Help with tip and chalk for UK 8 ball

[Booters]

Thank you guys for all your responses. Since using my new ADR SS tips I've seen a big improvements in my game, as these tips seem to give a much more consistent feel to the Elks I was using before. It just seems my confidence level has increased and I know exactly where the white is going to stop.

Also I seem to be getting less kicks now, I think it was mainly down to my cue action and not having my cue parallel with the table. Although I still leave massive chalk marks on the white (they're the size of my tip) after every shot, where as the other players at my club seem to leave little to no marks on the white. Could this be down to the grade of sandpaper I shape my tip with not leaving it rough enough for it to take chalk very well? Or maybe the shape of the tip (see image)?

Also Since I've changed my cue action to cue parallel with the table, I struggle to generate as much top spin on certain shots, is there any general advice you could give me for cuing through the ball when playing with top?

Is your bridge hand flat on the bed of the table? If it is raise your bridge hand slightly and really follow through cue ball as much as is comfortable, also do you drop the elbow at all? I have a fairly short cue for my height and drop the elbow quite a lot, that enables me to generate a lot of spin, if you don't drop the elbow I would be cautious about introducing it to your game

[ADR147]

I've recently started playing pool again over the last few years and I too am at university. I was very into it at a young age (<10 years old) and the talent has luckily stayed with me. Over the last few years I've tried a range of tips with pool, mostly laminated ones, trying to find one that suits me. I've become skilled at cue maintenance too such as refinishing, re-tipping, ferrule shine etc.

Regarding tips:

I have tried Elkmaster, Talisman medium, Kamui Black medium and I'm currently on ADR147 black medium. I can honestly say I don't have a very strong preference for any particular one. They have all performed well when correctly installed just as I'd expect from any product sold to me. I'm not completely certain why this is - It could be due to the smaller table/easier potting on a pool table compared to snooker, that I haven't built up a mental focus on tip brand or the fact that I haven't stuck with a certain tip brand for a long time! With each tip, after a week of playing, I have been able to play my whole range of shots comfortably. I have focused on my cue action from the start meaning I can play big spin shots across the table should I like and I've managed to perform them with all of these tips.

The main thing I have noticed is the consistency that laminated tips have compared to Elkmasters. When someone asks me to retip their cue I'll use an Elk as many people look no further or don't know of any other, and I completely agree with what you say here - they're inconsistent. On the flipside though, every laminated tip I've used has performed very well. After a couple of hours of play and a final trim and reshape you shouldn't need much more maintenance for the foreseeable future. I'd recommend picking a laminated tip that has a good reputation (ADRs certainly tick this box) and sticking with it forever so you know what you'll get every time and you wont have to worry about tips anymore.

Regarding chalk and kicks:

I found the standard green triangle chalk to be too hard for use with laminated tips and I feel like you may have to move to a softer chalk like Master as Booters mentioned above me. Saying that though, I currently use master chalk on my medium ADR black tip and it doesn't actually give an even coating so I may have to look elsewhere still. It's not affecting my play but it's not an easy though knowing your tip isn't consistently covered.

While chalk can affect kicks a lot I think it will mainly be down to the condition of the balls that you're playing with and whether they've been polished recently or not. The pro cup balls are definitely better that others though as I'm sure you know they're expensive. I've played with some boulders in my time and it's awful. Tip shape will not affect your kick likelihood but the amount of chalk will, I think one swipe of chalk for each shot should be enough.

I have been told the masterchalk grey gives a more even cover on my tips but it is really only a visual thing, it not effecting the amount of grip the tip has.

[dom979]

Forgot to post the picture of my tip in an earlier post, so here it is now (not the best of images as it makes it look like the tip over hangs the ferule and the ferule over hangs the shaft, which is not the case).

[dom979]

Forgot to post the picture of my tip in an earlier post, so here it is now (not the best of images as it makes it look like the tip over hangs the ferule and the ferule over hangs the shaft, which is not the case).

Not sure if that worked (can you edit posts on this site?) but the link to the image is https://gyazo.com/4c13921d24ee797cf86a0533344f2ff9

[dom979]

Is your bridge hand flat on the bed of the table? If it is raise your bridge hand slightly and really follow through cue ball as much as is comfortable, also do you drop the elbow at all? I have a fairly short cue for my height and drop the elbow quite a lot, that enables me to generate a lot of spin, if you don't drop the elbow I would be cautious about introducing it to your game

Normally for screw shots the hand is completely flat on the table, from this i can normally generate enough screw to do anything I like. Then the raise my bridge hand by about 5mm off the cloth for a center ball/ stun shot. Then I guess I just tilt my cue from this position while trying to play with top, as i find it uncomfortable to put raise my hand any higher, maybe this is something I just have to get used to, as i found a few of the cuing positions really uncomfortable at first now they are like second nature.

I'm not sure if I drop my elbow on my shots to be honest, I'll be out playing tonight and will try and take particular notice to see if I do this or not, I may even get someone in my team to video a few shots so i can post it here to get feedback on my cue action.

