Recycling tips?

TheThaiger said:
Is there any obvious problem with cutting a tip off one shaft and sticking it on another?
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No problem at all, as long as:

1. The tip doesn't require a backing pad (i.e. when you cut the tip off, you don't ruin its mating surface to the backing pad), and...

2. You cut the tip off STRAIGHT -- 100% perpendicular to its cylindrical shape. Nothing's worse than having a lop-sided tip that, as you turn the cue upon which it was installed, you can literally see the "Leaning Tower of Pisa" rotating. (And no, shaping it doesn't seem to ever fix that lop-sided nature -- especially if it's a layered tip.)

3. If it's a layered tip, you're careful to not delaminate the bottom-most layers.

I once knew of an old-timer that would "vic" (steal, cut-off) tips from the then-new Dufferins in the Boston Billiards poolroom where I once worked as the league operator. He would then turn around and, by carefully controlled word-of-mouth marketing, "sell" tip installations to that venue's very same customers! He did do a very good job, and you couldn't tell the tip was a recycled tip. But he did get caught, and banned from ever stepping foot in there again.

-Sean
 
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yeah, a few...

it is hard to get the glue side right after you cut it off the old ferrule, and, it is often too thin to shape properly afterwards.

with the price of tips I'm not sure why you would want to do that anyway
 
joelpope said:
it is hard to get the glue side right after you cut it off the old ferrule, and, it is often too thin to shape properly afterwards.

with the price of tips I'm not sure why you would want to do that anyway
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It's the price of tips that prompted the question!! I'm not letting a perfectly good kamui black go if I can avoid it.
 
sfleinen said:
No problem at all, as long as:

1. The tip doesn't require a backing pad (i.e. when you cut the tip off, you don't ruin it's mating surface to the backing pad), and...

2. You cut the tip off STRAIGHT -- 100% perpendicular to its cylindrical shape. Nothing's worse than having a lop-sided tip that, as you turn the cue upon which it was installed, you can literally see the "Leaning Tower of Pisa". (And no, shaping it doesn't seem to ever fix that lop-sided nature -- especially if it's a layered tip.)

3. If it's a layered tip, you're careful to not delaminate the bottom-most layers.

-Sean
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Yeah, that's what I'm bothered about. I've cut loads of triangles off and never worried about it, but have not done a layered tip before. And you're right about the leaning tower lol.

How do the pros do it - presumably they have better tools than just a rusty sharp knife and some worn sandpaper?
 
sfleinen said:
I once knew of an old-timer that would "vic" (steal, cut-off) tips from the then-new Dufferins in the Boston Billiards poolroom where I once worked as the league operator. He would then turn around and, by carefully controlled word-of-mouth marketing, "sell" tip installations to that venue's very same customers! He did do a very good job, and you couldn't tell the tip was a recycled tip. But he did get caught, and banned from ever stepping foot in there again.

-Sean
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Sean, I heard a story once that Fatty also used to "vic" tips from house cues.
 
Winston846 said:
Sean, I heard a story once that Fatty also used to "vic" tips from house cues.
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I wouldn't be surprised. When we caught that old-timer, we cornered him, and, because we were so dumbfounded that someone would have the gall to do this, we very humbly asked him why. He told us that where (and the period of time) he was from, "lots of people" did this, because they were under the impression that poolrooms get special deals anyway on pool equipment (because of bulk purchases), so the cost of repairing our "$2 throw-away Dufferins" -- as he called them -- wouldn't or shouldn't be missed. And we were dumbfounded again by his explanation; none of it was true (at least in today's marketplace), but sometimes you just can't argue with "an old salty dog" so we just had to give him his walking papers.

-Sean
 
TheThaiger said:
Yeah, that's what I'm bothered about. I've cut loads of triangles off and never worried about it, but have not done a layered tip before. And you're right about the leaning tower lol.

How do the pros do it - presumably they have better tools than just a rusty sharp knife and some worn sandpaper?
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It's easy to do. Use a razor and cut it off straight by rolling the razor on the tip until it saws it's way through. Sand the back a little and put it on the new shaft. Done it plenty of times. I used to leave some of the old tip on the ferrule to act as a pad as well because leather bonds best to leather.

I put on tips with rubber bands and a file and various grades of sandpaper and a piece of leather from an old belt. My tips look better than factory new when I am done.

No fancy equipment needed.
 
joelpope said:
it is hard to get the glue side right after you cut it off the old ferrule, and, it is often too thin to shape properly afterwards.

with the price of tips I'm not sure why you would want to do that anyway
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i'm thinking of cutting the tip off a house cue so i don't have to worry about getting a good lepro or breaking in a tip.
 
If you want to center the tip for installation, wrap a sticky note around the shaft leaving just a bit of the note above the ferrule. If you use something like Locktite Gel, the gel will allow you a tiny bit more curing time. Of course if you use Tweetens, then you don't need the note as you will have all the time you need to adjust the tip.
 
I use nothing but recycled tips on my customs..... In fact I wish I had more. It can get kinda pricey to use new tips on these:p.
 

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IF i were desperate enough to save cash on a tip, i would only save one with a lathe(if the tip were tall enough) id face the front of the tip flat with the shaft in the lathe, then cut it off and use the newly faced side as the glue side.
 
Cuebuddy said:
I use nothing but recycled tips on my customs..... In fact I wish I had more. It can get kinda pricey to use new tips on these:p.
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Cuebuddy:

I don't know why, but everytime I see these, that image of Hervé Villechaize pops into my head: "Boss, the plane! The plane!" :D

Seriously, though, very nice work.
-Sean
 
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