LMAO :D I did the same once with a video on how to build outdoor outdoor cat houses. I watched about 1hrs worth of videos on it and I dont even own a cat.
Hey, just wanted to say how much i appreciate your enthusiasm in the sport. Without your guide, i would have been stuck with a cue that looked like i glued an old rug to a broomstick. Thank you for this amazing guide.
And i thought i used to be over the top on detail when changing tips, this is next level. Great insight, and a couple of things that i had failed to consider. Thanks Barry.
Been playing pool and snooker for a little while now but always used the cues at the snooker hall, got myself a nice cue today so this really helped me to shape my tip and know how to replace when its needed, thank you 👍 (now i cant wait to play with my new cue and tip)
Thanks, Mr. Stark, for making the excellent video. I'm from the US and there isn't much snooker played here compared to 8-ball and 9-ball pool. It's hard to find a snooker table in my local area, so I've only played a few times and found it to be quite the difficult game for a beginner. I really like watching the videos of the great players, though.
Simplicity at its best, thanks mate. Nice and easy guide. Used someone else's advice and the tip ended up jagged. This was straight forward and will use this guide tonight 👍
Here I am in Australia in a stinking hot day watching this, Thought I would give it a go and turned the cue upside down to apply pressure on the glue and smashed the ceiling fan above me with the butt. Now I have went from the living room with no fan to the dog house with the wife. Got a smashed and warped ceiling fan and a nice mark on the butt of my cue and a cranky Shelia. I think I will have a cold one and put a lottery on. Gid day for Australia regards Walter Riley. Aka Wally
S O. Oh! dear I showed this comment to my wife and it reminded her of something that happened many years ago. We had had a little tiff, she was washing the pots, I turned to wipe my cue down prior to going out to play a match and the wedding ring was threaded on it. We are still married.
Barry Stark Snooker Coach Yip you know that feeling. I never won the lottery by way. But I did have a cold one and will have another for you and your good lady tomorrow New Year’s Eve Ps I am out the dog house. Gid day from Oz Wally and have a great new year
newjerseybt Am to big for a cat house my gut would get stuck and that would allow the wife to beat me on the backside and I won’t be able to run 🤗. Sometime it’s just good to go with flo for a few day and get out of solitary confinement.
Thanks so much for replying to my questions Barry, I really do appreciate it. Would you be able to do a video on how to brush, block and iron a table correctly ? Also, what is the best way to restore a badly scratched ferrule without actually replacing it? Maybe 0000 wire wool first and then a nail polisher to finish maybe? Or do you need extra fine sandpaper I.e. 2000 grit or 2500 grit wet and dry? I'm just not sure on the different stages to get the scratched ferrule to a decent looking ferrule. Many thanks Barry.
@scott. Superglue gel sets very quickly so you can use the cue almost immediately, however, since you ask for a time I would make sure by allowing 5 minutes.
I used to attend the Billiard Congress of America tournament in Las Vegas each year and get my tip replaced at the cue repair booths set up there at the tournament. They use a lathe to trim off the old tip and glue. After gluing on a new tip, the lathe is used to trim it flush with the ferrule and to burnish the edges. Works pretty well, and cost is reasonable.
OhMost. Over the years I have become reasonably good at fitting a tip but there is no way that I can compete with a lathe, either to ensure a flat surface or to trim the tip flush. However, I usually have to fit tips on site and unfortunately a lathe is never available.
who would of thought a putting a tip on video would be so good to watch. ill be fitting a new tip at the weekend wish me luck . great video sir thanks .
This video was very informative, thank you for posting. I have tried to fix tips on my cue and in the process damanged the wood and the ferrule, there are minute cracks on the shaft, i would really appreciate if u make a video on cue maintainance.
hi Barry, I am thinking of re tipping my cue soon. I just wanting to say thanks for uploading your videos, they are very informative and helpful. All the best thanks john
Many thanks for your videos, I find them very informative. I bought a tip clamp the other day but was wondering how much pressure I should use (i.e. How tight you should clamp it). Is it possible to over compress it? If it does over compress, can we use a tip roughing up tool (like the pins or sand paper) to loosen it up a bit?
