Pool cue tip shaping (with a copper pipe)

Cut a piece of pipe in half and attach some sandpaper to the inside. Using this simple tool, you can easily shape a pool cue to same diameter.

Using it like a saw: yes, sanding back and forth over the tip will shape it faster. However, this can also throw off the tip's circularity, so be sure to continuously rotate the stick. A nice compromise is to alternate between methods.

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The procedure is easy enough, but the 'why' behind it is a bit tougher to explain. It mostly boils down to reducing error. Depending on the type of shot you're making, consider where the tip of your pool stick will hit the cue ball. When you want the cue ball to have backspin, you hit it low; when you want forward spin, you aim a bit high. If you want to 'throw' a ball with side-to-side spin (or 'english,' as it's usually called), it will require a strike to the cue ball that's to the side of center. For example, if you want to use side-spin to sink the eight ball into the corner pocket at your left, you might hit the cue ball slightly on its right, causing it to enter a counterclockwise rotation. When it transfers its energy to the eight, the eight will seem to have the opposite spin (in much the same way that gears trade rotation), and it will roll to its left.

For the vast majority of shots, a skilled player could sink them without using any spin. For such an ideal player, the stick would always be striking the ball at its center. And thus, a cue stick with a flat tip would work just fine. But if the player's aim should be off center even a bit, it requires a spherical tip for the player to actually hit the spot they're aiming at.

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Note to the pool sharks:
Consider what Sun Tzu wrote around 2,500 years ago~
"One may know how to conquer without being able to do it."

By no means am I claiming to be skilled enough at this game to offer sage advice. If polishing the tip on denim is too smooth for an outstanding player's preference, I'm not surprised. No matter; one can decide how far to take this procedure for themself, because they will still be better off overcorrecting than not knowing how to shape a tip at all. How smooth is up to you. In theory, the chalk is supposed to be your friction insurance--so the video is here demonstrating how to shape to any resolution desired.

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Music:
Latinium by Javolenus (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/Javolenus/62650 Ft: NiGiD

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