Elk Master 13mm Pool Billiard Cue Tips

These tips are the best value in a cue tip, ever, in the history of the human race, especially for the casual to advanced player who replaces his or her own tips. Let me explain why.1. SoftnessThe softness of these tips, which are the most widely sold by Elk Master, can be hard to assess from the product pages here on Amazon. They are not super soft, but more of what I would consider soft or medium-soft. That means that out of the box, with a light scuff and some chalk, they will give a great deal more spin/English than a hard tip, and a good deal more than most medium tips (many of which tend towards the harder end of the spectrum, as there is no hard-and-fast rating guide). The Elk Master tips are adaptable in this regard, because if you were a cue-repair professional (which you certainly are not, if you're reading this), you could soak and press them to achieve greater hardness, but still keep the other good qualities of the tip.To easily make them softer, you can use a tool called a "tip pick" (also sometimes called a "tip tapper", but the one you will want has many sharp points like needles, as in the popular "bowtie" designs, instead of blunted ones). This will make the cue tip even softer and able to hold even more chalk. If you concentrate slightly more on the center than the extreme edge, you will not increase the risk of mushrooming by doing this.2. Maintenance and replacementI can't say enough good things about the maintainability of these tips. They are, without a doubt, the easiest to maintain soft/medium-soft tips I've ever used. They literally never mushroom (flatten), even if used with a pick to soften them further, and only rarely need to be scuffed. This helps prolong the lifetime of the tips.Though they don't really mushroom, another recommended tip tool is called a "burnisher". These are cheaply available, and are essentially a tubular piece of plastic, slightly narrowed on the inside, that presses the very edge of the cue tip together when moistened and rotated inside the burnisher (and after installing on the cue/ferrule).If you buy other soft tips, you may notice that many of them are thicker, i.e. feature a bit more leather front-to-back. Aside from the price difference (as those are all much more expensive tips even factoring in the thickness difference), one might still think that this makes the Elk Master tips less of a good buy for an ordinary player, since the shorter the tip, the more often it would need replacement. This isn't strictly true, however--not only do these tips wear very well, as mentioned previously, but they are also pre-curved, the main reason that they're slightly thinner at the edge. The curve is roughly what most players achieve using a "cue cube" or similar tool, so that after installation, all you have to do is pick and/or scuff the tip slightly, and you're ready to play. With many other tips, including many expensive ones, you'd have to extensively shape the tip after installation, making it thinner anyway and taking extra time and effort.Another huge benefit of these tips to someone doing home repair/replacement is that they are not oversized. Most pool sticks sold today come with a 13mm diameter at the thin end of the shaft, which means these will fit perfectly (smaller diameters of these tips are sold as well). Most higher-end tips are sold at a 14mm diameter, though, on the basis that this lets one install the tip, then grind it down around the edges to fit. However, grinding down a tip properly is not easy to do with basic home tools; it's far easier, even using super-glue, to position the tip just so and not have to do any extra work.There are guides online on replacing a cue tip, so I won't go into depth on that here. The basic procedure is this:i) Get supplies: tip, sandpaper in a range of grits (including 100, 200, 400, and 600--get a pack of each and you'll be set for a very long time); super glue GEL; a razor utility knife; and paper towels or clean, disposable rags.ii) Take the shaft off the cue stick, and leave it off until the end of the procedure.iii) Use the knife to cut the tip off the ferrule (the white part at the end of the stick), being careful not to cut into the ferrule. What generally works most easily, doing this by hand, is to cut in a circular motion around the edge, leaving about a millimeter or less of comfortable room between the cut and the ferrule, until the bulk of the ferrule comes off. Then cut carefully with the razor in a circular shaving motion to get a bit more off, until you're very close to the ferrule.iv) Sand off the rest of the leather tip. Start with the 100-grit sandpaper; once most or all of the