changing curve on blade

[sonsplayhockey 0]

How do you change the curve on a new blade? torch, heat gun?

Need to get my son a new stick and the only ones in his size have curves I don't like and want to change.

[Chadd 916]

I always used a torch but you can delaminate the blade if you don't heat it evenly.

[Overtime 0]

so recurving a wood blade won't weaken it like it will on composite rite?

And is it ok to heat a hybrid blade.

Thanks

[sonsplayhockey 0]

BTW, these are cheap little $15 or $20 kids size sticks.

Blades are wood, with fiberglass on top and usually painted black or red.

[LetsGoWings13 0]

id use a heat gun i have never delaminated a blade with one.

[sonsplayhockey 0]

Any more explanation on the bending process?

Heat, bend, how do you bend it? Hands, oven mit?

How to "set" the bend?

Thanks

[chippa13 1844]

You want to heat it slowly and evenly. Make the change to the curve in small increments and hold them until the blade cools and the curve holds. An oven mitt is a good idea. Recurving wood blades will reduce the durability slightly. It isn't recommended for hybrids since they are a composite material and heating/curving will destroy any durability in the blade.

[twiztidwrista10 3]

I useually heat up both sides of the blade evenly over the stove. Moving the blade slowly back and forth trying to heat it evenly. Then ill put the blade under a door or a stove or a fridge, ect and bend it or twist it to make the blade more open/closed or more or less curve.

[Oggie Grip 0]

Don't recommend changing the curve if it a composite. Most composites are made from thermoset materials. These are typically epoxy resins that are combined with wood, glass fibers, kevlar, etc to give them additional strength.

Thermoset means that once the epoxy has cured in its desired shape, that it cannot be re-cured without causing noticable structural instability to the blade. This goes for both wood solid core composites as well as hollow core woven fiber composites.

Hope this helps.

[Overtime 0]

Gee thanks.

[#96 0]

Spraying with water can cool sections down while you work with other sections. However, be careful how/where you spray, as warping can be an issue. I used to stick the finished product in the freezer for a bit too.

Haven't done it in awhile since I started using composites.

Watching the Oilers game, Chicken Parm was saying that he talked to Smyth and that he gets all his wood blades in straight curves. Then he takes them and works on the curves himself. He doesn't like having the companies do them.

[Chadd 916]

Spraying with water can cool sections down while you work with other sections. However, be careful how/where you spray, as warping can be an issue. I used to stick the finished product in the freezer for a bit too.

Haven't done it in awhile since I started using composites.

Watching the Oilers game, Chicken Parm was saying that he talked to Smyth and that he gets all his wood blades in straight curves. Then he takes them and works on the curves himself. He doesn't like having the companies do them.

Interesting, that's not what one of the people who used to supply him said.

[#96 0]

Dunno, take it up with Ray Ferraro, lol. But that's what he said...he likes to tinker alot, so he gets them almost straight, then will change them himself.

Maybe it's a new thing?

[jason@ewh 0]

you could use boiling or super hot water or I think it was steam.. If I can remember..

I had a NHL trainer tell me that once.

I havent got a clue about a hy-brid though

[Gongshow11 1]

i get good blades with shitty curves here, no modanos except tapered ones, and even to them i add a bit of toe. so what i do is take a heat gun to them, step on the parts i want to curve, then run it under cold water.

some guy on my team found 12 bauer 3030s in lindros curve in our equipment room, heats it up with heat gun, removes the curve, cold water, then heats it again and steps on it to get a huge heel. worst curve and lie ever IMo, but works for him

[Cage 0]

Anything like this ProCurve worth the money or effort?

[Reaper 0]

Anything like this ProCurve worth the money or effort?

I think I am going to get myself one of those Pro-Curve blade curvers next month some time as I'm having trouble finding the exact curve and toe shape on the same blade. I like a square toe, open face heel curve with very little depth to it. I think the only way I'm going to find it is to do it myself or get customs made. I guess I could go the custom route but I'm a bit of a tinkerer so I'd like to be able to make finer adjustments to a blade.

[Hobbes_86 0]

A friend got me the Pro Curve tool years ago and at first i was skeptical, but once i used it ...i was hooked. I used to use a weird Hespeller offset blade with a Gretzky curve....hated his curve. So I would heat up the blade with a heat gun...pop it into the tool....slowly crank on it to get a 1/2 mid curve with an open toe. once it was set i would throw some hockey tape on it so none of the settings would slip if bumped or something...then i tossed it into the snow for 30 min to cool down.

[Eazy_b97 1]

Whenever I curve my sticks, the wrap always seems to warp on me, any remedies for this?

[ktang 34]

Whenever I curve my sticks, the wrap always seems to warp on me, any remedies for this?

I find that the fibreglass wrap on Easton wood blades delaminates easily when heated (easier than other manufacturers' blades). Also, if the blade shape is changed radically, the wrap will delaminate because the concave and convex surfaces are stretching so much. I don't think the polyester resin can accomodate that much stretching.

So I peel it off entirely, curve the blade, cool the blade entirely, and put on new fibreglass wrap with new resin.

[#96 0]

That used to happen to me with Easton blades. Everytime. You go to make your curve (I would normally take curve out of a blade, so I'd just step on it or put it in a vice) and bam, the lam would just come right off. Usually starting at the top too. It was like they didn't wrap all the way around or something. I switched to Christian PuckMaster Detroit/Fedorov patterns after that, and those things were great to alter.

[Chadd 916]

Branches blades were the easiest for me to manipulate but I can see the Christian blades being pretty easy as well.

[Go Pio's 0]

Steaming the blade is the best way to get an even curve. This is how most companies curve their blades. The blades are put into a steam bath and then curved over a metal pole (for customs) or a machine that has a bladder that inflates the curve into place. The one problem with steaming is that if you do not let the blade adequately dry, the blades tend to lose their shape.

[badsk8ter 0]

This may sound like a dumb question but how much steam is needed? Is it possible to rig up something with the blade sitting over a boiling pot of water to produce enough steam needed in order to change the curve? Also, how long does it take for the blade to adequately dry and how can you tell when it is?

[Ogie Oglethorpe 14]

Whenever I curve my sticks, the wrap always seems to warp on me, any remedies for this?

I wrapped mine with black hockey tape first, then applied the heat to the tape. Once the tape started to "brown", I knew that the blade should be pliable enough. That kept the laminant in place for the most part and kept it from bubbling. I never had a problem with warpage when I went this route.

Plus, when cooling it down with water, the water didn't touch the wood in case any of the 'pours' from the laminent weave was still open from the heat.

Once happy, I applied a thin layer of clear coat spray paint - just in case.

This may sound like a dumb question but how much steam is needed? Is it possible to rig up something with the blade sitting over a boiling pot of water to produce enough steam needed in order to change the curve? Also, how long does it take for the blade to adequately dry and how can you tell when it is?

I wouldn't use steam myself. Water is the enemy of wood. As alluded to above, heat might cause pours within the clear coat/laminent and you don't want to expose the wood to moisture if you can avoid it.

Just go to Home Depot, Lowes, etc and invest $20 in a heat gun, or put it over your stove burner (heat gun is far, far superior though).

Try not to let open flame touch the blade. That will likely cause blistering.