Clear TUUK Retro Factor

[sogaduch 0]

There was simply no black dye added to the holder. Walla! Its clear. I remember my Daoust rep showing me the 301 with the clear holder. It must have been 1979 or 1980.

Hey JR those Perfecta blades were a pain to sharpen. Hardest steel on the market. You always had to dress the wheel when the Perfectas were on the jig. Also, what was the name of the Tuuk steel where they thinned out the blade? Another stupid idea from the 80s. That lasted less than a year. I used to refuse to sharpen them. Otherwise, it was I'll sharpen them at your risk, not mine.

you mean the one that got thinner at the toe then widened after the bolt roughly?

[HeatleyJr. 0]

yeah two guys i work with just got a pair of brand new, never been used blue tuuks. they have them on their vapor XXXs and i tink it looks horrible. i might be getting some for my nike's...hopefully

[Timber 0]

I was told by the plastics expert who works for PACROW developing steel and holders, that the material in the clear holders is not the same as the whites.  It's not a  -dye, no dye- issue.  Different material, not as durable as the white. Can't remember all the details, but what he told me made sense.  Next time I talk with him, I'll get more info.

The old clear Tuuk holders were polycarbonate (trade name Lexan). The white, black and colored Tuuk holders were a nylon (trade name Zytel).

Some differences:

Polycarbonate picks up a yellow tint over time with exposure to UV light. Polycarbonate is more prone to cracking resultant from stress.

Polycarbonate has poorer resistance to common solvents that may accidentally come into contact with the holders (gas, alcohols).

[jrgretzky99 1]

I'm thinking the new holders are probably the same durability being that they are not truly clear only translucent meaning they only let light through and are not transparent or see through.

Make any sense?

[JR Boucicaut 3801]

From what I hear, it's undyed Zytel with lexan reinforcement.

[hitz14 0]

i think the guys on Umaine had spraypainted ones

[jrgretzky99 1]

Kind of like Hasek's helmet, eh? A couple pucks to the head and that overly expensive paint job on a 20 year old helmet is toast. Kind of funny.

[jimmy 194]

From what I hear, it's undyed Zytel with lexan reinforcement.

Hmmm. I was told that Zytel is naturally white, and that it can't be clear, other colors but not clear. Anyone have access to Zytel?

[DarkStar50 679]

I was told by the plastics expert who works for PACROW developing steel and holders, that the material in the clear holders is not the same as the whites.  It's not a  -dye, no dye- issue.  Different material, not as durable as the white. Can't remember all the details, but what he told me made sense.  Next time I talk with him, I'll get more info.

The old clear Tuuk holders were polycarbonate (trade name Lexan). The white, black and colored Tuuk holders were a nylon (trade name Zytel).

Some differences:

Polycarbonate picks up a yellow tint over time with exposure to UV light. Polycarbonate is more prone to cracking resultant from stress.

Polycarbonate has poorer resistance to common solvents that may accidentally come into contact with the holders (gas, alcohols).

Timber is dead on. The first generation of clear Tuuks was the black Tuuk 2000 polycarbonate minus the black dye. The old black Tuuk 2000 had a totally plastic feel and sound when you flicked them with your finger nail. I do not recall a white Tuuk 2000 polycarbonate. I think the first white Tuuk was just "Tuuk" on the side of the holder in raised letters, not Tuuk 2000. That was probably the first zytel Tuuk. The zytel has the "softer" plastic feel and not the "tinny" sound when you flicked them with a finger nail. The breakage on polycarbonate Tuuks was atrocious. For a while, the idea was the black dye might have had something to do with breakage. This spurred the clear Tuuk 2000 into production. Of course, it made no difference in breakage, clear vs black. This is late 70s/early 80s time frame when RD & D was next to nothing for $. Basically, the marketplace was the testing place.

[mojo122 535]

I broke so many of the first generation Tuuk holders that my LHS owner gave me one of two choices, Perfecta's or ICM's.

