the oven at 160 degrees for 4-5 hours. Plays awesome!
:p
 
manwon said:
Hello Stephen, the first time I heard the term Milk Dud as applied to cue tips was in the 1970's. The tips people were using then were Le Pro's, they would place them in a bowel of milk and put them in the Refrigerator for 24 to 48 hr's. Then they would be removed and placed in a vise and it would be tighten down until the moisture starts coming out. Over the next few days the vise would be tightened until no moisture comes out. Then the vise is given a half turn and the tips are removed the next day.
Click to expand...

Le Pros for Milk Duds? Wouldn't they become too hard and serve as a break tip rather then playing?

digitalcrack said:
That pencil sharpener is the best ever made.
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I shall take that as a compliment ;) Pity its been rusting by my desk since i don't take Art in school anymore

rayjay said:
I've been experimenting with these also, now on my 5th batch. So far, my best results have come from soaking them in half 'n half at room temperature for three days, until it starts to curdle. Clamp tightly getting most of the liquid out, re-tighten once or twice a day for seven days. Bake in the oven at 160 degrees for 4-5 hours. Plays awesome!
Click to expand...

Its it alright if i use pasteurised milk to make the milk duds instead?
 
Pool Player said:
Its it alright if i use pasteurised milk to make the milk duds instead?
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I'm sure it's fine, I use half-and-half because of the higher fat content but I'm sure others made them with milk, hence the name. Milk has proteins (casien?) that bond the fibers together and harden the tip.
:p
 
Thought fresh from the farm milk might be even better so I beat foot over to the farm and got some fresh milk duds turned out to be milk Dudes as the tips got xtra hard and stiff, turned out cow was a Bull ..... LOL ^o^
 
Please don't kill me here for asking like a newb, and I know there's a search function (which I already tried but couldn't find my desired results), BUT

How are milk duds supposed to feel anyway? Harder due to compression? Or does soaking them in milk make them softer?
I guess what's the purpose behind using milk duds?

thank you!
 
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