Heat Moldable Blades?

[iggy777 0]

Last year i bought a few $10 blades of ebay, looking for something cheap for roller hockey, but i never ended up using them. I was also lucky enough to get my hands on a couple of pro stock Kovalchuk vapor XXX's, only to have both of them break on me right away. I really liked the Kovalchuk pattern and had no use for the cheap blades so i fired up my heat gun to see what i could do.

Here's a very similar blade to what i bought: blades

this is what i ended up with,(it weakened the blade a little bit but it is still very usable. (kovalchuk blade on the right in 1rst pic, original pattern on the left in 2nd pic)

http://img394.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0322081316jv7.jpg

http://img394.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0322081322cj9.jpg

http://img239.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0322081322aix7.jpg

anybody else ever try this?

[Inlinepro77 0]

I've seen akward devices that help you with this. Never tried myself.

Are the blades wood or composite?

[iggy777 0]

it's got composite all around the outside edges of the blades( the surface that hits the ice), but the face of the blade is some sort of plastic or something and the inside is filled with foam.

[greatsave31 0]

I'm not trying to tell you how to live your life... but from your description that sounds like a very big mistake cause as soon as the described blade goes onto the ice the ice will make it's molecules shrink and have a great risk of breaking quicker.

at any rate. I buy a certain type of wood blades with the sole intention of putting my preffered curve on there with the blow torch. for some reason I find a blow torch is able to heat the blade into molding without compromising the fiberglass sock. After heating I will apply the curve I desire. usually for about 10 minutes having it propped in some fashion to ensure the desired curve has taking into effect. immediatly following this I will place the blades into a bucket of snow or ice. I find this helps shrink the fiberglass sock back to it's original state and this doesn't compromise the strength of the wood at all. just some food for thought after trying this for years and having disappointing ffects

[cbart 1]

Take a look at this..procurve

Will make the job easier. Been using it for 10+ years to customize my composite blades...

[frankie56 0]

I don't see how it would work with composite blades?

[cbart 1]

Same way as wood...heat em up...It's a bit of an art form. Others will tell you not to try it. I am careful, and only use it to straighted out the curve a little bit.

[iggy777 0]

i'm not really worried about them freezing and then breaking as i will likely just use them for inline hockey. i've seen the pro curve tool, could probably just make my own, but i don't really want to buy one. i just slide the blade under the freezer and twist it and bend it until i get the curve i want.

[elevation 1]

10$s saved ;-)

Pro curve

[lee92 2]

If you want, the Warrior Smyth pattern is based off of the pro Kovalchuk curve, and looks identical to the one in your picture. You could just buy some of those blades, rather than buying and curving others.

[iggy777 0]

smyths are hard to find and i like that extra bit of hook the kovalchuk has, plus these blades are a lot cheaper :D

[flyerman 0]

Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking about this topic lately, so I'm glad you started this thread.

A while back I took the heat gun to the blade of my Synergy Modano OPS, and then used that procurve device to bend it and to try to give it more of a mid-curve. Needless to day, the composite ruptured mid-heel and bubbled out, and the blade was ruined. (duh)

So that started getting me thinking....

Has there ever been serious talk on these boards or in the industry about developing a heat-moldable composite/metal hybrid material for blades? This material would be completely malleable when heated to a specific temperature, and then when cooled would retain all of the characteristics of the original material in terms of rigidity and stiffness, strength, resiliency, and response.

I think there must be a market for this in this age of areospace-grade composites and customization. Imagine being able to buy completely neutral, uncurved OPS blades and replacement blades with your choice of lie, toe, and length, and then customizing the curve to your liking after heating and molding with an upgraded "procurve"-type molding device. Don't like the curve?....Just re-heat and re-mold, without compromising the integrity of the blade.

Whadaya think gearheads and areospace engineers?

[NYRfan 0]

correct me if i'm wrong, but I thought hespeler released an OPS (ca. 2002ish?) thats blade was heat "customizable". I think it was called the patriot. I never saw one in person, but am interested if anyone had one and tried to reshape the curve.

[Chadd 916]

Branches had a blade that you could mold but that thing was a piece of shit.

I'm waiting for some company to come up with a blade that has the blade constructed but still needs to be curved and cured. You could set up shops with a "stick fix"-like franchise and sell them the tools to finish the blades.

[flyerman 0]

Have you heard any talk of this in the industry? Any materials being developed that could actually make this possible in terms of both malleability and cost effectiveness?

I think we are on to something for sure....