marka

Howdy, I really need to show my wife that sticks picture. Mark

Howdy, I like my Tacks as well, and agree with the "tanks" comment. But if you're looking for lighter / lower profile compared to the 20k I wouldn't imagine that would be it. Mark

Howdy, Maybe to some extent (and I think its due to the stiffness of the boot vs. anything else), but I still think there's a lot to be said for explicitly being able to set lace tension on the instep/forefoot vs. the ankle area of the foot. To me, lace locks are one of the things I wouldn't mind having back on my skates for sure. The bigger question is how easy they would be to integrate well on a boot with normal eyelets. Mark

Howdy, Brace and ibuprofen is what I do as well. A doctor buddy that I played with for a while basically told me that there's nothing that's going to 'bring back' my knee. His advice was to do a brace / ibuprofen and when it became something I couldn't deal with anymore that I should come see him for a replacement. In my case, this is coming from an old meniscus tear though, so maybe your situation is different. Mark

Howdy, So, I finally baked one pair of the TF9 skates I've had for a while, since my TF7s were showing some more significant signs of wear. And then started using them. I don't like the thin TF9 tongues, as it puts a lot of pressure on a bump on my instep. I also don't like the thick felt tongues that one of the tf9 pairs I bought came with... I'm not sure of the name, but they're a thick felt with a sewn on metatarsal pad on the upper part of the tongue. I finally swapped in the tongues from my old pair of TF7s and they're just right. However, when I search for TF7 replacement tongues I'm not finding much stock. Ice Warehouse shows some in size S, which apparently goes up to a size 5 skate. I'm in a 6.5. No stock on the Mediums, which starts at a size 6. Does anyone know how dimensionally different the tf7 replacement tongues are size S to size M? If its just how long the tongue is, I probably don't care. and I have to tuck the sides in when I lace up as well, so if its just a bit narrower... Also probably don't care. Otherwise.. Are the felt cat 7/5 replacement tongues the same as the TF7 tongue, other than the color? I can probably live with the color. Edit: Are the goalie skate replacement tongues the same as the player skates? I see some of those on SLS. Appreciate any leads / advice. Mark

Howdy, Damn dude, that doesn't sound pleasant. You need like a frequent flyer card for medical shit or something. Like an automatic upgrade to the first class waiting room. Mark

Howdy, Maybe counter-intuitive, but if you make the thigh pad sit lower down, will it be less likely to get caught by the top of the shin guard in a deep bend? Mark

Howdy, Holy shit dude. Mark

Howdy, If you're handy, this isn't crazy to do yourself as well. The blade straightener tools I've seen make it easier / faster, but some sockets and a vice let you do the same things. Mark

Howdy, Really? I'm almost positive that the Crosby Learn to Play around here still has the 'free equipment' part of the deal... checking... Yeah. Still head to toe gear: https://www.nhl.com/penguins/community/learn-to-play Of course, this doesn't do much good if that's not available to you, but I thought this was the standard. That Bauer extend stuff looks pretty sweet! Certainly seems like a good option. Mark

Howdy, I really liked the Reebok 9k elbows I used to have. But if I was going to have to pay someone to repair them, I would 100% go to modern Tacks. If for no other reason, just because of the odor resistant materials. Mark

Howdy, I guess, looking at that, its not really all that triangular any more. An even earlier version had layers of 1.5", 1", and then .5" tape. Still weird though! 🙂 Mark

Howdy, Check out my weird knob. https://photos.app.goo.gl/e4e5hMW4zQoVKnt4A (wait, we can upload photos now? What is this, the future?) The one on the left is the one I use now. The one on the right is an earlier iteration, before I found VukGripz (from someone here, and its fucking awesome) which shows the layers of tape build up. My thought is that I'd design it so that the end of the stick was inserted into the knob, with maybe a 1/4" or so cap/top. That way most of the force would be in compression which seems like it would be stronger vs. just a plug type thing with the knob sticking way out and a bunch of leverage on it. That means that I'd need to measure up the specific sticks I'd do it for because presumably wall thicknesses can vary, etc. but if I have a 3d printer, that doesn't seem like the end of the world. I expect if I'm no longer constrained by "need to build it with tape", I can also smooth out the transitions, experiment with making it more of a spherical shape vs. a cone, etc. The biggest thing I need to help my wrist seems to be just the overall diameter giving me a little more leverage on the stick. Mark

