Pigskin for tips.....

The Renfro

The Renfro

Outsville.com
Silver Member
OK I have too much time on my hands apparently and have decided that I want to take a shot at making my own tips....

The tip of the month is not working out and I am still finding nothing I think is close to the original moori so I might as well try and just make them myself and I can play with pressure and adhesives until the cows errr pigs come home.....

Which leads me to the question of what type of pigskin do they use in the making of layered tips? I know there are different tanning techniques and the tanned hides come in different weights but even after researching on the web I cannot find much in the way of specifics for this particular application...

I know some of our members are in the leather side of the business be it wraps or cases and I think I even recall a cuemaker or 2 that was making their own tips... I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction to start......

I don't want to even think about starting a business with the information I just want to be able to turn out a handfull of tips each year for personal use......
 
Hmmmm.... no dog skin but has anyone made tips out of shark skin??? =) Not looking to be a reseller so it might not be cost prohibitive for personal use....
 
I've heard elephant hide is practically indestructible. Maybe you can smooth it down and make a 3-5 layer tip that will last forever. You can start a whole new trend.

You should send me one to try since it was my idea, lol.
 
The Renfro said:
Hmmmm.... no dog skin but has anyone made tips out of shark skin??? =) Not looking to be a reseller so it might not be cost prohibitive for personal use....
Click to expand...

Try making a 4-layer tip using pig, water buffalo, elephant, and shark.
Like a variety pack to see which layer you like best.

Put me down for a couple
 
I want to follow this thread and its easiest to follow if I just post!

I would love to see an OAK tanned kangaroo leather tip. Call it the Hoppe or the Hopper. Get a pop and not a flop with the Hopper!!!

I real think I missed my calling doing jingles or advertisements!!!!

LOL
KD
 
I have actually been in contact with the r&d department of a major high tech adhesive company and I think with their help I can reproduce the original moori hit... I am not so sure that boutique tips are on the menu but if I actually get to a point where I think I have succeeded I will definitely toss some to the forum members here....
 
Whatever you do ......be sure to avoid " Chrome Tanned " leather. My advice would be to use vegetable tanned or perhaps latigo.... although the latter may prove unsuitable due to softness. I also do not know if leather other than cattle hide is tanned using the latigo process......Dan
 
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The Renfro said:
OK I have too much time on my hands apparently and have decided that I want to take a shot at making my own tips....

The tip of the month is not working out and I am still finding nothing I think is close to the original moori so I might as well try and just make them myself and I can play with pressure and adhesives until the cows errr pigs come home.....

Which leads me to the question of what type of pigskin do they use in the making of layered tips? I know there are different tanning techniques and the tanned hides come in different weights but even after researching on the web I cannot find much in the way of specifics for this particular application...

I know some of our members are in the leather side of the business be it wraps or cases and I think I even recall a cuemaker or 2 that was making their own tips... I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction to start......

I don't want to even think about starting a business with the information I just want to be able to turn out a handfull of tips each year for personal use......
Click to expand...
From some research I did years ago you need some kind of pig skin from the Orient. In the Us we don't actually have pigs we have hogs. The biggest difference from my research is the hair. The skin from US pigs has large holes where the hair comes through, you can actually see it and if you give the skin a stretch they open up very large; there are other differences as well. The pigs from say Japan have skin almost like a human with very fine hair. It is very different from US hogs. That is about all I know, I long ago abandoned the idea making tips and haven't thought about it since. Do some research along the lines I have offered.
 
Macguy,

I appreciate the info.... I don't know that the follicle size will matter.. I do think that resilience is the key but voids in the skin will contribute to lack thereof....
 
Try cat. Your local Chinese food emporium will have lots of hide left over from the Cat Chow Meow.
You could call them Fat Cat Tips and no one will know the better.
 
I have been looking at the layered tips I have around the house and it appears that the old medium moori I have on a shaft from 7 years ago has layers that are about 1.5 ounce/15 pieces of paper thick...


That is of course after it has been pressed into a tip so I am unsure if they would have started with 2oz or 3oz skins.... I would think that under pressure you could likely get a thickness change of 1/2 so I am leaning towards finding the 3oz split skins......
 
