Mike Wooldridge Professional Re-Tipping Guide

[tetricky]

Very interesting.

Under no circumstances would I let that bloke tip my cues.

[jbean1]

be interesteing see how that tip finished up!

[Erwan_BZH]

Hi all
I am a newbie to snooker.
I thought I would post my question here about Cue Tips.

Yesterday I bought a "new" unused Ronnie O'Sullivan Signature Series (BCE 3pc), but this is apparently old stock. Current one is 4-pc set. Anyway, the butt rubber was moldy. The seller retorted saying "will it affect your game"?

Ok, anyway today I looked the (still) unused cue tip.
It said "blue diamond". It looked a bit rounded but I am pretty sure it is unused because the cue was factory wrapped up.
However, when I touched the tip (I am total beginner), the rubber (or leather) seems to be very hard. Almost no bounce at all.
BTW, it does not look blue. More like a dirty black with spots of grey or white or dirt.

My question is: is this normal for a brand new blue diamond tip? I read that this is a tad harder than others.
The rubber is all there, just a bit "dead meat" type of hardness. Do I need to change the tip or should I just use it for a few games or a few months with plenty of chalk?
Do I need to "break in" the new tip?

I appreciate your time to read and reply. Thanks for your help.

Joe

Hi Joe,

It is quite common on brand new cues that the tip has been fitted a while ago, so the color is darker. tip can feel dull as well. After all, it is just a piece of leather, which is sibject to temperature, humidity, dust, you name it...

My advice would be to sandpaper it a bit, to see if it gets some life back. If not, then don't hesitate, change it for a brand new one and you will feel an immediate improvement

[Steve748]

I use superglue gel and I put a little on both surfaces and wipe off immediately and when it is dry put a little blob on one surface, position and clamp it for at least 30 min's and it's easy to trim. Never fails.

[renenkel]

http://www.handmadecues.com/info/30-retipping.htm gives me a 404 page not found error.

[bobmikeking]

http://www.handmadecues.com/info/30-retipping.htm gives me a 404 page not found error.

[FAB]

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting video. Btw, I've heard some people treat the tip with a hammer while retipping, to make it more dense, is that true?

[DeanH]

some people tap the tip with a snooker ball to "bed the tip in", never used a hammer though

[jrc750]

Or turn the cue upside down and in a controlled vertical way let the cue bounce off a hard floor, only an inch though mind, otherwise you may end up with a multiple piece cue lol

[DeanH]

Or turn the cue upside down and in a controlled vertical way let the cue bounce off a hard floor, only an inch though mind, otherwise you may end up with a multiple piece cue lol

I do that to ensure no air in the glue, not to bed the tip in
- as you say "controlled vertical" manner is the key

[Nifty50]

I do that to ensure no air in the glue, not to bed the tip in
- as you say "controlled vertical" manner is the key

I do the same. Bounce the cue up and down on a nice hard ( tiled) floor gets rid of any air bubbles. I have a wee "toffee hammer" which I've used but most of the time I can't be bothered and just let the tip play in naturally. I'm never in that much of a hurry. Standard practice for me is to re-tip a few weeks before the league starts. New season new tip good to go as they say.

[narl]

One way of getting tips shaped in a hurry.

[Shockerz]

One way of getting tips shaped in a hurry.

These guys are very clever with jigs!

[narl]

These guys are very clever with jigs!

They've stuff set up like that for a lot of aspects of cue making, even splicing the cue is done with machines mostly.

[The Artful Dodger]

Used to do that myself until I realised that I was not hitting the tip in the same way that I strike the cue ball - thats the point where I having put the tip on would play a few sessions, wait till it started reshape itself and then re-trim and reshape and hey presto..good to go.