A guide to the various types of cue tips and tools on the market today,
& how to fit them professionally
The basic job of a tip is crucial
- it is the link between your actions and the results -
It’s the cue sports equivalent of car tyres!
You can have a nasty cue with a good tip and play well,
but a fantastic cue with a weak tip will never be any good.
I know of people who have sold £500 handmade
cues thinking that they were no good for them,
when in reality it was probably just a duff tip!
Written by Andrew Ramsay © Design by www.digbyfox.com
Types and makes of tips for the British games, however they are
also the softest tips and wear out pretty
There are two basic types of tip, pressed and fast if you play a lot. Very good tips for
laminated. A pressed tip is shaped from a people who use a lot of screw or side in
single piece of leather and is the traditional their game.
tip used for
Snooker and You quickly get good at tip fitting if you
8 ball Pool. use these, both because of the fast wear
A laminated tip is times and also 75% of them don't feel
made from layers right when you play. Also beware of
of leather glued fakes, there are plenty out there these days
together. so check carefully whom you are buying
them from.
Here we see a pressed tip on the left and a
layered tip on the right. Brunswick Blue Diamond Tips – great tips
if you find a good one and nightmarish if
Pressed tips you don't, for
There are many different makes of pressed many years
tips with varying levels of quality ranging these were the
from the truly nasty Chinese made tips benchmark tips
that come on cheap cues up to the for the British
Mike Wooldridge pressed tips at games however
£2.50 each! the quality is
For the purposes of this exercise I will not what it once was and I personally don't
stick to the tips you are likely to think they are worth the extra money over
come across although there are the Elk Masters.
many others that could be mentioned, Mike Wooldridge “Super Tips” – widely
Blue Velvets and Blue Knights for example, thought to be the best of the pressed tips
also please remember that the comments and like having a good Elk Master every
are only my personal opinion, although I do time. I have never heard
have some experience in the matter! of anyone with a bad
Tweeten’s Elk Master Tips – definitely the word to say about these
most common and most popular tip and if tips but they are very
you get a good expensive for a pressed
one they are tip, as the saying goes:
capable of you get what you
producing the pay for!
full range of
shots required
Written by Andrew Ramsay © Design by www.digbyfox.com
Laminated tips Moori Tips - Probable the most expensive
tip of all and one of the most difficult to fit
Laminated tips are tips that are properly, the trick is to hit thirty or forty
made from two or more layers of shots in the middle of the fitting before
leather glued together. There are your final shaping, this will have knocked
advantages and disadvantages to out the initial
using laminated tips:
compression you
On the plus side, they tend to last much get with these
longer than pressed tips and they hold tips, without a
their shape much better so doubt the one to
once you find one you like they play for go for is the
ages. On the negative side they tend to Generation Three
be less able to hold chalk and much Slow (soft tip) -
more expensive. and its hard to argue that they’re not a
Most people also feel that laminated tips very fine product.
are generally harder, so it is the softer
Hercules Tips – this is one of the few easy
makes that are popular in the UK.
cross over tips designed for getting more
Production costs of laminated tips are side in the
much higher, so as a result so are the American pool
prices, however you do need to buy game however
carefully because some makes are they are soft
seriously expensive! Once again for the enough for use in
purposes of this exercise I have stuck to
snooker, the H2 is
the tips that are popular in the UK, there
the one to go for
are of course many others but most of
them are far too hard. it is very similar to the Moori without the
need to re-mortgage your house. Avoid
Talisman Tips – the Talisman Soft Pro is the 23-layered version though as it's a bit
the best selling laminated tip in the UK like gluing a stone to the end of your cue!
by a nautical mile and like most people
I would agree it is the best one. Mike Wooldridge “Layered Super Tips” –
a fine product that I suspect Mike based
Striking a great balance between usability, on the Talisman Soft, although feels a bit
reliability and
harder when played in, good value for
afford-ability,
money compared with his superb pressed
this is the tip I
use myself. tips although some people might find the
black layer under the tip a
Be warned bit distracting, although it
about buying reminds me of using an
imported tips antique cue and I feel
that are 14mm, they can split when fitted adds a touch of class!
on our smaller ferrules, elsewhere in the
At the moment if you are
world the medium tips and water buffalo
thinking of using one of these I suspect the
tips are very popular but are too hard for
most people here unless you like a very Talisman is a better bet, although as Mike
hard tip. Again beware of fakes, there are gets more feedback on them and perfects
plenty out there these days so check whom them they might well be the field leaders –
you are buying them from. watch this space!
