Ferrule length makes a difference in feel?

[thelongbomber]

I currently have the fiber ferrule on my playing cue (a Tom Gauthier two piece). I'm getting used to it but it has a "plasticy" feel to it sometimes. I'm not convinced it's the best material for snooker but some players like the difference in throw compared to brass/other materials. Kevin, I'm probably coming out to see you soon and have you change it to brass/stainless for me

Regarding glues, for soft, fibrous tips like the Elkmaster, MW pressed, Blue Diamond, any evaporating glue like Gorilla, Super Glue work perfectly fine both on a fiber or brass ferruled cue and I have never had any issue with a tip coming off in play. The one caveat with super glues is that you need to make sure the ferrule is perfectly flat and cleaned of any previous residue and that the bottom of your tip is also dead flat. How you sand down the bottom of the tip also affects it's flatness. I do a "figure 8" with the tip on the sand paper followed by random left/right/up/down motions. This ensures your fingers don't apply uneven pressure to the tip when sanding and thus making it concave/convex.

For at least a year now, I have been using the Gorilla High Impact glue, but like I said it's not the best adhesive for all types of tips. I tried a Le Pro tip recently and ran into an issue where it wasn't sitting perfectly flat on the ferrule. I use the Gorilla Superglue and although it appeared to sit flush, I could hear the odd "cracking" sound like something was off. My m8 at the club suggested that all manners of Super glue (gel or liquid) tend to crack and unsettle over time and can harden the hit of a cue and that any gaps will remain even after pressing down or using rubber bands.



At the club I play, they have been using contact cement instead of super glues. It takes a bit longer but in fact it's actually easier to use because you don't get extra glue squirting out from under the tip when you press down and thus don't have any additional sanding or ferrule polishing to perform. Well as long as you know how to use the blade I went to the hardware store today and picked up the LePage contact cement and put a MW pressed tip on my fibre ferrule shaft. It worked wonders and the tip is currently playing very nicely although I'm still getting the cracking sound.

Pattex contact cement is what they use at the club I frequent and the chap there has been doing tips on cues for at least 20 years so I think they found a product they like. It's gummy when applied and once the two surfaces make contact, there are no issues with the tip coming off. The chap at the club uses a rubber band to hold the tip down for about 20 minutes (I use a bicycle tube). It's made in Germany and there are a bunch of sellers on Ebay.

http://www.henkel-cee.com/cps/rde/xc...8_CEE_HTML.htm

[thelongbomber]

Does anyone have an opinion on this ferrule idea? I recently tried a cue with OB shaft and the hit was absolutely wonderful. It felt like the best and most responsive hitting cue I ever used for pool. If you have "touch" it's a great way to go.

OB Shafts with a Laminated Maple Ferrule:

http://www.obcues.com/pages/OB-Cue-S...placement.html

[Kevin DeRoo]

I currently have the fiber ferrule on my playing cue (a Tom Gauthier two piece). I'm getting used to it but it has a "plasticy" feel to it sometimes. I'm not convinced it's the best material for snooker but some players like the difference in throw compared to brass/other materials. Kevin, I'm probably coming out to see you soon and have you change it to brass/stainless for me

Regarding glues, for soft, fibrous tips like the Elkmaster, MW pressed, Blue Diamond, any evaporating glue like Gorilla, Super Glue work perfectly fine both on a fiber or brass ferruled cue and I have never had any issue with a tip coming off in play. The one caveat with super glues is that you need to make sure the ferrule is perfectly flat and cleaned of any previous residue and that the bottom of your tip is also dead flat. How you sand down the bottom of the tip also affects it's flatness. I do a "figure 8" with the tip on the sand paper followed by random left/right/up/down motions. This ensures your fingers don't apply uneven pressure to the tip when sanding and thus making it concave/convex.

For at least a year now, I have been using the Gorilla High Impact glue, but like I said it's not the best adhesive for all types of tips. I tried a Le Pro tip recently and ran into an issue where it wasn't sitting perfectly flat on the ferrule. I use the Gorilla Superglue and although it appeared to sit flush, I could hear the odd "cracking" sound like something was off. My m8 at the club suggested that all manners of Super glue (gel or liquid) tend to crack and unsettle over time and can harden the hit of a cue and that any gaps will remain even after pressing down or using rubber bands.