[Catch 22]

I really like leaving chalk trails on the table then wiping them away with my hand after the shot, in my head if I think that if I've left a long chalk trail and the cue ball has gone where i wanted it to, then i am cuing well. Where as if I've played a screw shot and no chalk trail it normally means I kind of played a punch shot.

Despite this I may still give silvercup ago just to see how it plays, I really like the colour of the green triangle chalk, but when i look at pictures of the colour of green silvercup it looks more like royal green than the colour of triangle chalk, is this the case?

Yeah the silvercup green is a slight darker shade than master or triangle . Still very visible on the tip though

[Dave Walton]

I really like leaving chalk trails on the table then wiping them away with my hand after the shot, in my head if I think that if I've left a long chalk trail and the cue ball has gone where i wanted it to, then i am cuing well. Where as if I've played a screw shot and no chalk trail it normally means I kind of played a punch shot.

Despite this I may still give silvercup ago just to see how it plays, I really like the colour of the green triangle chalk, but when i look at pictures of the colour of green silvercup it looks more like royal green than the colour of triangle chalk, is this the case?

Yeah the silvercup green is a slight darker shade than master or triangle . Still very visible on the tip though

The silver cup is quite a bit darker, good but all the silver cup ive seen tends to have other bits of coloured pigment in it creating streaks, I find it a bit off putting, ignore that and it's very good chalk

[Dave Walton]

Pool and snooker are different games so why should the white ball be the same size as object balls just because theyre in snooker? The smaller white creates a different playing experience, if it aint broke then dont fix it!
Back to the main topic the adr super soft are brilliant for pool! I've experimented with them using cuel green, silver cup green, master green and triangle green, all have been fine so your problem with kicks could be down to over chalking your tip, you only need a thin even coating

[danam1]

Normally for screw shots the hand is completely flat on the table, from this i can normally generate enough screw to do anything I like. Then the raise my bridge hand by about 5mm off the cloth for a center ball/ stun shot. Then I guess I just tilt my cue from this position while trying to play with top, as i find it uncomfortable to put raise my hand any higher, maybe this is something I just have to get used to, as i found a few of the cuing positions really uncomfortable at first now they are like second nature.

I'm not sure if I drop my elbow on my shots to be honest, I'll be out playing tonight and will try and take particular notice to see if I do this or not, I may even get someone in my team to video a few shots so i can post it here to get feedback on my cue action.

You definitely don't want to be cueing up at an angle to generate top spin because the tip of the cue isn't in contact with the cue ball for long. If you raise your bridge slightly more and try and keep the cue parallel to the table all the way through the shot you will generate more spin. Having said that, as mentioned previously, top spin is no where near as affective as screw.

[barrywhite]

Had a wee think about this. A lot of folk use elks or blue diamonds. It's only a kiddy ball that doesn't need hammering so a soft elk or BD or maybe a BDP is ideal. And there are plenty of soft elks in a box! Masters green or Triangle Spruce is the way forward for less chalking and more cue ball grip with almost any tip.

[tomperty]

Not sure if that worked (can you edit posts on this site?) but the link to the image is https://gyazo.com/4c13921d24ee797cf86a0533344f2ff9

I don't think too much chalk on your tip will ever be an issue. You need it for grip on the cue ball. It will certainly be your choice of chalk causing the marks so you could just experiment buying some single blocks from eBay or something.

A small hint if you want to shape the sides of the tip nicely - buy a pencil sharpener that you can use with those oversized pencils, place your ferrule along side the blade and not touching the end and it'll shave all of the tip overhanging the side of your ferrule. I find it gives a very smart look after you burnish the sides!

[grey]

I have 4 cues I use regularly and each one requires a different hardness of tip to suit the cue; so use whatever feels right for you on the cue you've got.

I'm guessing you have a natural preference for hard tips (judging by the amount of elks you put on before you were happy). I believe thethe ADR supersofts are still considerably harder than the standard Elk, so they might be okay for you. Failing that, try buying a tip press and harden your own elks to suit?

Hard tips are not very forgiving on a light english cue ball, so you will be punished by any poor cueing - which may explain some of the kicks you're experiencing.

I prefer Silver Cup chalk on hard tips (for english pool only) as it's finer than other chalks and gives a very thin coat, but it does require application every shot - the pewter or powder blue colours mark the white the least. Triangle spruce for everything else!

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

Please don't use silver cup, people. Widely regarded as one of the few chalks to give pioneer a run for its money in terms of being thoroughly useless.

[barrywhite]

Please don't use silver cup, people. Widely regarded as one of the few chalks to give pioneer a run for its money in terms of being thoroughly useless.

LOL, glad someone else said that, spot on. Why do Pioneer make this hard chalk that doesn't bind to a tip? They must know it's crap and leads to loads of mis-cues, so why make it that bad? Is it really bad because it is so cheap?

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

Yes, of course.