Written by Andrew Ramsay © Design by www.digbyfox.com
Tip Care The Ultimate Tip Tool - these are very
expensive but also very good, I must
Its very important that you don't play with confess I use
a tip that is damaged or too small; the one myself,
reasons for this are that firstly you will the problem
find it more difficult to play, is finding
secondly and more one because
importantly, you run the if you import
risk of damaging your one from the USA yourself they are too
cue or even the table that large to work properly and also designed
you are playing on. The to shape tips at 13mm. I also find that with
tip should never be smaller the American versions the carbide paper is
than the ferrule it is attached to a little too rough.
and it should never be allowed to get so
Tip Piks - these are
low that is does not cushion the impact of
very popular because
striking the cue ball.
they are handy to
Always keep your tip well chalked during
carry and effective,
play as a lack of chalk can lead to miss-
but they are far too effective in my opinion
cues and potential damage of both the
and tend to destroy the tip pretty fast
cue and the table.
although they do work well at first. They
are also pretty expensive for what they are.
Tip Tools Tip Files - these have been around a long
These days there are quite a few tools time and work in as much as they do what
available on the market designed to help they are made
you maintain your tip to the highest to do, however
standard either by shaping it or helping it I think they are
to retain chalk by roughing the surface. not a good
These tools are mostly gimmicks because tool at all and can damage your cue if you
all you really need to maintain your tip to are not careful, I would most definitely
the highest standard is a needle file or a rather go by eye with a bit of sandpaper!
little piece of 250 grit or finer sandpaper,
but we all like a toy so I will try and give
you my opinion of the ones I have used.
Tip Tappers - quite a
good tool for people
with harder tips and
very easy to use but
can be a little brutal
if used too often.
...and now for how to fit them!
Written by Andrew Ramsay © Design by www.digbyfox.com
Tip Fitting What you will need:
At some point all tips will wear down and A flat surface free of clutter and
need replacing, if you let the tip get too 1 that you will not cry if you cut
small the impact of each shot will exert too into it with a scalpel – The top of
much force on the cue and you run the your new laptop is not the way to
risk of damaging the cue, and also of go (and yes I do know someone
course the shots will become harder as who did!).
you have less tip to play with, I have seen
many clubs where the house cues tips are
wafer thin and personally I can't see the A very sharp knife – I use a
logic in that because the cues are both 2 scalpel but a new craft knife
impossible to play with and will quickly be will work just as well, the
destroyed. It is a false economy not to important thing is that it is
change a worn tip whatever the quality REALLY sharp and clean.
of the cue.
Some people think tip fitting is a dark art Very fine sandpaper, 250 grit or
only to be performed by surgeons and 3 finer and / or a needle file.
people who do it for a living; this is of
course absolutely true! Despite that many
Some strong but flexible glue i.e.
people do attempt to fit their own tips,
with mixed results... what I am going to try
4 2 part Epoxy Resin or more
and do here is describe in detail one way commonly these days Gel Super
to do it that you should hopefully find glue, it has to be Gel Super glue
simple and effective. As with everything to other wise the glue will soak into
do with cues there are many other ways the tip and make it brittle – I use
and the method described here is not how Loctite Gel 3 in a nice and easy
I do it! (I cut off the excess in one go with to use squeeze-able bottle on my
the scalpel but it takes a while to get that own tips.
trick right and you will go through a lot
of tips before you do!) Other people use
a grinder or even a lathe although I 5 0000 wire wool.
suspect if you own a lathe big enough
to do it you are not going to need
advice on how to use it! 6 A cloth to wipe off excess glue.