sandpaper is gone, progress with higher grains until you have polished the ferrule's end with the 600-grit sandpaper. Using a sanding block may be a good idea to keep the surface flat, but I've also had good results with the sandpaper on any hard flat surface. I don't personally use a cue tip sander, as it's not necessary and you don't want to nick or bend your shaft, as well as the fact that some cheap tip sanders are not well made and will do a poor job. After sanding, wipe the end of the ferrule carefully to make sure no dust is left, taking care not to make the end wet.v) Place the 400 or 600-grit sandpaper perfectly flat on a table, and run the tip's flat side against the sandpaper until the flat side is perfectly smooth and sanded. Wipe off any remaining leather dust, taking care not to make the flat side wet. This will ensure a good bond between the ferrule and tip.vi) Place the tip on the ferrule, and check to make sure the tip lies perfectly flat. This is a crucial step. If there is even a slight gap at the edges, that means that one or both surfaces are convex, or bowed outward, which needs to be corrected before proceeding. The easiest way to do this is to take the sandpaper and wrap it around your fingertip (cutting a piece if helpful to allow wrapping more easily), then put your fingertip in the middle of the end of the ferrule and/or tip, then rotate. Do this and check your work each time, until the tip lies flat.vii) Dampen the paper towels and/or rags, leaving some dry.viii) Place a small bead of the gel superglue (again, the GEL kind and not the fluid) on the ferrule (or optionally on the tip) and spread it around, until the entire surface is thinly but completely coated. During this phase work quickly but without panicking, since the gel won't dry instantaneously in this state.ix) Place the tip on the ferrule, making sure that the edges line up. This gets easier with practice, but if you're careful can do it fairly easily the first time. If the edges don't line up with a bit of pushing, and you didn't get a good position on the first try, simply pop the tip off before it sets (this will take about 10-15 seconds with many types of super glue gel, which doesn't sound like a long time but really is plenty to make adjustments and/or a decision to restart). If you've had to pop the tip off, carefully wipe off excess glue with the damp paper towel/rag. When you've got the tip positioned correctly, press down carefully but firmly on the tip with your finger; the gel will ooze out around the edges, which you should wipe immediately with the damp rag while not releasing pressure on the tip.x) After holding the tip on with pressure for a decent time (1-3 minutes depending on the super glue you've bought), release the pressure and let it sit for a while. I generally let it sit for 30 minutes because of the super glue I use.xi) Use a cue shaping tool such as a "cue cube" to take the manufactured surface off the tip. Because these tips are pre-shaped, you don't need to grind down much at all.xii) After wiping down the tip's edges one more time, wet the edge of the tip with a finger and use a burnisher to pack down the edge and give it a nice look.3. ValueProfessional player Efren Reyes for at least a good part of his career played with Elk Master tips. If they're good enough for him, they are almost certainly good enough for you. And at less than a buck a tip at the time of this writing, these are an insane value.

Very soft tip which I shoot best with , easy to install and very litle shaping , like it better than all tiger tips and equal to kamui soft tip , probably softer , 1 dollar vs 28 dollars , greatest value ever , short league last night with new elk master tip and ran 2 racks . Could not be happier or more satisfied with t he purchase of the elkmaster soft tip .

Good quality, but a hard tip. Not soft.

I do not need to pay much for those fancy cue tips. These were just fine. When I run out of these, I will buy them again.

Excellent! Thanks!

I only used one tip and it never softened up. I tried scuffing and using a shaper that works fine on my other cues. It got so hard it caused miscues. When I removed it, it was super hard. I put on a different brand of tip I had around and it played and held chalk fine. I'll try another one from this batch when one of my house cue tips wears out. I was disappointed since I've heard nothing but good about these tips.

Easy to install and shape.

After trying many fancy layered tips, I'm back to the original Elk Master. I learned to play spin with this tip many years ago and it's still my favorite. No, they don't mushroom on me and they are only medium soft, not spongy feeling at all.