Getting the feathers of a new elk tip???

[Maverick54]

Got a brand new elk tip on my cue. Pummelled it with a ball to help bed it in a bit and gently tickled the feather edges with a piece of worn 400 wet n dry paper. soon as I shift one bit of feathering another appears.

Any tips (Pardon the pun) for removing them. Dont get this with laminated tips.

[DeanH]

try strips of plain cardboard, the type from cereal packet, enough abrasive to remove the tuff/feather but not do any reshaping. I have 3000 grit in my case for these situations
years ago used to use beer-mats

no with laminates you get delamination

[Maverick54]

Thanks Dean I'll give it a go. Bloody tufty feathers are getting right up my nose

[Mellow Yellow]

use the paper side of your chalk

[coomsey76]

You should get one of these from Andrew......

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Snooker-Po...item3cdaeae4d7

There the absolute business mate, perfect piece of kit to have in your case!!

[mattyshinobi22]

cig lighter? burns the excess bits away. caution needed but works well

[gazza147]

Have you got a Tip Press? i never bang tip with balls or anything as you can normally tell what there like with finger tip test or after fitting 100's...lol....You can normally tell asap before fitting them the very odd occasion i have fitted another if not happy but i am a very very fussy bugger...ha ha.
Every tip i put on i Burnish the tip before use what i found best for this was Very Fine Finishing Paper B&Q rub it on any wood surface first few times so it seems Shiney nothing left on paper there like 4000/5000 paper then after fitting Tip Burnish it with this before use worked for me for past 8-10yrs.

As you have already Fitted the Tip try the very Fine finishing Paper B&Q this will burnish it and take any fibres off the sides hope this helps.

Gaz.

Got a brand new elk tip on my cue. Pummelled it with a ball to help bed it in a bit and gently tickled the feather edges with a piece of worn 400 wet n dry paper. soon as I shift one bit of feathering another appears.

Any tips (Pardon the pun) for removing them. Dont get this with laminated tips.

[Terry Davidson]

First of all I use gazza's idea and check a full box of Elk Masters and end up chucking out about 30 of them because they are what I call 'spongy' and the way I tell is to drop the tip on a hard surface. The good ones will make a clicking sound and the bad ones a dull thud.

I haven't yet tried a tip press but they are on eBay (Chinese made) for $15.47 last time I looked. I think I would be able to use all 50 in the box if I pressed them.

For your problem I use a hammer (I do this with all my tips, even layered ones) and tap them (not too hard though) and it seems to bed them down. Then I use a couple of files to shape them and then the final shaping and removing all the hairs from an Elk I use one of those metal nail files that you can get from any drug store. They have a coarse side which I use for final shaping and then a really fine side which I use to remove any little fluffy hairs. It works a treat for me.

Terry

[Maverick54]

Thanks for the tips guys. I never got the hang of the nail test for elks, probably as I never fit enough of them. The idea of dropping them on a hard surface sounds worth a try. Do you reckon all thats needed to change a bad elk to a good one is a tip press then?

Is the problem just that some arnt compressed enough during the making process?

[Terry Davidson]

I haven't tried a tip press yet as I don't use Elk Master tips enough and just supply them to my students if they need a new tip. I do think a tip press would at least increase the number of tips I could use from a box of 50.

I'm not enough of a tip expert to tell what's gone wrong when you get a 'spongy' tip, but I think it might just be down to the quality of the leather used for each tip. To me the biggest drawback with Elks is that you have to re-shape them after a couple of days practice but maybe the tip press will overcome that.

Terry

Thanks for the tips guys. I never got the hang of the nail test for elks, probably as I never fit enough of them. The idea of dropping them on a hard surface sounds worth a try. Do you reckon all thats needed to change a bad elk to a good one is a tip press then?

Is the problem just that some arnt compressed enough during the making process?