Water Buffalo Tips - reality

[pt109]

Looks like a freshly cut LePro, when the coating is no longer on and it hasn't been sealed or burnished yet. It also looks nearly identical to a current Triumph. A triangle is actually lighter color, nearly white sometimes. All three are water buffalo, and all three are colored according to tanning solution. An Elk Master is blue because of the tanning process. That's not chalk. It's white when it's shaved to size after install. It's water buffalo, too. I bet when you install that Champion, shave it to size and burnish it, it'll be dark brown, too. That's a pretty typical color for Chandivert tips.

Like I said, I won't argue that those old Champion tips weren't made from cow calf, because I don't know for certain. I do know enough to have credible doubt, so I won't bite off on cow hide unless there's some documentation to say otherwise. It would be nice to know, just for curiosity sake.

Drawing upon an old memory here....Elks and Blue Diamond....chromium tanned
LePro et al...vegetable tanned
...whatever that means

 

[PoppaSaun]

Just curious, but you realize a baby water buffalo is called a calf, right?

Makes me wonder what kind of calf skin they used. Calf is actually non-specific.

I am sure not all the old tips were water buffalo, but as far as I know most of the mainstream ones we know were.


.

It beluga whale calf.

 

[qbilder]

Drawing upon an old memory here....Elks and Blue Diamond....chromium tanned
LePro et al...vegetable tanned
...whatever that means

That's why color is no indication of species. The tanning process not only dictates color, but also dictates hardness to a large degree. I'm not sure what process Chandivert uses, but many of their tips have that light tan/beige color before being cut.

 

[garczar]

How about the George Hamilton tanning process? Looks like it works for him.:grin:

 

[ribdoner]

That's it. WB's from 2000-2005ish were bad about that. I only seen it on Sumo maybe a couple times ever.

Is there a way to determine how old WB tips are, I've got a couple of boxes that I'll never use

 

[Shawn Armstrong]

That's why color is no indication of species. The tanning process not only dictates color, but also dictates hardness to a large degree. I'm not sure what process Chandivert uses, but many of their tips have that light tan/beige color before being cut.

All of the Chandivert tips I had were vegetable tanned, and then, according to them, hand beaten to their desired hardnesses.

"Hand beaten to desired hardness"....let the comments begin.

 

[qbilder]

Is there a way to determine how old WB tips are, I've got a couple of boxes that I'll never use

The junk ones were very tall and had lots of pits & voids in the leather. The newer ones are much thinner and obviously higher grade leather. The original ones before the junk were also tall, but real nice looking, dense leather.

 

[qbilder]

All of the Chandivert tips I had were vegetable tanned, and then, according to them, hand beaten to their desired hardnesses.

"Hand beaten to desired hardness"....let the comments begin.

No kidding? Wow that's crazy. I wonder if they tested them with a durometer or just skilled hands?

 

[ribdoner]

the junk ones were very tall and had lots of pits & voids in the leather. The newer ones are much thinner and obviously higher grade leather. The original ones before the junk were also tall, but real nice looking, dense leather.

thanks....

 

[john coloccia]

I just started using black water buffalo tips. Mainly, I just can't stand laminated tips, and I can't seem to find a Le Pro worth a crap anymore. I went through 10 just to find one that didn't accordion on me, and the one I ended up with still plays very soft. Mark Kulungian turned me on to WB tips. I just put one on a couple of days ago, and I love it. The first thought that came to mind was "feels like a old, broken in Le Pro", so I'm glad I saw a couple other posts to that effect too. I thought it was just in my head. Maybe just a tiny bit firmer.

Haven't tried the brown yet. I've heard the black is harder...I've heard the brown is harder...somehow, I have a feeling they're both about the same and probably overlap, though I'd love to at least know which way they intend for it to be.

FWIW, after a couple of weeks of play, I had to take it off. Something about the hit caused a lot of vibration through the cue, and killed my right wrist. First time I ever actually felt pain playing pool. It must be the exact combination of tip, cue etc that is just exactly wrong. It's a shame because I really liked the tip. Maybe I'll try it with a pad next time.