shaping a tip

[itx]

How do you cut or get a tip really tight to the ferrule, without scratching or damaging the ferrule, any tips or ideas would be useful.

[Deepscrew]

up-end the cue onto a cutting board or solid surface and cut downwards with a sharp stanley knife.

Then use strips of fine sandpaper to sand the tip into the ferrule and make it perfectly flush.

See video on parris website of this in action.

[narl]

[Terry Davidson]

I'm not a fan of either cutting a tip, especially with the layered tips most of use today, nor am I a fan of sandpaper on the tip since it is made of crushed glass and you can leave bits behind in the tip. Not only that but you have to be really careful to sand just the side of the tip and not the ferrule itself.

I don't have any of these problems as I use a set of 3 different files to shape my tip. The first is a medium file, the second is a finer file and then to do the final shaping I use one of those metal nailfiles you can get at any drugstore or anywhere they sell makeup and cosmetic stuff.

With a solid file it's very easy to avoid hitting the top of the ferrule and I use the coarse one to bring the tip down to almost the ferrule and then the finer file to get it very close to the ferrule and then use the nailfile to finish it off since with the nailfile if you happen to hit the ferrule you can easily shine out the minor scratches with fine emery.

The nailfile has the advantage of being flexible so it's very easy to dome a tip, and they have one side that is a little more rough and then the other side is very fine. If you go this way then purchase a very good one, which might cost you all of 3GBP or so

Terry

[ADR147]

if you are skilled and can hold the thing steady as you do it and can do it in one smooth turn then this will work.

[Terry Davidson]

Looks like an exotic pencil sharpener. I had one of those when I was in grade school

Terry

[ADR147]

Looks like an exotic pencil sharpener. I had one of those when I was in grade school

Terry

it is and it works.

[hotpot]

Run a few layers of cellotape flush to the top of the furrule and you wont have to worry about marking it , whatever method you use .

[trevs1]

I filmed this for someone and posted it on Youtube, to show how I cut a tip into the ferrule.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N-hm...KsT90KglerqXA=

Done this way, you will completely avoid the flat edges created by cutting in little individual cuts with the cue turned upside down as in the Parris video above. It's also very very quick once you're used to doing it. In this clip, I have slowed down how I would usually do it in order to allow the person I did it for to see the angle of the blade and rotation of the cue. The blade does not need to move at all, which makes it safe, even though it's a bare blade.

The removal of any fine tip fibres is done by using a thin strip of wet / dry paper of perhaps 600 / 800 grit. This will not leave any particles embedded in the tip wall, and, will polish the sides of the tip and ferrule together. The abrasive strip pinched over the new tip and ferrule, in the way it is shown here, will also be easily controlled and allow you to polish the sides of both at once without marking the shaft at all. It's quite easy to see how the ferrule is polished gently using abrasives of this grade, as the oil residue which is visible on the ferrule of this new cue on the clip shown, can be seen to be getting scrubbed off gradually.

I have been asked if I would post a short vid of doing the same, showing a technique of shaping a tip to a finish. If anyone is interested to see that done, let me know and I'll sort something out. It's incredibly easy after just a little practise.

[hotpot]

How do you do an overhanging tip Trev

[trevs1]

There's a few ways to do that Neil, but if you want to see how I would normally do it, let me know and I'll post a clip.

Off to Cardiff to watch Wales give it to the French now......... hopefully.

[hotpot]

Yes please Trev always nice to see how the experts do it .

[thelongbomber]

Would love to see additional videos Trev! Thanks for the one you posted so far. I have seen it before but never tried that method.

[coomsey76]

I have been asked if I would post a short vid of doing the same, showing a technique of shaping a tip to a finish. If anyone is interested to see that done, let me know and I'll sort something out. It's incredibly easy after just a little practise.

Yes I'd be interested in seeing this please Trevor, it'd good to see an experts technique for shaping tips.

[Deepscrew]

I chuckled at the big sigh at the end of the video!

I dont think id get away with using that technique with my battered old stanley blades. New ones only for that way of doing it.

Yes more videos would be good Trevor...and Mike for that matter.