Tip "Break In"?

[maughanm]

Just a question for someone more knowledgable than me....I ordered a few Triangle Hard tips to put on some old cues for breaking. The first one I put on and used is like breaking with a marshmellow . Even the Talisman Mediums are a lot harder. Wondering if sometimes it takes a "break in" period for some tips...or is it just "you get what you pay for". Don't want to waste much more time putting on the others if I have to turn around, order different tips, take them off, put on another, etc.....It could have been that the tip got some excess moisture during a very humid, wet, week. Don't want to put 10 - 15 buck tips on house cues. 8)

[cowhornz]

i am experiencing the same thing. i might have added a little too much water trying to burnish the tip-im not sure if that affected anything. did we both just have bad tips? or would installing another one be different? when shaping and scuffing, lots of the fibers stick out on top, which seems like the tip is soft, but they're supposed to be hard?

[McChen]

well triangles are can be somewhat inconsistent from tip to tip, so some can be a little softer, but in my experience triangles are generally a medium-hard tip. all tips bed in over time tho. you can hurry up the process, by compressing the tip manually. i use a hammer and hit the tip a couple hundred times. i've seen people cue into a wall, and also drop the cue on its tip to bed in tips. if you use too much water though, the tip will swell and the fibers will get very loose and the tip becomes soft. for breaking i go with a harder tip, wb tips are very hard, sumo's, and the tiger j/b tip. phenolic is the hardest, but it's not leather