What do you prefer to break with? Heavy or light?

Willowbrook Wolfy

Willowbrook Wolfy

Going pro
Who likes a heavy breaker and who likes a lighter one?

I feel like I’m on the opposite side on this one. My players are 19.25oz and 19oz. I like to break with an 18oz. Preferred breaker 1 piece Dufferin or any solid wood 1 piece. Anything over 20oz is way too heavy.
 
Howdy All;

Had been using a 21 oz. Dufferin Dot with an Oak shaft I'd had made for it. Worked fine.
Then I bought a 17 oz. Dot, tried it with the same shaft and like it better. Gets a better POP
when I break both sound and results. My regular shooter is 18.6 oz.

hank
 
Light.

I use an old 15oz bar cue at home. Still has the same tip it had from the bar :) (I know the bar owner so I installed 4 or 5 tips on other cues in exchange for this cue).
 
you just have to find what your limit factor is. the simplistic formula is F=MA (M=cuestick weight, A= cuestick Acceleration). That being said, going from a 18oz to 20oz break cue would be a 4% increase (EDIT -- its actually a 11.1% increase, Thanks Bob Jewett for pointing that out) in F (which is the force at which the cue ball hits the rack (not accounting for friction of the cloth and etc). So knowing this, can you swing an 18 oz cue 11.1% faster than a 20oz cue???? if you can the answer would be to use a lighter cue, if not the heavier cue is for you. I don't know the answer to that, ,maybe someone with a better physics background then I could answer that. Take that to extreme's of a 16oz break cue vs a 25oz break cue, that is a 36% difference (if I did my quick math right). So the same question, can you accelerate the lighter cue (16oz) 36% faster than the heavier cue (25oz)????

I am sure there is also some confusion on the difference between acceleration and velocity in my simplistic view of this.
 
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For about 20 years I've broke with 17.5 oz. Always felt like I could get a better pop with a lighter cue. Just recently I purchased a new break cue, but, for some reason decided to go with a 19 oz, call me crazy. I like it very much. I find I'm controlling the cue ball better. Perhaps the little added weight keeps my stroke "flatter" or something... not sure, but, it's working...
 
Ok. So I guess I was wrong. seems like a lot of you like a lighter breaker. Do you think it’s more of a going lighter as you get better thing? Seriously if you gave me one of those 24oz puppies I think I’d be scared to break with it.
 
Rage 25oz Heavy Hitter is my favorite break cue.

I don't like throwing my arm out of the socket. I'm not Tony Ellin. ;)
 
Hey on the breaker subject. I used to have some Stealth cues. The older ones. They were around $65-$120 at the time new. Not those stupid looking ones they are selling now. I was using those as my breakers when the hall I went to changed to fiberglass house cues. Worked great. Plus out of all the cheaper cues at the time-viper, players, etc. they seemed to play the best. good if I wanted to change it up a bit and give my players a break. No pun intended. If anyone has an older one or a few they want to get rid of I might take them off your hands. I was thinking of finding some for house cues.
 
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There is a not unreasonable argument that the break stick wants to be about half way between the weight of the cue ball and the weight of your arm. Maybe the geometric mean.

Here's a chapter in one of Bob Byrne's books about break cue weight selection (click on the link/bubble that pops up):

www.google.com

Byrne's Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards

Here is the companion book to the landmark Byren's Standard Book of Pool and Billiads--what every pool player needs to perfect his or her game. Byrne treats the finer points of the game with the comprehensiveness and clarity that have won him a loyal readership among the many thousands of...
www.google.com
 
Bob Jewett said:
That is an 11.1% increase in the weight of the cue stick. Where does the 4% come from?
Click to expand...
Your're correct, I just did a quick math assumption in my head. I thought it seemed a little low. Funny, I did the harder of the two correctly....... Some days the balls just don't go in the pockets :)
 
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