Does anyone else use a Willard like this?
First, I agree that the Willard will clog up, and needs to be
brushed out now and then. But I just blow on it from time to
time when using it.
OK, my technique is to put the willard on the floor, and use
the edge of each shoe/sneaker to just barely cover the edge
on each side to keep it stable and level. Then with the cue
fully together, carefully put the tip into the shaper, and use
a little pressure downward, while rotating the stick like a
bow drill using the palms. Pretty slowly, and after about
5 back and forth spins, I rotate the stick a little. For tips
that are way out of shape, I use a little extra pressure for
a while, and of course pick up the shaper and blow out the
little pieces of leather that accumulate. I have noticed that
it can take quite a while to completely remove the layer of
old leather that is in the exact middle of the tip, since the
shaper is not moving as much in the middle. If my goal
is to expose new leather on the entire surface (rare), I will
first start out with cue at about a 10 degree angle, but be
very careful in the process.
I also have a cue cube, which seems to be much more abrasive,
and on very out-of-round tips, I will start with that.
but I've had such good luck with everything I've ever bought by Porper. My case is Porper, I also have a tip burnisher, shaft burnisher, and my tip shaper/tapper all by Porper. When shapping a tip I also use a little fingernail clipper to get rid of those longer "leather hairs", see I told ya, weird!