Maintaining Leather Cue Tips?

Question

I'm starting to play pool and I bought a cue with a leather tip.

I was wandering if you are supposed to shape, scuff, or even chalk them while playing.

Answer 1

of course you got to chalk it

Answer 2

Tip maintenance is vital to your performance.  Leather tips have been the standard for a very long time.  They come in different hardnesses and that will affect the way that the tips wear.  Additionally, your style of play will also play a role.  For example, if you stick to mostly center ball hits, the tip will flatten in the center.  If you use a lot of extreme spin, the sides of the tip will wear down faster.  For a standard 13mm ferrule (the white part before the actual tip), the curvature of the tip should closely match that of a nickel when viewed from the side.  The reason for this is to match the curvature of the cue tip to the curvature of the cue ball.  This match provides the greatest amount of tip to ball contact on your stroke.  You can easily check this by holding a nickel behind your tip and comparing them.  There are many great products on the market that can help you to scuff and shape your tip.  I have a simple device on my keychain that does both and it has a notch carved into the side that is the curvature of a nickel for checking the roundness of my tip.  The reason that you want to scuff the tip is so that it will hold chalk.  The function of chalk is to create friction between the cue tip and the cue ball when hitting anything other than a center ball hit.  You'll notice in time, that you can only miscue on the outside 1/8" of your cue tip.  When you miscue, chalk will not stick to that spot on the tip again until you scuff it.  Even if it appears that you tip is covered with chalk, it will not work if you happen to hit on that exact same spot again.  So yes, you should chalk frequently.  Even though you really don't need chalk for center ball hits, it's a good habit to get into.  Have fun with your new cue.  M.D.-BCA Instructor/Referee.

Answer 3

I like the nickel contour myself. It seems to work best when playing with a standard size cueball. If you are playing snooker or any game that uses a smaller cue ball you may want to shape the tip to the dime contour. As far as scuffing goes I might scuff my tip once or twice a week , depending on how much I am playing. It doesn't do much good to scuff the tip up too much because after a couple of games it will just start to glaze over anyway. If you scuff the tip everytime it starts to glaze over then the tip will wear down to nothing in a hurry , no matter how hard it is. I chalk my tip up before every shot. It's just a part of my preshot routine. It is important to have a good preshot routine to keep you from getting in a hurry and not thinking out your game plan. It's like when a basketball player shoots freethrow shots , dribble twice , aim and shoot. It keeps you consistent.All i carry in my cue case is a shaper which shapes and scuffs my tip at the same time, A burnisher which keeps my tip from mushrooming , a cube of masters chalk ( the best chalk ever made) and a small towel to keep my hands and shaft dry , I don't care for the baby powder routine. Good luck and happy shooting.

Answer 4

Yes you should keep it shaped in the curve of a nickle, and keep it fluffed so it will hold chalk, watch the pros they all do this.

Answer 5

First of all - there are a lot of different tips, and different hardnesses, and you'll find from experience what you like and what works best for you. There are American made tips, French made; leather, composition. You can only find through experience what you like, but one of the most important things is the contour of the tip. Some people say it should be the contour of a nickel, others say a dime. I think the dime is the right contour. You get better action on the ball if you maintain them that way.

On the sides ; any piece of leather is going to flatten out as it's hit on repeatedly. So you've got to do two things:

First, take your finger, spit on it, wipe it around the edge of the tip and then on the table rail just polish it back up. What this does is case hardens the side of the tip. It will help prevent flaring out. Still, it will leave the top of the tip the way you want it so it will hold the chalk. Some people use files and scuffers to keep that real fluffy look - I never touch it. As long as I can get chalk to stay on there, that's all I want.I don't want to mess it up. Anytime you start fooling with it, you run the risk of tearing open the pores of the leather and making a sponge out of it. You can't hit the ball good with a sponge. Keep your leather firm, shaped right, and hold your sides down.

Second, these things will flare out so here is the way to shape it. Take a piece of masking tape or scotch tape and wrap it around your ivory ferrule. Take some sandpaper and form a little cup and then start rotating the shaft around and sanding that little flare off. You have the tape on there because if you've got an ivory ferrule , you don't want to be sanding a taper into that ivory ferrule. All you're doing is taking that leather off - not hitting your shaft wood, not hitting your ferrule, just hitting the leather. After you've got that down and smooth all the way around. You're rid of that flare - then do the same thing - spit on it, polish it on the rail cloth, bring it up to a shine and now you've got it case hardened again, and every time you play, you ought to do that at least once during the day's session. Then take your tape off and take some steel wool and clean off any of the adhesive that stayed on, then you can polish that on the table rail too