It can be more than one thing.
I've been playing a long time but I just realized that I don't really understand the purpose of the ferrule lol.
Is it a shock absorber?
Does it prevent the wooden shaft from splitting/chipping near the tip?
Someone please enlighten me...thanks!
(There's no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid people...like me lol)
Quick evolution of pool cues:They started out just a piece of wood nothing on the tip. Some might have another piece of wood glued to the tip to make it easier to hit with the side of the tip. Some say pool originated on the ground.
The leather pad was added to protect the tip from splintering but it also gave greater cue ball control and the technology race was on!
The leather tip wasn't perfect to protect the cue but now the leather was shown to increase control of the cue ball so instead of taking it off and going to something that didn't offer the grab on the cue ball, more was added behind the tip to protect the cue stick. Pads probably predated the ferrule but eventually a little tenon and a very thick pad with a hole for the tenon to go in was added to aid the glues of the day. The ferrule was born! Did it happen just this way? Maybe, depends on the book you read.
Today deciding on a long or short ferrule, material, all affects the hit. Some older cues from the fifties and sixties have over one inch capped ferrules with a lot of ferrule in front of the wood. Don't see that much anymore, the "tink" when a tip hits the cue ball is in style and a short stiff ferrule or no ferrule at all, just a pad, increases the perceived sharpness of the hit.
So, a ferrule can radically change the feel of a cue, mostly the feedback to our ears but also the vibration and harmonics of the rest of the cue. The ferrule can also move around enough to genuinely play differently. Finally, the mass of the ferrule can influence deflection.
A lot for a little piece of metal, plastic, or material from an animal to do. I want a very short piece of very high grade aluminum for my next ferrule, just been wanting to try it.
Hu