Howdy, I need an excuse to get a 3d printer. And I use a funky triangular knob end to help my old man wrist deal with hockey forces. Today said knob end is made by doing 15 wraps of 1.5" tape followed by 15 wraps of 1" tape, then covering the whole deal with VukGripz. That's sorta a pain. I think it would be nicer to be able to 3d print the underlying part of the knob end, then cover / hold it in place on the stick with a bit of tape & cover with VukGripz. I know I'll have to model the knob end & slice it and whatever... My question for those of you that know something about 3d printing (I don't) is "what material should I use?" A knob end that fractures off or can't take being whacked into the boards or whatever would suck. Thanks! Mark

Howdy, If you want the injected eyelets to hold the lace less, I don't see why filing down the teeth a bit wouldn't work just fine. Obviously less is more, since you can't un-file it. Mark

Howdy, So how much does one of these Elite ES4 machines cost? I'm not going to buy one, just curious what a 'production' CNC approach would be. Mark

Howdy, I'm at least passingly aware of how hockey helmet ratings work. I, like lots of folks, would like something better than an outright pass/fail rating. Using your parallel, you'll notice that the NHTSA implements a star / tiered rating system to help quantify differences between various car models and their performance in different tests like frontal, side, rollover, etc. That's most similar to what VT is doing. CSA and HECC is nothing whatsoever like that. They're more like SNELL helmet ratings where you either get a pass or a fail. I agree that's better than nothing and that its the 'standard', but like a lot of people I'd like to see that standard improved to be something more like the NHTSA testing you mention. People also LOVE to say that an improperly fitted helmet can't provide good protection without, as far as I have ever seen, any actual evidence to back that up. If you take that approach to the extreme, everyone will be out there wearing a wool beanie as their helmet, since those fit really, really well. There's every chance that the custom Tacks X helmet is super comfortable because it uses really low density foams that conform to the head well and it JUST BARELY passes HECC / CSA certification. But we'll never be exposed to that type of compromise design solution being chosen, at least not from the manufacturer. Mark

Howdy, You've got a lot more faith in unknown / unreviewed biased manufacturer-only testing than I do. Mark

Howdy, Thanks! How does that compare to the mainstream hockey stuff, either independent guards or integrated with baselayer? Mark

Howdy, If you care only about cut resistance, would something like this be reasonable? https://www.amazon.com/Resistant-Protector-Protection-Motorcycling-Paintball/dp/B07P83G4T9/ref=asc_df_B07P83G4T9/ Mark

Howdy, "Sponsored by Carhartt" Sometimes that looks good. This wasn't one of those times. Mark

Howdy, I'm interested in this as well... I made a gear dryer with pvc pipe and attached a fan to it (Dayton 1TDN7) and the airflow is pretty much terrible. I'd be interested in learning what I did wrong. Mark

Howdy, My ES100 lately has been clicking / popping as the carriage travels back to the home position. Its most noticeable if you open / close the door, so the carriage is traveling without the wheel spinning (I think, at least?). But it does ocassional pop/click once or twice during a sharpening as well. Lately its gotten bad enough that occasionally it does this, doesn't quite get to the home position, then throws a 3-6-10 code (I think it is) for carriage limit switch not found or whatever its called. My guess is that the travel ways or whatever for the carriage are gunked up a bit. I tried vacuuming and then blowing the machine out, no change. Being a gen 1, it doesn't tip up so I can't really see up there very well. Any tips / tricks on how to get access to look at (and probably clean) the actual travel rails / whatever the carriage rides on? Mark

Double post

Howdy, The home machine doesn't have any ability to automatically adjust the ring height. AFAIK (which could be wrong), the pro machine is the same. It makes sense that they can detect that a cross grind ring is installed and modify the travel speed of the carriage / whatever. But I don't understand how they could increase the pressure. Mark