At the club I play, they have been using contact cement instead of super glues. It takes a bit longer but in fact it's actually easier to use because you don't get extra glue squirting out from under the tip when you press down and thus don't have any additional sanding or ferrule polishing to perform. Well as long as you know how to use the blade I went to the hardware store today and picked up the LePage contact cement and put a MW pressed tip on my fibre ferrule shaft. It worked wonders and the tip is currently playing very nicely although I'm still getting the cracking sound.

Pattex contact cement is what they use at the club I frequent and the chap there has been doing tips on cues for at least 20 years so I think they found a product they like. It's gummy when applied and once the two surfaces make contact, there are no issues with the tip coming off. The chap at the club uses a rubber band to hold the tip down for about 20 minutes (I use a bicycle tube). It's made in Germany and there are a bunch of sellers on Ebay.

http://www.henkel-cee.com/cps/rde/xc...8_CEE_HTML.htm

Yes , a lot of Tom Gauthier cues were fitted with a black ferrule that was not a black "fiber" ferrule.
You will usually find them on his older cues that had a black ring at the joint as well. These black parts
were made of some kind of ABS plastic which is a bit too soft and don't glue as well also.
Its very difficult to tell the difference once the material has been polished.

[Kevin DeRoo]

Does anyone have an opinion on this ferrule idea? I recently tried a cue with OB shaft and the hit was absolutely wonderful. It felt like the best and most responsive hitting cue I ever used for pool. If you have "touch" it's a great way to go.

OB Shafts with a Laminated Maple Ferrule:

http://www.obcues.com/pages/OB-Cue-S...placement.html

I've only seen two of these shafts and I had to fix them both because of chipping. I think this ferrule types weakness
is when a player lets the tip get too low and the ball impact is too directly on the wood.

[poolqjunkie]

Yes , a lot of Tom Gauthier cues were fitted with a black ferrule that was not a black "fiber" ferrule.
You will usually find them on his older cues that had a black ring at the joint as well. These black parts
were made of some kind of ABS plastic which is a bit too soft and don't glue as well also.
Its very difficult to tell the difference once the material has been polished.

Kevin,
I am just wondering is your black ferrule easy to polish?
How would you recommend the user to do it after he has changed his tip or when the ferrule is scratched or gets dirty, please?
Thank you very much.

[thelongbomber]

I've only seen two of these shafts and I had to fix them both because of chipping. I think this ferrule types weakness
is when a player lets the tip get too low and the ball impact is too directly on the wood.

Thanks Kevin, good to know.

[The Doctor]

Currently trying out some new materials for ferrules and initial test are very good. It is a form of plastic with carbon fibre mix. Stiffer than delrin but similar in appearance and it glues great too. I will put up pictures soon.

[patty_gwapo2004]

hi everyone. im new in biliards. on this forum, they are saying that shorter ferrule is better than the longer ones? and do we have specific ferrule length or tip hardness that is good for draw shots? thanks for reply.

[poolqjunkie]

Currently trying out some new materials for ferrules and initial test are very good. It is a form of plastic with carbon fibre mix. Stiffer than delrin but similar in appearance and it glues great too. I will put up pictures soon.

Hi Doc,

I have tried this many years ago and it may work for your ferrule experiment.

If you cut the rod to about 3/4" and then turn the end 1/2" to a thinner dowel, tap it and drill a hole the same size then just glue it and thread it into the shaft, you should get a pretty strong structure and the hit should be quite solid.

If you can find a material about the same density as wood or even lighter you can also get lesser deflection. This ferrule will never come loose because there is no wood tenon in the middle, and should give you a very solid hit as it is solid. Perhaps it is worth a try? What do you think?

If you want to give this a try, I would suggest choosing something that will not crack easily as a lot of phenolic materials are hard but not strong (i.e. very hard but brittle). Also, some materials have very different strength in the axial direction compared to the lateral direction. I would recommend that you try to clamp this material on a vise in two directions (90 degree difference) to see how easy/hard it is to crack it before you go ahead.

[The Doctor]

Just so I'm getting this right, in essence, what your saying is that the ferrule would then screw into the wood.
Worth a shot. I was thinking if trying something similar but with the ferrule also going over the wood in the same way a traditional ferrule does, but only a small way and with a larger section screwing into the wood.
What do you think about that?