32 layer ChickenSkin! Allan McCarthy and I were joking around one day and he said that Predator was working on the 32 layer chicken skin tip. I have always thought that was funny.

I am in the leather business and I don't know what type of tannage is on the pigskins. I expect it's veg tan though based on how they burnish. I would think that chrome tanning would be too soft. But for some reason I seem to remember that ElkMasters maybe boasted that they are chrome tanned??? I don't know but I think at least one of the Tweeten products tells what kind of tannage the tips are made from on the box.

Regarding making your own tips I think that this is a fine thing to play with. I don't see any reason why you couldn't. Just for fun the other day I punched out a piece of thick cowhide and made a tip. It's not totally bad, definitely useable. I imagine with some experimenting and a press I could make up some decent tips out of the scrap leather in my shop.
 
Thanks for the feedback John... I think the Elkmasters do say chromed or at least used to... I will stick with veg tanned for now... Do you think my assessment of using 3oz is off if I want a pressed thickness of a 15 sheets of paper???
 
The Renfro said:
Thanks for the feedback John... I think the Elkmasters do say chromed or at least used to... I will stick with veg tanned for now... Do you think my assessment of using 3oz is off if I want a pressed thickness of a 15 sheets of paper???
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Honestly I don't know. When it comes to pressing leather I only press 6-8oz to make the end caps for the Prestige line of GTF Cases. We don't put enough pressure on them to flatten the leather, just enough to allow the glue to dry under a little pressure.

I would speculate that starting with 3oz would be fine but I think that you are just going to have to experiment and find out.
 
The ultimate tip

The Renfro said:
Hmmmm.... no dog skin but has anyone made tips out of shark skin??? =) Not looking to be a reseller so it might not be cost prohibitive for personal use....
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, my buddy-a real solid player-handed me his shaft recently and said, "well, this shark skin tip is finally gone so you may as well put me on a Kamui 'cause I can't get another one." Apparently, he had a friend of a friend who tanned up some shark skin and made tips which he said was the best tip he'd ever had. I was skeptical if that was really what it was, but in cutting off what was left I could tell it really was different from the many pigskin tips I have worked on. All I can say is, in a crowded tip market, there is always room right above whoever is making the best tip now. Good luck and, by all means, keep us in the loop:smile:!
 
go to the city morgue and slip the door man a 20. make yourself some human skin tips!!! just make sure the donor isn't mexican or you'll never get the english you want
 
Well, they do make sharkskin shoes and cowboy boots, so the material must be available somewhere. Who knows?...perhaps The Shadow! LOL

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

RackemBilliards said:
For what it's worth, my buddy-a real solid player-handed me his shaft recently and said, "well, this shark skin tip is finally gone so you may as well put me on a Kamui 'cause I can't get another one." Apparently, he had a friend of a friend who tanned up some shark skin and made tips which he said was the best tip he'd ever had. I was skeptical if that was really what it was, but in cutting off what was left I could tell it really was different from the many pigskin tips I have worked on. All I can say is, in a crowded tip market, there is always room right above whoever is making the best tip now. Good luck and, by all means, keep us in the loop:smile:!
Click to expand...
 
In the Us we don't actually have pigs we have hogs.
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Same problem up here in Canada.
Hmmm, maybe I should change bars. Not even closing time cute.

Up here we make back scratchers and paint scrapers with pig skin.
But, if you fry it up its yummy. We call it Cracklins. What you guys call it?
Wish we had wild piggys here. I'm itching to have a wild roast piggy.
I'd like to whack one with my bow.
 
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Blue Hog ridr said:
Same problem up here in Canada.
Hmmm, maybe I should change bars. Not even closing time cute.

Up here we make back scratchers and paint scrapers with pig skin.
But, if you fry it up its yummy. We call it Cracklins. What you guys call it?
Wish we had wild piggys here. I'm itching to have a wild roast piggy.
I'd like to whack one with my bow.
Click to expand...

Pork rinds here in the south and amazingly they are usually found in BBQ flavor LOL
 
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