Time to Re-tip.... How to know when?

[Sidd]

While playing bad sometimes, I look at my tip and wonder if there is something wrong with my tip or not... then I shrug my shoulders and say its in my game and not my tip that i am playing bad... Both could be right and wrong.

So how to tell if its the right time to retip??? I mean would the shot sound different, the tip becomes too small due to playing and sanding or less feathery or something else thaat could give a clue as to the condition of the tip and as to the fact that it is about time one should change the tip...

Any ideas, insights welcome.

[gem]

While playing bad sometimes, I look at my tip and wonder if there is something wrong with my tip or not... then I shrug my shoulders and say its in my game and not my tip that i am playing bad... Both could be right and wrong.

So how to tell if its the right time to retip??? I mean would the shot sound different, the tip becomes too small due to playing and sanding or less feathery or something else thaat could give a clue as to the condition of the tip and as to the fact that it is about time one should change the tip...

Any ideas, insights welcome.

Don't let the edges get down to the ferrule as it will end up wearing away. Usually I will change it when it looks a bit flat and the edges are about 1mm deep.
Often it will be feeling good to play with but you must change before damage to the ferrule.

[DeanH]

1) when there is no tip at all.
2) when the ferrule is exposed, ie tip not covering a part of the ferrule
3) when a chunk has been removed from the tip
4) (if you read many other posts on TSF) whenever you want to be flash and try another make of tip, and then return to the previous one again

I try not to change tips too often, but I do when the tip is damaged or has reduced down to a thinness that I dont like. I like quite a lot of thickness to my tips so some one else will probably think it is a new tip where in actual fact I have had it on for years
Or there is always the case where you just dont like the sound/feel of the hit with a particular tip.
I had a laminate on a cue when I first got it and gave it a try for a while but it was like a lump a rock on the end and sounded as bad, so got that off soonest

[billabong]

When the red band starts to show on the surface , on Mike's blackspin tip.

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[nrage]

Physically speaking, the thinner the tip is the less angle you can safely play with without risking striking the white with some ferule. But, as most shots in snooker use a very parallel action you can get away with a fairly thin tip. However, deep screw and heavy top are similar to greater angle on the cue in terms of the area of the tip which strikes the white. So, the thinner it gets the more risk you will have of miscue on these shots. The rest, I believe, is feel. The thicker a tip the softer it will feel - to some degree, depending on how hard the material is and how well your cue transmits this information to you - the stiffer the cue, the less information you will feel.

I was playing with a tip which was only 1-2mm thick at the edges, and felt it was high time I replaced it so have done so. That, I think, is a fairly good rule of thumb for someone who only gets to play once in a while (seems to be every few months lately) and doesn't play for long periods. If you play for long periods your tip will wear faster and you need more there to start with, or you'll be in risky territory before the end.

[Sidd]

Thank you all for the comments.

NRage:

Firstly: Well thanks again for pointing all of the above out to me. Different types of tips play different and feel different and have the wear rate different. My tip is not that bad, has a good shape goes out of ferrule in diametre and must be more than an mm thick. However, on power screws lately I have been feeling that slight small metalic sound when tip makes contact with CB... does that mean there is some ferrule in action there? if that is the case, then I think its high time I change it no?

Secondly: I personally like to play with a tip that has some meat cuz I feel much in control with that spungy effect... This current tip of mine is not that spungy anymore... i hate that metallic sound on high power screws that it has started to make lately. Should I carry on or else according to my preference I should normally re-tip as soon as the meat is out ???

One more thing: in order to always have that perfect shape of my tip I normally sand and shape my tip more than usual and hence it wears rather quickly. For a person with this habit, is using a soft tip not recommended as it will wear more quickly ??? but personally I would love to play with softer tips because I dont normally play power shots but resort to those soft delicate positional shots.....!!!!

Suggest/recommend please.

[nrage]

Firstly: Well thanks again for pointing all of the above out to me. Different types of tips play different and feel different and have the wear rate different. My tip is not that bad, has a good shape goes out of ferrule in diametre and must be more than an mm thick. However, on power screws lately I have been feeling that slight small metalic sound when tip makes contact with CB... does that mean there is some ferrule in action there? if that is the case, then I think its high time I change it no?

It may not mean the white is actually contacting the ferule itself, but what it probably means is that the tip during contact compresses and is as "hard" or almost as hard as a ferule would be - thus why it produces a similar sound. If you don't like that hard feel, or sound, then yeah it's time to change the tip.

[nrage]

One more thing: in order to always have that perfect shape of my tip I normally sand and shape my tip more than usual and hence it wears rather quickly. For a person with this habit, is using a soft tip not recommended as it will wear more quickly ??? but personally I would love to play with softer tips because I dont normally play power shots but resort to those soft delicate positional shots.....!!!!

I am a bit the same, and I think the issue here is our belief that the shape of the tip matters that much. So, lets test that belief and either confirm or dispel it shall we?

First, stick a new tip on your cue as per normal but don't shape it just yet. Go down to the club and take your shaping tools (sand paper) with you. Chalk up the unshaped tip and play a few shots - how does it feel? Try a few screw shots - again, what sort of results are you getting and how does it feel? Lastly, try a deep screw shot and record the results. Now, shape the tip a little more and repeat the tests, finally shape it as you would prefer and repeat a 3rd time. Compare your results - how much difference has shaping the tip made do you think?

This test is fairly scientific, but not completely so because we're not able to measure the feel objectively, but we can measure the results, but those results may be biased by expectation or your ingrained worry that a badly shaped tip will cause a miscue - so you compensate unconsciously and strike higher, or more hesitantly, etc.

