Preferences for how to harden (Press) Elkmaster Tips

3

34YearsOfPlayin

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have heard some people say that they like to put the soft elkmasters on the cue and the n cut 2/3 off and then tap it 100 times on linoleum to harden them.

Some like to put them in vices.

I wanted to get a consensus on what works the best if thats possible.

I have heard lately the harder the tip the less deflection. So I am experimenting.

Please let me know your preferences. Thank you very much!!!!
 
‘Milk Dud’ pressed Elkmaster sellers only offer 14mm size (apparently the only steel die available). Aside from the extra work involved cutting them down if your shaft is smaller, I wonder if the lack of a pressed side effects mushrooming? Does the amount of material removed from the side make any difference?
 
Tennesseejoe said:
I think it would be much easier to buy some already pressed from different professionals to see what you like best.
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I have bought some milk duds from various stores. I have found that I prefer pressed elkmasters no milk duds. But I just want to know the way that guys prefer to harden them.

Thanks!!
 
cubswin said:
If you just want a harder tip, I'd try a triangle. Will play about the same as a pressed elkmaster.
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Yep, if he want a little harder tip the triangle is a very good alternative to "slightly" pressed elk masters.

If he wants a tink-type of hard, well, a hard-pressed elk or Slightly-pressed triangle should suit him just fine.

And all the while, save some money and put some $ in a local makers pocket to help him stay in business.

All to often, i hear people say, "i put my own tips on, im not paying them to put a .50 tip on".

Well, if everyone did that, i know a few cue makers (not well know but, will be) that would have to stop their sideline business of cue work. They depend on "maintenance type" work to help with day to day cost.
 
Personally I like to soak them in milk in the refridgerator over night. Then press them in a tip press I bought on ebay. I find that, using this Method, if you overpress the tip actually can get ruined. If you don't press it enough, then it was all for nothing, so I like a sort of middle ground here. There are People who like to heat the milk With the tip in it up on the stove. I don't do that, but I think you can get the tip much harder that way. They used to boil leather armor to harden it up.

My personal favorite is LePro, soaked and pressed. It's IMO better even than the Triangle. Has a Nice mellow feel and enough hardness to get the job done on any shot.
 
Straightpool_99 said:
Personally I like to soak them in milk in the refridgerator over night. Then press them in a tip press I bought on ebay. I find that, using this Method, if you overpress the tip actually can get ruined. If you don't press it enough, then it was all for nothing, so I like a sort of middle ground here. There are People who like to heat the milk With the tip in it up on the stove. I don't do that, but I think you can get the tip much harder that way. They used to boil leather armor to harden it up.

My personal favorite is LePro, soaked and pressed. It's IMO better even than the Triangle. Has a Nice mellow feel and enough hardness to get the job done on any shot.
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Thanks for the advice. I really gotta try doing that to LePro's!!!
 
the main issue in my opinion

The main issue is that we don't really want to press a tip so it is flat on both sides. If we put it in a fixture with a nickel or dime shape on the top it will keep roughly the shape it had to begin with. Setting up a stop so that you don't overpress the tips is a good idea also. When any leather is pressed beyond it's tear strength the fiber is damaged. By pressing the tip with the curved fixture it might be hardened slightly more at the edges but that is a good thing.

Somebody was making the fixture years ago, I forget who. I'm sure some of the cue builders would remember. I think it was only twenty bucks or so and compressed four tips at a time. That is working from memory and prone to error or price increases.

Everything from milk to motor oil and a few other things have been used to soak the Elkmasters in. I favor an overnight soak in whole milk or cream and compressing the tip back to somewhere between three-quarter height and it's full height before swelling. Since the milk is in the refrigerator I warm it to about the temperature to give to a baby before putting the tips in. This gives me a soft to medium tip that lasts a long long time with my playing style.

