Best way to "hand sand" side of tip?

[thelongbomber]

Tipping your own cues is such an important task and it should NOT be passed off to the guy in the club. Why? Doing your own tip from start to finish provides the greatest reward of all: accomplishment and confidence knowing you did the tip yourself and that will show in your match play! After all, the tip is the second most important part of the cue next to the cue itself!!

However, tipping can be a pain without putting the cue on a lathe. I have a lathe, but it's not large enough for my one-piece cue. I'm pretty good with cutting excess material off now and sanding a curve to the tip but the sides of the tip continue to be a challenge. I haven't found any smart trick or easy way to sand the sides of the tip yet.

Do you have some trick or tip for sanding the sides of your tip by hand?

P.S. Lovely 46 break today Pinks and Blacks!!

[chunkystyler]

Well I'm no expert in retipping, only having done it twice haha, but when trying to make the tip flush with the ferrule, I hold my cue vertically (tip against the table) and just make lots of tiny cuts in line with the ferrule to cut off as much excess as I can before sanding it, since it makes life easier.

To sand the sides, I wrap sticky tape around the ferrule to prevent it from being scratched, and just use rough sandpaper, working my way down to a finer grit.

I just followed what I found on this site, whcih was a combination of ADR147's retipping guide (i forgot which section of the forum) and mike wooldridge's guide on his website at:
http://www.handmadecues.com/info/30-retipping.htm

[Terry Davidson]

longbomber:

I note you're still using sandpaper and taking the risk of leaving bits of glass embedded in the tip.

The way I finish off a tip is I use a very fine metal file and carefully stroke the file only downwards and level with the ferrule and slowly take off the excess leather.

Then I do the final bit with one of those metal nail files with the coarse and fine sides, which I use to also perfect the dome shape on the tip.

Finally, I use a piece of 600grit emery paper and squeeze it on the ferrule and slowly rotate the cue with my other hand and this not only shines up the ferrule but also does the side of the tip as well

Terry

[thelongbomber]

longbomber:

I note you're still using sandpaper and taking the risk of leaving bits of glass embedded in the tip.

The way I finish off a tip is I use a very fine metal file and carefully stroke the file only downwards and level with the ferrule and slowly take off the excess leather.

Then I do the final bit with one of those metal nail files with the coarse and fine sides, which I use to also perfect the dome shape on the tip.

Finally, I use a piece of 600grit emery paper and squeeze it on the ferrule and slowly rotate the cue with my other hand and this not only shines up the ferrule but also does the side of the tip as well

Terry

Brilliant! Never thought to use a file, but it makes complete sense! Bits of glass inside the tip would definitely be bad as it could cause miscues and prematurely wear the tip down or contaminate it!

How about a video eh?

Thanks so much Terry!!!!

[poolqjunkie]

longbomber:

I note you're still using sandpaper and taking the risk of leaving bits of glass embedded in the tip.

The way I finish off a tip is I use a very fine metal file and carefully stroke the file only downwards and level with the ferrule and slowly take off the excess leather.

Then I do the final bit with one of those metal nail files with the coarse and fine sides, which I use to also perfect the dome shape on the tip.

Finally, I use a piece of 600grit emery paper and squeeze it on the ferrule and slowly rotate the cue with my other hand and this not only shines up the ferrule but also does the side of the tip as well

Terry

That is a good way to do it.
I like what you said regarding sandpaper. I have noticed a lot of people sanding their tips with sandpaper designed for sanding metals (aluminum oxide sandpapers)--the 'sands" are way too hard and rough for sanding leather. Some cheap sandpapers also tend to lose their 'sands" all over the place.

[Slasher]

Be aware some sandpaper is still made with animal glues (gelatin) and is water soluble, every notice if your hands get sweaty when you are using it they also get sticky ? this glue will also get on the tip and go hard. I always use wet/dry grades to avoid this.

[Terry Davidson]

It will be awhile before I get something up on youtube on my filing methods.

The worst thing with using sandpaper is when the bits of glass get into the tip on the surface they will damage the cueball too, besides wearing out the tip fast.

I use a coarse b*astard file to take the normal 10mm tip down on the sides, being bvery careful not to hit my ferrule with the file and leave just a little hanging out. Then I have a fine file meant for metal which I use to take the tip sides down even with the ferrule. Only stroke down towards the butt of the cue.

Lastly, I use a metal nail file with the coarse/fine sides and shape the tip and take off any 'hairy bits' and make sure it's exactly level with the side of the ferrule.

At the end I use 600grit emery paper to shine the ferrule and the side of the tip at the same time by pinching the emery just around the ferrule and rotating the cue a few times. This will shine up and remove any dings you might have done using the various files. However, if you are a person who changes his tip every week I wouldn't recommend this as it would reduce the size of the ferrule over time.