Boom. I'm afraid only experience will teach you how much pressure to apply but generally I find it very difficult to apply too much. Certainly slight scuffing of the surface of the tip will be necessary irrespective of how much pressure is applied and this is usually achieved during the shaping process.
Hello Barry, I really enjoyed this video and so I subscribed to your channel, having recently retired I have lots of time on my hands which I will spend some of playing snooker, pig or buffalo leather tips, which one is more preferable for you?
Great video. I tried doing this on my own and I ripped the fiber off my tip. The second time I was a bit better but I really needed this video to get my cue tip perfect ;)
I've been putting tips on for years, lost count as to how many but I know this month I've done 15-16 and pretty much exactly this way except I use a clamp to hold the tip in place for 5 minutes. Also I made a little paddle, like a mini table tennis bat and stuck a medium and a fine piece of emery cloth on either side and it is great for shaping the tip. I loved the little clamp to remove the glue and old tip too, I've had a few nicks over the years from slippy hands so will defo add that to my tip kit:)
Thank you very much for this video, no more messed up ferrules from me! I'm afraid my lack of experience and knowledge led me to absolutely butcher my old cues ferrule by filing it, scratching it and getting glue all over it. Luckily it was a cheap cue but this video saved my new cue craft cue, thank you very much Mr. Stark 👍
Can anyone tell me what a genuine elk master tip should feature. I have gotten 3 boxes of them now that are all different with differences in the boxes and quality .The backings are different on each tip and each shape and trim differently. All have the logos and stickers but in different places or styles. I have tried to contact Tweeten but have not heard from them.
K2. Elk Master tips do vary a little in quality as do most other tips because they are a natural product. I to have experienced hard and soft tips from the same box, some I have taken off within 10 minutes of putting it on. Experience has taught me to select the better ones within the same box but rest assured I don't always get it right.
I'm have issues with a trumpet style tip after I've cut the tip. Cant seem to get it completely flush with the ferrel any tips on how to get it more flush?
Definitely smooth. However that doesn't mean it cannot be too smooth, of course it can. If it is too smooth it will not take the chalk properly which will end with mis-cues.
balluduku. This is a useful way of just breaking up any compacted chalk and ensuring that the tip surface is not ultra smooth. Please remember though that the file should not be used in the conventional manner and moved backwards and forwards across the surface of the tip. It should only be used as Ray describes and that is to press down.
@moraissouni. There is no set answer to this, I have put a tip on but not been happy with the quality of it and have changed it again within ten minutes of putting it on. Other tips have lasted several months, even tips that are of the same brand and even come out of the same box can vary in their quality a little.
I live in America and my local pool hall uses a lathe, but I would like to know how to change a tip by hand if I ever need to. I found that Snooker players have much more detailed videos on how to change a tip, thanks for this useful lesson!
SUSU101. There is no doubt if you have access to a lathe it is an advantage, however, I invariably have to change tips for players at the venue where there are no aids and doing it by hand is a necessity.
The only thing I disagree with is cutting the tip to flush it with the ferrule, It's best to use a cut tip pencil sharpener, They're very cheap you can get them off Ebay for about $1 each, Very sharp and very effective in making your tip nice and flush. And 10x neater than cutting it. Other than that this is easily the most informative guide for new comers. Job well done Barry.
my cue keeps pulling the hairs out of my chin please can you tell me how or what to do to fix this. I've got some tape running the length of my cue an it looks silly.
If you play with an ash cue and they are not looked after properly the grain of the wood can shrink a little and then have a tendency to grab any stubble on your chin slightly. My advice is to have the cue re-furbished or play with a maple cue which will not give you the same problem.
Whatever you do please don't sandpaper your cue. You could try putting a little furniture polish on the cue. Tried it myself on one occasion but it made the cue so slippery I felt as if I had lost control, but who knows it may suit you.
I often think the word 'masterclass' is overused in RU-vid - anyone that thinks of using it should watch this first as an example of what a masterclass truly is....
That little funny statement; this little sponge your wive or girlfriend's might using them.. Lol they also might turn into rage mode after seeing we use them for tipping a cue tip, its for their nails..