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
Somebody was making the fixture years ago, I forget who. I'm sure some of the cue builders would remember. I think it was only twenty bucks or so and compressed four tips at a time. That is working from memory and prone to error or price increases.
Hu
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Hu, I recently designed and modeled a press with a dome shape on one end. It will press three tips at a time. I will probably get around to machining it in the next few weeks, I'm just too busy right now. I'll post done pics when it's ready.
I'm only making my own because I can, and it may be fun to experiment. For the last couple years I've been playing almost exclusively with Jeff's dawg duds and I love and recommend them.
 
i've got 2 scientific degrees and understand the theory behind milk duds. i also don't believe it has any effect in real life.

i just stick them in a vise for a few days with no particular attention to how hard i press them, just torque them a bit more after a day.

they beat the living snot out of the expensive layered tips i used to favor.
 
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read the theory, slept since then!

wigglybridge said:
i've got 2 scientific degrees and understand the theory behind milk duds. i also don't believe it.

i just stick them in a vise for a few days with no particular attention to how hard i press them, just torque them a bit more after a day.

they beat the living snot out of the expensive layered tips i used to favor.
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I read the theory, slept quite a few times since then! I think Jensen cues originated the milk dud. Got one I believe from him through Nemo back in the mid-eighties or a bit before. Bottom line for me is that they work. Might work just as well for some people with just pressing.

My mom used cream to glue ceramic figurines back together as far back as the fifties. That may be the real result of the soak and a reduced school glue might work just as well.

I don't know if turning around three times and spitting over my left shoulder before pressing would work just as well or not! :wink:

One thing I have found, the new, well newer, milk duds from ten years ago need weighing and sorting. We used to drop them in water but I prefer weighing now with cheap scales available. When I weighed a box of fifty I believe, about nine were extremely light. I threw these away. There were two lots of the tips that were all of similar weight that I saved to put on customer shafts, and there were four that were very heavy. I wanted to save these to test on my shafts but they were lost in a flood during a named storm.

Hu
 
I would like one too

JolietJames said:
Hu, I recently designed and modeled a press with a dome shape on one end. It will press three tips at a time. I will probably get around to machining it in the next few weeks, I'm just too busy right now. I'll post done pics when it's ready.
I'm only making my own because I can, and it may be fun to experiment. For the last couple years I've been playing almost exclusively with Jeff's dawg duds and I love and recommend them.
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Let me know the dollars if you want to make one for me at the same time. I wanted the press but got sidetracked and never got around to buying one. I had the stock and tooling to make one for myself at the time but never got around to that either. Now I no longer have the tooling set up. I was going to get fancy with adjustable stops and such but that is overkill.

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
I would like one too





Let me know the dollars if you want to make one for me at the same time. I wanted the press but got sidetracked and never got around to buying one. I had the stock and tooling to make one for myself at the time but never got around to that either. Now I no longer have the tooling set up. I was going to get fancy with adjustable stops and such but that is overkill.

Hu
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Why buy/make a form? Have you tried just cutting the bottom off the tip before installing? The original shape stays in place.
 
jrctherake said:
All to often, i hear people say, "i put my own tips on, im not paying them to put a .50 tip on".

Well, if everyone did that, i know a few cue makers (not well know but, will be) that would have to stop their sideline business of cue work. They depend on "maintenance type" work to help with day to day cost.
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While I can appreciate the sentiment, I'd rather do my own. I know they are done right and it takes 5 minutes of my time to save $20-30.

If I truly had a local tip guy maybe, but it's an hour drive to anyone other than myself that I'd trust with my cue.

I also mow my own lawn. It's tough being a working man but you gotta save money when you can. That $20-30 is half a tank of gas for me. Waste not, want not.

I bought a drill based sharpshooter "lathe" for $60. I've tipped many cues, including friend's cues at no cost. I can clean my shafts really nice. So for the cost of 2 tip installations I have a nice tool that I can be useful myself with. I'd rather be self reliant when possible, especially on something so simple as putting a tip on.
 
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