The first thing is to be prepared and have
all the equipment you need to hand; it
really is much easier if you do!
7 A £20 note – you will see!
8 A tip!
Written by Andrew Ramsay © Design by www.digbyfox.com
The Method Once you have got it as flush as possible
give it a quick clean and rough up with
1 Cut off the old tip with a scalpel (or if
you are Ronnie O'Sullivan bite it off).
Then I always destroy it to make sure I
wire wool and it should look something
like this:
know which tip I was unhappy with...
3 Lightly sand the bottom of the tip to
be fitted by placing the sandpaper on
a flat surface and scuffing, this is only to
roughen the surface of the tip so don't
...many people fit used tips that are overdo it or the tip will no longer be flat!
already played in, myself included, but
there is not a lot of point in keeping one I
know I don’t like!
2 Remove any left glue or tip until the
ferrule is perfectly flat – this is the
most important stage in fitting a tip
because if you don't get this right it is
impossible to nicely fit a new one.
Always fit a tip that is slightly larger than
the ferrule you are fitting it to for the
obvious reason that it is easy enough to
trim it down to size but impossible to
make it grow!
4 Place tip on ferrule to make sure it
will fit nicely when glued and then
apply super glue gel or other bond to the
tip and place it on the ferrule – these days
Super Glue gel is the most common
method of attaching a tip because it saves
Take your time and strive for as smooth as
having to use a clamp and saves a lot of
glass and 100% flat! You can see in this
waiting! Note; as I said before it must be
photo the wafer this left over that has still
Gel Super Glue otherwise it will absorb
to be removed.
into the tip and make it brittle.
Written by Andrew Ramsay © Design by www.digbyfox.com
I use Loctite Gel 3 in the control bottle – The easiest method to do this is to make
I wonder if they will send me some for lots of little cuts while rotating the cue
the advert! because the neater the job the less filing or
sanding you will have to do later! The
more cuts and the smaller they are the
neater the job will be.
Wipe off any excess glue straight away
with paper.
6 After lots of little cuts you should end
up with something like this:
5 Leave the tip for a few minutes to be
sure the glue is totally hard, then
place the tip on a flat surface and trim
away the over hang with a scalpel or craft
knife. Make the first cut flush with the
ferrule and then cut away the bulk of the
7 Next file or carefully sand the tip to
your approximately desired shape. If
you are using sandpaper it is important
overhang before your final trim. not to touch the shaft of you cue or you
will ruin the finish.
Written by Andrew Ramsay © Design by www.digbyfox.com
8 Now burnish the edge of the tip with
a £20 note or a piece of old leather –
this will highlight any errors in the filing.
Finally
The business of tips is
really a matter of trial
and error so if you
find either a tip you
get on with or a
method of fitting you
like, stick with it
9 Then re-file or sand off any parts you
are not happy with or that are not
flush with the ferrule and re-burnish. because changing tips
all the time will just
10 If you are happy with the overall
look and shape of the tip then
use the 0000 grade (ultra fine) wire wool
distract you from the
to clean any scratches and glue marks real reason you are
from the ferrule.
missing all those
11 The final tip should look
something like this: sitters - which is that
you don't practice
enough!
For any snooker cues, tips or equipment
please feel free to e-mail me or take a look
at my eBay shop...
[email protected]
Although the ultimate shape is a matter of
personal taste, I like my tip to be flush with
the ferrule, although some players prefer
an overhang (mushroom shape) - Fergal Copyright Andrew Ramsay. All Rights Reserved.
O'Brien has a tip a full mm larger then the Reproduction or translation of any part of this work by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, beyond that permitted by the Copyright Law,
ferrule and by the looks of it Peter Ebdon is without the permission of the publisher is unlawful.
another fan of the oversized tip. If you choose to ignore this we will send the boys round.
Written by Andrew Ramsay © Design by www.digbyfox.com