[skatedoctor 0]

Im sure i read somewhere on here that there were going to produce coloured L/S holders.

Anybody got any info on these?

I got a pic of them but not sure how to upload.

[Sven 1]

Someone linked a webstore, which offered 6 different colours. You can also find some on ebay.

[Quintin 16]

Im sure i read somewhere on here that there were going to produce coloured L/S holders.

Anybody got any info on these?

I got a pic of them but not sure how to upload.

You're right, they've produced some coloured LS holders. But it'd be a helluva lot cheaper if you just dyed the holders yourself rather than pay the extra 30/40 bucks for a job that could cost you a couple of dollars more.

[Monty22 833]

They are not clear - they are translucent. They have a purplish tint to them.

And they have glitter! You can't forget about the glitter......

[skatedoctor 0]

I put a pair of clear tuuks on my easton z-airs, which are now lying around somewhere as im now using the nike bauer one 70's

Was thinking about getting a cheap pair of kids trainers (the ones that light up when moving) and seal them in the holders.

Think they would look good (well maybe not) when skating around.

Im sure i wouldnt get away with it been an on ice official and all that!

[skates 3]

From what I hear, it's undyed Zytel with lexan reinforcement.

Just to clear things up, The LS2 power is a clear based Lexan material, Zytel is not available in clear.

We added silver pigmentation to give the Lexan a translucient look to 1) look less brittle (remember the old clear Tuuks, I was lucky to get in a full game without having to retreat to the locker room with a blowout) and 2) as one poster noted, adding silver pigmentation so that water/dirt/rust was not as apparent, which also why we added black silk screen to the top of the runner.

It is odd how the final color came out but we did play around with several formulas.

The formula of the Lexan has much better impact properties than Zytel but does not like to come in touch and is fragile to solvents.

To the U Maine blue Lightspeed poster, we made one small production run in blue for Wayne when they played the outdoor game in Edmonton a few yrs back, somehow, some of the Lightspeed holders found a home with UM.

[JR Boucicaut 3801]

Old post!! We didn't know anything back then and were scrambling for info!

[skates 3]

Old post!! We didn't know anything back then and were scrambling for info!

Damm, along the lines of, food, there should be a past due date, don't want to get sick...or look stupid.

[MLSman 22]

The colored TUUKs were back with the Lightspeed....

http://www.totalhockey.net/tab3.asp?item=3630

[skatedoctor 0]

The colored TUUKs were back with the Lightspeed....

http://www.totalhockey.net/tab3.asp?item=3630

Ahh thats the one.

Are nike bauer actually making these holders or is it this company just dying them?

As ive not seen them advertised anywhere else!

[trox_355 0]

Are there any other pics of the clear TUUKs? The eBay page doesn't show anymore.

[hersheybears35 0]

My first pair of good skates were Roo`s before Cooper bought them that had clear Tuuk`s on them, after a couple of years they looked like one of those concrete barriers along a major highway, all sorts of rub marks and hits on them....but they were still cool...........................

[MLSman 22]

The colored TUUKs were back with the Lightspeed....

http://www.totalhockey.net/tab3.asp?item=3630

Ahh thats the one.

Are nike bauer actually making these holders or is it this company just dying them?

As ive not seen them advertised anywhere else!

Not sure...the pics show the colors with all of the Tuuk logos....and that would be tough to do with a dye job

[skatedoctor 0]

Well, ive seen the article/pictures on here of the guy who dyed the holders on a l/s which was put on the one 90 skate, and you can still see the tuuk logos.

The holders are dyed not the logos.

[stick9 891]

irgretzky99 your post brought back memories of skating on the pond as a kid drooling over the 301's with the clear tuuks the high school kids were wearing. The blue tuuks were another favorite of mine.

I was really pumped when I heard about the new NBH clear tuuks. I thought this would be my chance to finally get those clear tuuks I had wanted for such a long time. That is until I saw them. Not a big fan of the purple glitter look.