Composite blades

[ambro 0]

Before you say I'm an idiot, this is not about recurving graphite blades by heating them.

I tape and wax my stick before every ice time, and I melt the first layer of wax in. I make sure it is all melted in pretty good, and therefore, the blade gets a bit hot. Not as hot as a shaft would when taking a blade out, but it gets pretty warm.

I was wondering if this heating of the blade, especially repeating it, if over time, the foam core would deteriorate. I would think that the heat could possibly incinerate the foam, making it useless as a part of the blade, and the blade would then crack easier. Do my thoughts seem plausible? Or would it not get hot enough to do this?

The blade in question is the RBK 6K, which has a pre-preg core.

[jrhky36 1]

what are you using to melt the wax?

[Duder84 0]

i was wondering about the same thing the other day actually, i just use a blow-dryer

[pldhockey4 0]

what are you using to melt the wax?

i use a heat gun and it hasnt seemd to hurt my blade yet.

[RedAce 0]

I guess my question is Why?? why do all this melting of the wax and retaping the blade?? If you thinks it's to improve your stickhandeling well it won't.

I don't mean to sound harsh but i do think your going to alot of trouble for very little if any gain. sometime back i to use to Wax up my blade pretty good I thought it was keeping my blade dryer and tackier for better stickhandling etc,,

But then i started to notice some of the best stickhandlers in the world just simply tape up there blade with no wax at all.

Example Kovalev i have 2 of his game use sticks and it's simply just taped.

I also think back to the many different times the russians came over to play in the super series and such and i was just amazed to no end how good these guys were with there sticks and i can tell you they diddn't wax up there blades. some even hardly used tape at all.

so maybe just something to think about.

[Project824 0]

I guess my question is Why?? why do all this melting of the wax and retaping the blade?? If you thinks it's to improve your stickhandeling well it won't.

I don't mean to sound harsh but i do think your going to alot of trouble for very little if any gain. sometime back i to use to Wax up my blade pretty good I thought it was keeping my blade dryer and tackier for better stickhandling etc,,

But then i started to notice some of the best stickhandlers in the world just simply tape up there blade with no wax at all.

Example Kovalev i have 2 of his game use sticks and it's simply just taped.

I also think back to the many different times the russians came over to play in the super series and such and i was just amazed to no end how good these guys were with there sticks and i can tell you they diddn't wax up there blades. some even hardly used tape at all.

so maybe just something to think about.

Because it is much easier to wax and tape your stick in a special way than to actually spend hours working on improving your stickhandling. A lot of those Russian players probably never heard of wax growing up, but I'm sure they were practicing what amounts to thousands of hours, likely with very little, if any tape on sticks that most of us wouldn't consider "good enough" for dek hockey.

[Shagel 0]

also some people dont have the money or are just to lazy to retape there sticks each and every period/ game

[cobrAA 0]

at 5$ a roll that last about 3 tape job! it would cost be about 100 if not more of tape just for one stick... i prefer to use some wax to help a bit the durability...

[Chadd 916]

at 5$ a roll that last about 3 tape job! it would cost be about 100 if not more of tape just for one stick... i prefer to use some wax to help a bit the durability...

If I don't use wax, tape won't even last half a game for me. If I use wax I can usually get a full game without problems.

[mojo122 530]

Great question Ambro. I guess its possible that the foam might expand a little during the heating process, then contract as it cools. That might stress the blade?

[asdfa 0]

when i waxed my sticks (mostly in the fall and spring, when rinks are warmer and my tape gets wet and shredded in about 30 minutes), i used a lighter, passing it by the blade (so both are vertical, the flame never directly touches the blade). when i did this, the tape and wax would get warm, but since they've absorbed all the heat, it doesn't really damage the blade, and the level of warmth isn't really much more than what you would get if you put your stick near a heaving vent for a furnace. I did this on my inno, and the blade wasn't damaged at all, nor did it go soft.

[whbd18 0]

I trimmed the toe on my 6K OPS and have heated it over 30 times to find the right curve and it still isnt broken after having it since January 05.The blade is still extremely stiff and the exposed foam at the tip of the toe isnt even deteriorated yet.SO I think its safe to say your blade is fine.

[gotdangles16 0]

hmm so i thought 6k was introduced as a OPS for 06

and how the hell did u get a RBK stick to last you more than a year?

[Overtime 0]

Pro stock ofcourse :lol:

[#96 0]

I would have to say no. You aren't using prolonged direct heat. I would think leaving your stick in a hot car for the ride to the rink during the summer months would be more damaging. It gets pretty hot in the car.

[ambro 0]

Just because I'm curious, does anyone have a broken blade and a heat gun? Anyone who does should heat up the blade where the foam is exposed (on the face of the blade, of course, not directly to the foam) and see what happens to it. Just hold it there for about 10 seconds and see if the foam expands, breaks down, does nothing, etc. Just see what it does.

If anyone could do that and post their results, that'd be cool.

[Overtime 0]

i did it to a broken sl blae it just fractured (dont know how to describe it ) carbon fiber weave got F**ked up strait down the blade.

[sn1per 0]

i tried that heating and melting the wax into the tape and I don't exactly like it. It takes way too much time and for some strange reason, maybe I'm on crack, but just applying wax works better for me.

[ambro 0]

Well I melt it in and then add another layer that I don't melt. I didn't say that in the original post because it is irrelevant.