Billiards

by William Broadfoot

TIPS

Tips are now always made abroad, and are supplied in boxes of assorted sizes, so that a purchaser is sure of finding some the size he requires.

It is essential to good play that the cue should be well tipped; and the process of tipping has been so often described in existing works on billiards, that everyone ought to be able to tip a cue for himself. The golden rule to be observed is that the top of the cue must be absolutely flat, and the tip should fit the top as closely as possible. If the tip is a well-fitting one, it should be warmed (and the top of the cue also), and stuck firmly on with cue cement. There is an ingenious little clamp to be bought, which holds the tip tightly until the cement has set. After the cement is fixed, the tip should be gently hammered until it is flat, and any overhanging leather or cement must be carefully removed, first with a knife and then with sand-paper. Avoid touching the cue itself with the sand-paper, if possible; and you will find it a good plan to wrap a piece of paper round the cue while you are rubbing the tip. If the cue be much scratched, the wood will begin to ‘stare’ and feel rough in the fingers. Nothing is so bad for the cue as the common amateur trick, at the commencement of play, of rubbing the cue from the tip, say two feet down, with coarse sand-paper. Players say they do it to clean the cue; but the best way to do that is to get a damp cloth and wipe the cue well, and then rub it hard with a dry one. By this means your cue will be very clean, slip well through the bridge, and acquire a fine, hard polish, so that it will feel much the same in damp as in dry weather.

Fig. 28

Some players do not feel neat-handed enough to undertake the tipping of a cue; for them I would recommend a little brass plate with three spikes in it, which screws into the top of a cue shaped as in fig. 28. If the cues in a country house are so fitted, anyone can put a tip on in a couple of minutes. You have merely to put the tip on the spikes and gently hammer it home.

Fig. 29

Another device is to fit the cue-top with a brass screw socket, into which a screw with a flat top is screwed, and the tip is fixed on the movable screw (fig. 29). The advantage of this plan is, that a player may have three or four screws all duly tipped, and as one tip wears out he simply takes out the screw and screws in another. For country-house visiting this, combined with a screw-jointed cue (fig. 30), makes a player quite independent of local cues and local tips, especially as with a jointed cue he can have a spare top joint.[^[10]]

Another simple arrangement is the ivory top fitted with a screw, as shown in fig. 29.

Fig. 30

After long service a cue will wear away at the top. It is worth remembering that such a cue need not be discarded, as it can easily be restored to its original condition. The usual remedy is an ivory top, but a better one is to get the cue spliced or fitted with a screw, according to the illustration (fig. 31). Whichever plan may be adopted, the great thing is to pick an old seasoned bit of ash, nothing being better than a piece of an old cue with a good straight grain. By adopting this plan, the top can be made as large as may be desired, and a good bit of wood in the most delicate part of the cue is ensured.

Fig. 31

The writer has a cue with a single splice, which has been in work for years, and is so well put together that even at this time it is difficult to find the joint; but, on the whole, he ventures to think that the double splice is stronger and neater.