Also, the step I left out is when I use the coarse b*astar*d file and have initially shaped the tip, I tap the top of the tip about 20 times using a hammer. Not hard, just use the hammer's own weight. This will bed in the tip very well and you can use it right away.

Terry

[thelongbomber]

Awesome tips Terry! I'm going to give this a go with the next tip installation. So then you don't use a utility knife at all to take the 10mm tip down to size? Is this the same process you use for layered tips also?

[Terry Davidson]

bomber! Dojn't you sleep at all or are you an early riser. It's 0744hrs here in Ontario so it's gotta be 0444hrs out there in Lotus Land!

Yes, I use exactly the same technique on any tip, layered or not but I do not reduce the height of a layered tip at all and the same for the Pro Granite tips too. Reducing the height by sanding or filing usually ends up giving you the 'hairy bits' and loosens the density of the tip.

With Elk Masters, I tap them down with the hammer quite a bit before I work on them and this squashes them down a bit so I don't have to reduce the height all.

With most other tips, especially layered, they still retain a bit of their original height but I try and use them that way.

I did find the Aurora layered tips to be very good this way.

Terry

[thelongbomber]

Well I'm self-employed and currently trying to avoid too much work (or shall we say temporarily retired eh ) so have lots of time on my hands. What better way to spend my time then at the local club eh?

Besides, I was at the club from the moment I picked up the cue from UPS in the afternoon until they kicked us out at 2am! Went to a m8's and watched snooker for another hour smoking fags and drinking coke

[Luke Hooper]

what i normally do is trim the excess from the new tip, and use a nail file and literally file back and forth until the tip is completely flush with the tip. it takes some time but its worth it, although im sure a lot of people will tell me off to sanding round rather than down...

once i have the flushness, i use 600 grade emery paper/wet n dry and tear a piece off, put it on the ferrule, hold in place and turn the cue with my other hand which buffs the ferrule and also smooths the edges of the tip again...

with that done, i then sand a nice flat part on the top of my tip then once i have a flat area on top i go around with fine sandpaper (from homebase) and hold in my palm curved round and sand downwards at roughly a 45 degree angle to dome the tip off and do this until completely symmetrical, sometimes this takes a while too...

just to finish off i go round with the emery paper once more and holding the emery paper in place i sort of turn that at a 45 degree angle too and continue twisting the cue in my hand until the entire tip looks good and symmetrical and domed nicely but not tooo much!

[muzicman147]

I've always used files and sand paper,but while on e-bay a few months ago i found the "JOE PORPER MUSHROOM GRAZER TIP TOOL" after reading about it i ordered one. Its like a pencil sharpener for cues, i have to say when i first looked at it i thought what a waste of £15, but now i've used it,its great it cut a small amount off with each turn, so you can very how much and where you cut and as long as you've set the stop right it doesnt scratch the ferrel.I still had to finish it off with paper, but it only took about half the time.

[888]

longbomber:

I note you're still using sandpaper and taking the risk of leaving bits of glass embedded in the tip.

The way I finish off a tip is I use a very fine metal file and carefully stroke the file only downwards and level with the ferrule and slowly take off the excess leather.

Then I do the final bit with one of those metal nail files with the coarse and fine sides, which I use to also perfect the dome shape on the tip.

Finally, I use a piece of 600grit emery paper and squeeze it on the ferrule and slowly rotate the cue with my other hand and this not only shines up the ferrule but also does the side of the tip as well

Terry

Hi Terry, where u find those 600grit emery paper or can i use 600grit ''SANDPAPER''? what is the different between emery paper and sandpaper? so far i'm using 00000 wirewool or 1500 grit sandpaper and found that still not enough rough, thanks..
Alex

[Terry Davidson]

888:

As I'm in Canada it might be different here as I can get the 600grit emery paper in my local DIY store (Home Depot over here) however for the finer stuff like 1000 & 2000 grit emery I have to go to the auto paint section of a chain of stores over here called 'Canadian Tire' which of course you don't have over there.

If there is a chain of stores that have a section for finishing body work on cars then they will have it. The 1000 & 2000 grit is perfect for the final finishing on a shaft as long as you're careful and rotate the cue a lot. It will turn out to be super smooth and you just need to re-seal the shaft with raw linseed oil. Be aware though you will go through a lot of it if you do a shaft as it gets clogged with material from the shaft pretty quick.

I'm not certain but I believe most sandpaper uses glass chips as the abrasive and emery uses something else. With emery you won't get any hard bit transferring tro the tip as you might with regular sandpaper. It's not only very hard on the tip but also scars the cueball too.

Terry

[Acrowot]

Hello 888, maybe you can get some 600 Wet and Dry paper.
:snooker: