Throwing sticks away

[Rustpot 1]

I read on here how a lot of you guys go through high end sticks fairly often, everywhere from a week to a few months. Plenty I'm sure go back for warranty, but when you buy 3 at a time I'm sure 30 days go by quickly.

I'm basically wondering how many of you just take the stick (whether it's a broken blade or shaft) and toss it in the trash, and how many tend to try to recycle as much as possible.

SRS is getting more well-known, and salvaging a shaft from a blade-break I suppose is also quite common. I'm sure there are plenty of people that would gladly take the shaft. But despite these two options, do you still just toss it in the can in the locker room or on the bench?

I personally love hockey sticks, they're so varied, colorful, disposable and highly collectible. I want one of each high-end stick that I'll never have the cash or need to buy. I'm talking One90, XXX (XXXX soon), SL, ST, SE, Stealth, Older Synergies, Dolo, MacDaddy, XN10, Fuel, 9KO, 7K, V10 Catapult, etc etc etc. I wouldn't SRS them, just fit them together, epoxy the break, and glue the skinny part of an extension into the shaft break so it would look good on the wall.

So is it likely to start asking people to save their dead sticks and pay shipping to get these, or do most people hold onto their 'lumber' for as long as they can?

[Ogie Oglethorpe 14]

If you know what you're doing, you just convert them to a shaft. If it's one that can't be converted, you flip it and give it to someone with a young kid who can use the shorter stick for street hockey or what not.

I never cared for the concept of SRS as I've felt one (just one) and the weight felt funny. I can't imagine what it'd feel like if it were the blade they fixed.

SO, I keep mine that can still be salvaged, and give the others away to those shorter individuals than myself who do not play "competitive" (at least, less competitive than my old fart beer league) hockey.

[BK 0]

Sell them cheap as shafts. If the shaft breaks then I just toss it. I have seen SRS repaired sticks and like ogie said, I wasn't too impressed.

[kovalchuk71 212]

I keep mine as I am hoping to create a chair/bench someday.

[oggy_3 0]

I keep my broken shafts if there to small and evenutally i teach a kid in hockey school and i give them the shaft and if there to short for me but good for someone else all sell them

[x107metallica 0]

at my work we save the composite ones and make benches with the wood. I only take the 85 flex ones so i have like 10 sticks laying around my house with no blades.

[pantherfan 0]

I just hoard mine like theres no tommorow, I think I may even have some pieces of cut off stick hiding amongst my stick graveyard.

*Embarrassed face* x2

[cougarscaptain87 12]

i used to have a graveyard at my parents house with probally 50 broken ops, then i coached a squirt team and gave away probally 20 of them to the kids just because they kept asking for then and threw the rest away, now that you mention artwork with them i would love to beable to create a coffee table for my apartment with them, too bad i tossed them all.

[BK 0]

I line them up with my good sticks, take pictures of just the shaft in the photo to make me look like a bon-a-fied stick whore... when in actuality, I only have 1 ops. Everything else came from the dumptster behind the e-center where the Grizzlies play. ;)

[jimmy 194]

All you guys who aren't "impressed" with SRS repairs must be a very small minority. I'd like to put a blindfold on you and see just how many could pick out the repaired stick in a blind test. Anyway, we fix so many sticks that there usually is a week-two waiting list. So many customers praise the work and feel of their repaired sticks, many liking the repaired stick better than the original. Others dig thru the trash at rinks to find a gold mine, then bring the sticks in for a cheap repair and they have a $29 VAP XXX. The popularity of this service is growing immensely. Too immense for my liking. I use to be able to make a good profit just selling them a new stick, but now so many are getting theirs repaired. I actually make less money doing repairs than if I sold a new stick, plus there is no labor involved selling new sticks. Would I rather you buy a new shiny stick, of course, but the way I look at is if I don't do repairs someone else will, so I'd rather make $15-20 on a repair than nothing.

[ronnychencharik 0]

I have had 2 dolo 2s repaired by srs. They felt great when they came back to me, but after i had used them for 5-6 skates they started to wiggle. Its hard to explain, but what i think happened is in one of them the epoxy broke loose. I could hear it rolling around, but in the other one i think the plug was put in incorrectly. They both wiggle pretty bad, anyway, sorry about the rambling. What i use old sticks for is picture frames. I used to make them in shop class when i was still using woodies. I know it sounds corny, but they look great. Excellent gift.

[sc37 0]

Whenever I get one here and there, I give them to my little neighbors who play....but honestly do you guys really break that many or are there that many to pick up in the trash? I think I've picked up a grand total of two broken sticks period in the trash.

[NWoodhockey17 0]

i keep everything, sticks, skates, old gloves, its just really cool for me keep, i have a hard time getting rid of equipment

[kovalchuk71 212]

I have had 2 dolo 2s repaired by srs. They felt great when they came back to me, but after i had used them for 5-6 skates they started to wiggle. Its hard to explain, but what i think happened is in one of them the epoxy broke loose. I could hear it rolling around, but in the other one i think the plug was put in incorrectly. They both wiggle pretty bad, anyway, sorry about the rambling. What i use old sticks for is picture frames. I used to make them in shop class when i was still using woodies. I know it sounds corny, but they look great. Excellent gift.

Take it back and have them re-epoxy it.

[jimmy 194]

If the shaft repair is wiggling, then they didn't repair it correctly. Most likely they did no cut the grooves deep enough on the inside so the sleeve didn't have anything to grab onto. I've never had a repair wiggle, if done right they will last longer than the rest of the stick.

[kovalchuk71 212]

Exactly. We haven't had one come back with the wigle problem. People rave about SRS around here as well.

[Rustpot 1]

So from this I am to assume it'll be a bust if I go down to the Buy section and ask for previously loved sticks?

I'd go dumpster diving, but the only team local is the Div I NCAA team, and they have the variety of a heavily sponsored team.

[Ogie Oglethorpe 14]

Nah, dude. I'm sure there will be those willing to sell.

[Eazy_b97 1]

If the shaft repair is wiggling, then they didn't repair it correctly. Most likely they did no cut the grooves deep enough on the inside so the sleeve didn't have anything to grab onto. I've never had a repair wiggle, if done right they will last longer than the rest of the stick.

How does it work for blades? What's the weight like after it's done? I've thought of doing a few sticks, but usually break the blades or taper, so I worry about the fixing.

As for what I do with my sticks, I'll make'em into shafts usually. If they can't be converted into a shaft, I keep'em to make a bench, hockey tree, etc..

[jimmy 194]

Blade repairs come out nice. The weight is not noticeable, about 10-30 grams. Basically the damaged area is cut out, the blade or hosel patched back together with a composite like bondo, then sanded smooth. Then two layers of carbon/epoxy are applied over the break area and sanded smooth after curing. Most OEM sticks have 1 layer of carbon, so the repaired stick is stronger in that area, especially in the taper area. Many like the beefed up stick. You cannot tell the weight difference it's so minor. Carbon weighs like nothing and the epoxy used is about 1/3 of a shot glass.

[kovalchuk71 212]

Do you loose feel for the puck?

[stickfixchaska 0]

I give players discounts off my service if they give me shafts or blades that they find. I'll fix them and then sell them when I set up at tournaments and such.

Broken sticks are much harder to find in my local arenas due to this!