Very informative. Will use paste glue from now on as runny blue has been a problem. I have a two piece plastic "clamp" (a ring slides over a holding piece to tighten the pressure) that holds the tip in place while the glue sets. Do you have an opinion on these devices or are they just a gimic (came as an extra when I bought some tips)?
pilgrimpater. They are not a gimmick but if you are using super clue perhaps a little unnecessary. I also have found that if you push the ring down too hard they can also mark the cue so be careful.
Toni. Lots of snooker players hate the feeling of depth that a new tip can give. It amazes me that a tip can be worn down almost to the ferrule before being replaced and then the player moans about the new tip not giving the same reaction.
Hiya I've recently broken a cue tip and had several goes at replacing it. I use gorilla glue and all the methods described in this video and usually leave it a few days to dry. However, everytime I use the cue with the new tip, the tip falls off after a few shots. Any advice?
Hi barry, i have a problem shaping the tip. Right side of the tip gets always down no matter how good i shape the tip. When i play a shot with the side the cue ball spins more n i couldn't hit accurate shot n the result is miss... leaving me frustrated. I sand the tip n get better shots then again this problem occur. I have no clue what i am doing wrong. Left side of the tip is firm n hard but the right side gets down n edges out of the ferrule. I changed the cue but the problem is same. Used a tip shaper but no luck. Really frustrated. Hope u could help me out.... Really grateful for yr kind advice
As a hobby player one would say that I just screw the old one out and the new one in, play a bit and all is okay.... and now I discover rocket science. Wow. Gotta try that out first thing tomorrow :D
Fascinating and helpful video, many thanks. One word of caution careful when searching Google for a tip clamp I lost an entire day after google asked if I meant tit clamp and then all of sudden I did.
My dad used to own a snooker hall around the late 90's, early 2000's, I used to be there all time, I was only around 9, 10 years old, I remember him doing this, ahh the good times.
Thank you for your videos, Mr. Stark. I'm an English teacher from Switzerland, have just started playing snooker more seriously and your tips & instructions are immensely helpful.
Hi Barry, do you provide a tip fitting service? I'm no good at delicate things like this. Ive got a Kamui tip Id like to be put on my cue. Happy to pay. Let me know thanks.
Michael. The clamp is purpose made and you just drop it in, as for the tightness I am afraid that this is just trial and error, there is no actual measuring device or scale.
Love your videos, good to get other perspectives, as I'm in the states, and it's all full sized balls here. ;-) A comment on your glue. I agree completely, Loctite is the brand to use, but not the gel version. The kind of gaps the gel version is meant to fill are far larger than any you are likely to find on a cue tip repair. What makes the gel version fill gaps is, well, a filler. That is, an adulterant is added to the basic glue to make it more viscous, that makes it weaker. Not by much probably, but I have a problem spending more for something that doesn't work as well. How much more? At my local Home Depot 4 grams of Ultra Liquid Control Super Glue costs between $1.29 - $1.42 / gram, 20 grams of Professional Liquid Super Glue costs ~$.37/gram, and on Amazon you can buy a two pack of 20 grams of Professional Liquid Super Glue for $.30/gram. I use a fair amount of super glue in a year so it adds up for me. NB! Liquid Super Glue will NOT penetrate the leather or the tip to any significant distance, if anything I would expect the gel glue to penetrate further as its kick time is longer. I haven't measured it, but my guess is no more than .0001 inch. Perhaps I will measure and get back to you... You just eyeball the radius? Tips over here are generally between 11.5 mm and 13 mm diameter, and players usually want the tip to be a US Dime radius,~9 mm, for a playing cue, and 13 mm with a Nickel coin radius, ~10.6 mm, and of course uniform.
Thanks a lot, Mr Stark, for the detailed video. I successfully changed my tip using this. However, the masking paper tape that you wrapped around the ferrule didn't turn out to be a great idea. Instead of wiping off the super glue, it got stuck to the ferrule and had to be scraped off laboriously - yet not perfectly. Did I miss something?
Abubakar. I always use masking tape to prevent any surplus glue getting on the ferrule, even so I still try not to get any glue on the tape, the only thing I can think of is that you have used an excessive amount of glue.
