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Billiards Cue Care Tips, Use With Moderation
It is really strange that the only part of your cue which contacts the cue ball is the smallest and the cheapest to buy.
A regular visitor at www.billiardscrossing.com posed a question that caused me to rethink what I have been doing to take care of my pool cue and what effect it has on my game.
That tiny piece of leather on the end of your cue is the subject of more opinions on its upkeep and almost everyone has an opinion as to which brand, style, even color is better for you to use.
The site visitor’s question dealt with Tip Shape, Nickel or Dime. "This appears to be a subject for which little is written. I asked the Monk who advised the "nickel", but he didn't mention why or what it does differently from the "dime", wrote my friend.
"One article says use the dime but gives no reason; another says shape to your preference and a third says those using a lot of English prefer a more rounded tip...
Being somewhat of a novice player, I guess I should not be concerned with such a fine level of detail, but when confronted with a choice, my curiosity got the better of me, and I just wanted to understand the reasons behind each choice", he concluded.
My Response: Larry, when it comes to cue maintenance there is no such thing as "too fine a level of detail" that should escape your concern.
On that note, I undertook some research on the topic of cue maintenance to see what has changed.
I happen to use a Predator shaft on my Viking (that's another story) but the Predator choice was made on the basis of their published research on shaft testing so I checked the Predator website and found there are some things that have changed.
The nickel-dime theory is one:
"Predator research has clearly shown that a dime radius (or shape of a dime) will produce 5 percent to 10 percent less cue ball deflection than the more commonly used nickel shape. The cue ball deflection is reduced because the dime radius centralizes the hit to the center, or strong part, of the shaft."
There are tools to shape it, tools to prick it and tools to shave it.
The most important tool is usually free to use, the chalk furnished with the cue balls at your poolroom.
It is your insurance against a miss-cue caused by to "clean" a tip coming in contact with the cueball at an angle (english) which causes it to slip off the ball...you know the rest.
The chalk can't be over used. It should be applied before every shot. Many players make it a part of their pre-shot routine. That way it is not forgotten. But scuffers, picks and shavers can get you into trouble using them too frequently. As their names imply, each has a way of wearing down the tip by scuffing or shaving it. The tip pricking device is designed to insert into the face of the tip and twist. This tends to break up the surface.
The scuffer shapes the tip. Opinions vary on the particular curve that a cue tip should have. Within the United States, the curve of a cue tip is most often compared with a U.S. coin--usually a dime, nickel, or quarter. The nickel seems to be the most popular--a dime being more pointy and a quarter being more flat. With the butt toward the floor, hold the tip of your cue stick at eye level. If the leather tip is new, it will be flat on top. If you hold a coin flat against the side of the cue stick so that the top edge of the coin is aligned with the top of the cue tip, you will see the curve that you should strive for when shaping the tip.
The tip shaver is more designed for making sure your tips sidewalls stay smooth with the ferule (the white plastic or ivory cue end cap needs to remain smooth with the cue tip. The continual motion of the tip striking the cue ball will cause the tip to mushroom and the shaver peels off the excess.
NOTE: The ferule is probably the first place you will notice the distinct bluing caused by chalk dust. If left to itself, the ferule just gets more and more blue.
Grab your tube of toothpaste you normally use to buff up your pearly whites.
It works great for quickly removing the blue dust and returning your ferule’s color to its original ivory white.
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Reg Hardy writes on recreational topics including scale model
building and billiards. He is a Veteran and picked up both
activities in the service. If your game is billiards you will find
much help for your game at both of his two websites,
http://www.billiardscrossing.com, home for 300 game improvement
articles and http://www.billiardtips-e-press.com where you can learn
to win at billiards.
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