So, if the tests show a shaped tip is "better" then this result is only partially valid. But, if it shows an unshaped tip is just as good, then because all the bias goes contrary to this result, getting this result anyway is a more reliable/valid outcome.

I'm interested to know the results of your experiment I would go and do this same myself but I barely ever get to play these days and Ive just replaced and shaped my tip

[RGCirencester]

In my experience
no shape =terrible
Slight dome is fine
Large dome is fine

Used to be a sandpaper obsessive doming tip non stop but I find it really doesn't make that much difference if you get over the idea in your head. Now I leave it alone if it's not completely flat basically just scuff it up every so often.

Honestly I think it's mostly in our heads you look at the shape of the white and decide the tip sound be the same but as long as it's not flat it seems to work and close ups of the pros tips on tv never look that domed.

[throtts]

I can tell by feel and sound, from screw / stun shots when the tip is up for a change.

RG, I agree, I have seen some like flat over hanging the ferrule mushroom tips that the pros have. Over hang obviously for those top spin and screw shots, every bit of leather biting on that cue ball to the last 0.00001 sec must help.

[Sidd]

Nrage: thanks for the kind comments. You are absolutely right. the tip I got was medium or medium hard kind of stuff. Didn't like it but used it for quite some time and shaping and reshaping all the time has indeed hardened it a lot. Its high time I change it. Will change it tonight and do the experiment and let you know the results...

RC: I must agree with you too... Whenever i am playing really really bad and don't have an anwser as to why; my mind makes me take it out against the tip so I start thinking its the bad tip shape and nothing else and there I go shaping it on and on and being the perfectionist I am I never get my ideal shape that easily and in the process I kill the poor tip down to 1 or 2 mm LOL And since I like more meat to my tip, I have to retip but then i know deep down that its in my head, nothing else.

[Sidd]

I can tell by feel and sound, from screw / stun shots when the tip is up for a change.

RG, I agree, I have seen some like flat over hanging the ferrule mushroom tips that the pros have. Over hang obviously for those top spin and screw shots, every bit of leather biting on that cue ball to the last 0.00001 sec must help.

Very right Throtts... I had the same idea about those tips hanging out of ferrule. Do you recommend I should give it a try this time like my ferrule is or must be like 9.25 so should I use 9.50 tip ??? I think 10 would be rather big right?

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

Use a 10mm and adjust the overhang to what you like. I like a pure domed tip with no overhang, but that's just me.

Secondly, BUY YOUR SELF A DECENT FILE AND QUIT USING SANDPAPER!!! For re-shaping a tip when it squashes down a bit the absolute best tool is one of those metal nailfiles you can get at any drugstore. For initially shaping the tip I use first of all a coarse b*stard file and the a finer metal file which is also handy to level the ferrule before the re-tip.

Always stroke in a downward motion so you don't risk loosening up the tip and NEVER use a sharp blade on a tip to trim it.

Terry

[RGCirencester]

Nrage: thanks for the kind comments. You are absolutely right. the tip I got was medium or medium hard kind of stuff. Didn't like it but used it for quite some time and shaping and reshaping all the time has indeed hardened it a lot. Its high time I change it. Will change it tonight and do the experiment and let you know the results...

RC: I must agree with you too... Whenever i am playing really really bad and don't have an anwser as to why; my mind makes me take it out against the tip so I start thinking its the bad tip shape and nothing else and there I go shaping it on and on and being the perfectionist I am I never get my ideal shape that easily and in the process I kill the poor tip down to 1 or 2 mm LOL And since I like more meat to my tip, I have to retip but then i know deep down that its in my head, nothing else.

I hear you there, used to do that all the time "tips not right" *sand sand sand* then at the end of the day you look and think "wheres my tip gone???"
Soon as I forced myself to stop caring so much as long as it still has some shape to it tips last absolutely ages (with the amount I play they should)

Sidd:

Use a 10mm and adjust the overhang to what you like. I like a pure domed tip with no overhang, but that's just me.

Secondly, BUY YOUR SELF A DECENT FILE AND QUIT USING SANDPAPER!!! For re-shaping a tip when it squashes down a bit the absolute best tool is one of those metal nailfiles you can get at any drugstore. For initially shaping the tip I use first of all a coarse b*stard file and the a finer metal file which is also handy to level the ferrule before the re-tip.

Always stroke in a downward motion so you don't risk loosening up the tip and NEVER use a sharp blade on a tip to trim it.

Terry

Used to use a file then it broke... Sandpaper works for final shaping not so great for inital shaping I agree. Really should buy myself another file....

[Sidd]

Sidd:

Use a 10mm and adjust the overhang to what you like. I like a pure domed tip with no overhang, but that's just me.

Secondly, BUY YOUR SELF A DECENT FILE AND QUIT USING SANDPAPER!!! For re-shaping a tip when it squashes down a bit the absolute best tool is one of those metal nailfiles you can get at any drugstore. For initially shaping the tip I use first of all a coarse b*stard file and the a finer metal file which is also handy to level the ferrule before the re-tip.

Always stroke in a downward motion so you don't risk loosening up the tip and NEVER use a sharp blade on a tip to trim it.

Terry

Thanks for the advice Coach... Yes I use sandpaper even got myself a tip shaper but has sandpaper in it. Never considered a metal file; would it not be a bit too harsh on the tip skin? I shall get one soon and try that out though. I have used the tip the way you do always really; I like no hang out i.e. edges rounded to the ferrule edges... But wanted to try the hang out thing just cuz it may help improving something hahahahah another OCD thing perhaps ? So I can get a 10mm and then round it with lil hang out or no hang out to my linking with a metal file... hmmm got it... thx coach!