HISTORICAL POT POURRI
One thing has puzzled me lately and I wonder if my experience is fairly general. I find anything in the nature of a screw back or a stroke requiring the maximum of side has an even-money chance of ending hi a mis-cue. Of course, bad workmen blame their tools, but I have been paying particular attention to this problem of late, and I notice that many others like myself come to grief at the same strokes. Now, I really think that nowadays we are getting very poor quality tips. It is quite impossible for the most expert cueman to bring off a hefty screw if his tip is not hi first-class condition.
Not my words—although they might have been—the above paragraph was written in 1926! Having recently discarded four tips (at 55p each) in my search for something remotely playable, I can sympathise with these sentiments and have started to consider some alternatives to the ubiquitous "Blue Diamond"
Option 1: Let someone else find one for you...
Willie Smith apparently had the same problem and found his own solution, as recounted by George Nelson in 1925:— "Willie Smith is a most dangerous man to have in any billiard room, for he generally has a look round the cues, and if he sees a tip he fancies, he may take out his penknife and cut it off Last season he took a tip off one of my cues, and although at the time I told him I thought that it would never be any good, it was with this very tip that he made his wonderful run of breaks in the 1924-25 season.
The only thanks he gave me, was to say, every time I met him afterwards, "ave you come across any good tips!"
Inexpensive as it may be, this method has some obvious disadvantages, not least is finding a good tip which happens to be unattended. Even so, I am pleased to say that this fine Northern tradition is still being kept alive by at least one of our leading amateur players. It would be unfair of me to reveal his identity, as I noticed recently that his current tip was getting very low and it would obviously have a serious effect on his chances hi the Amateur Championship if he had to use a new"Blue Diamond".
Option 2: Scientific analysis...
Coming back to George Nelson, who was Yorkshire Professional Champion in the early part of the 20th century.
He would select a tip by subjecting it to a close technical examination, which he describes as follows:—"One way I have of testing a tip is to put it on a flat hard surface and hammer it well with an old ball. If the tip spreads too quickly and too much, it means that it is one of those soft, spongy affairs that are of no use. If, on the other hand, the tip is as unresponsive to the battering as cast iron would be, it is equally unsuitable."
I'm not sure my local sports shop would appreciate this particular selection procedure, especially as it would probably result in their entire stock being rejected.
Option 3: Back to basics...
Working on the theory that the quality of tips has been progressively declining, then perhaps reference to the earliest examples would be useful. Tips were supposed to have been invented by the French in general—and M. Mingaud in particular—in the early 1800's (although unsurprisingly, the Americans make a similar claim).
And perhaps the earliest tips really were the best if we look at an example of the shots Mingaud could achieve with them in 1830. (See diagram 1)
The first reference in my library to the actual making of tips (or points, as he calls them) comes from Edwin Kentfield in 1839 who reports:—
"Soft sole leather, or saddle flap, is an excellent material for points; but the author has found nothing better than old harness or strap, provided the leather be not too old, which would render it hard and useless."
The shoe leather sounds a bit dodgey, but an old harness definitely has possibilities.
Now—where can I find one for less than 55p?