breaking in a new goalie glove

[camhockey16 5]

i have a new goalie glove that is being a giant pain to break in.

has anyone used this stuff before? a friend recommended it to me and it sounds like it should actually work.

http://www.uniquesports.us/mm5/merchant.mv...egory_Code=HGHT

[Law Goalie 147]

What glove is it? Some of them can be baked like skates - others will respond to a hair dryer.

The key thing is to use it. A lot of gloves aren't meant to feel especially anatomical, and it's more a question of you learning the glove than breaking it in.

[camhockey16 5]

its a vaughn velo 3 with a pro palm (which certainly doesn't help)

i have used it a few times but it's just not breaking in as quickly as other gloves i have used.

i figured using this couldn't hurt..

[Gummer12 134]

I'm pretty sure it can be baked...I got the instructions at the rink...but it can be done

[Law Goalie 147]

Velocity gloves can definitely be baked, but I can't recall the specifics, so wait for wex.

[HDF150 0]

What I used to do is put a baseball or soft ball in the glove, wrap it and soak it in hot water.

[Law Goalie 147]

That's good for some materials, but not others - much like it used to be common practice to put skates on and hop into a hot bath; not so much any more.

[Gummer12 134]

Ok, Instructions to custom heat mold your glove.

Heat the glove in an accurately controlled convection oven (Skate oven) at a Temperature range of 145 to 160 F (63 to 71C) for 8 to 10 minutes. Use caution the glove will be hot. If necessary, allow the glove to cool slightly before putting it on your hand. Once heated, place the glove on your hand and tighten the wrist strap thumb and finger loops. Then flex the glove repeatedly to form to your desired shape. Repeat this step if necessary. If the glove is still warm, reduce the warming Time in Half. The inside of the glove can be misted with water to help soften the interior, speed up the break-in process and to keep the materials cool to the touch.

CAUTION: Do not over heat the glove. If you are not sure of the oven temperature, use a cooking thermometer to set the temperature. Do not place the glove near the ovens heat elements, this can damage the glove.

[camhockey16 5]

so does this mean none of you guys have actually used this spray?

it also has instructions to bake in the oven briefly for it to work.

are you suggestion i try baking the glove first without trying the spray?

[Gummer12 134]

affirmative..I'd rather not use the spray...you don't know if the leather in your gloves are the same as Baseball gloves, so it might not react the same...and the spray might degrade some of the Non leather parts or have some other adverse effects that might not be pleasant. Just throw it in a skate oven, and flex it for a while, if still a little stiff for your liking, run it through again until it's to your liking...Just be careful not to overheat it. Breaking in a glove takes time and patience.

[OhMyGodImOnFire 0]

gummer, do those baking instructions apply across the board? I assumed they did, but you started it off by saying, "Instructions to custom heat mold OUR glove," so I just wanted to check. I just got a mission helium pro glove, if that matters.

[Gummer12 134]

Yeah, it's supposed to say, 'Your glove' (typo) The instruction came from Vaughn's website, so those particular instructions are for the Vaughn gloves....but I don't see why it wouldn't work with any glove.. as long as you be careful not to Overheat it. I threw one of my gloves in our skate oven, and it worked fine.

[Law Goalie 147]

Definitely use the skate oven... there's a great pic floating around of a Brian's glove some moron tried to bake in his oven. Crispy and golden-brown is not something you generally want in a trapper...

[Jat 0]

^lmao.... thats as good as driving your car over your new chest protector to break it in.

[gilesfromschool 0]

steam anyone?

Brian Heaton, Carey Price, alot of articles have been talking about holding your glove over some steam.

Makes sense, heat and moisture, pretty much the same thing as wearing it.

[Gummer12 134]

steam from a shower while in the bathroom maybe, but I wouldn't go holding it over a tea kettle. If it's bothering you That much, just throw it in the skate oven for a few minutes, flex it a few times till it cools down, and repeat till desired. I wouldn't do it more that maybe three times in a day, but that's just me. I'd be patient with the break in process and make sure it comes in slowly to my needs, instead of breaking it in too fast and finding out it doesn't work on the ice.

[Law Goalie 147]

Steam's great for all sorts of things (break-in, cleaning, etc.) but you do have to be careful. Ideally, if you're going to use steam, you should be using a Shark Steamer or something with a thin, flat nozzle and very, very high-temp steam. Failing that, if you have an old stove-top kettle that *can* work, but it's not as good, and you risk the glove slipping into contact with red-hot metal.

[puckstopr93 0]

Do you know if you can bake a smith sp5000 glove?

[Law Goalie 147]

Shrug - give Pete a call.

[camhockey16 5]

here is another way to break in a glove supposedly

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=514936

"To break in the glove, Fleury said he has been heating it every day in the hydrocollator in the trainers' room. He will do that again Monday night, but the glove is in pretty good shape now."

So if anyone has a spare hydrocollator laying around it sounds like it must work.

[Law Goalie 147]

Or just take it in the sauna or hit it with a steam-cleaner - same effect.

[SolarWind 23]

Or just take it in the sauna or hit it with a steam-cleaner - same effect.

I'm not a goalie, but brought & shipped a glove for my friend overseas who is having trouble breaking it in, so as usual I turned to the forum for the info & found this thread - great ideas!

quick question: can One95 Pro catcher be baked and if so would the temperature/baking times be the same as described earlier in the thread?

Thanks!

[Gummer12 134]

Yes, and Yes. As long as it's done in a skate oven, just do it with the instructions listed here, and keep trying till it's to where he likes it. But mostly it's just gonna take time playing games with it for it to effectively get broken in.

[SolarWind 23]

Yes, and Yes. As long as it's done in a skate oven, just do it with the instructions listed here, and keep trying till it's to where he likes it. But mostly it's just gonna take time playing games with it for it to effectively get broken in.

fantastic - thanks!

[Law Goalie 147]

Two things that can work very often (in fact, more often than they should) are loosening the lacing around the perimeter of the glove and/or though the palm, and adjusting the backhand of the glove.

Lacing a glove is a very delicate process: too tight, and the glove won't flex properly; too loose, and pieces of protection may shift, or the glove may start to tear itself apart from the friction. Given the time pressure that most builders are under (especially those who are not solitary craftsmen, working on their own schedule), it's no surprise that they'd cheat toward tightness: easier to get (just pull 'til you can't any more), and creates a product that won't break down too quickly, putting the burden of break-in on the end user. Even relaxing the lacing by a half inch over the entire perimeter can have a perceptible difference, but the only way to perceive it is to test the glove very carefully, taking lots of time, or to have an absolutely perfect feel for the right tightness and the time to get it right. You don't need to fully unlace the entire glove: just undo the knot and loosen the lacing all the way around a tiny bit at a time.

The other thing that can happen is that the backhand of the glove can effectively wreck or actually prevent proper closure if it's too tight. Try on a pair of leather gloves a size too small and you'll see what I mean: if the surface on the back of your hand is too tight, you can't make a proper fist. My suggestion with a new glove (whether brand new or just new to you) is to simply undo every strap in the glove, and leave the backhand hanging loose; toss a puck into it a few times like that and get a feel for the closure. Once you have that feel, start doing up straps. Tighten the straps one at a time, until each one feels like it's restricting your ability to close the glove, then loosen it just enough to release that tension; if the strap doesn't effect closure, do it as tight as you like.

These don't have quite the romantic, ritualistic appeal of taking a bubble bath with your glove or applying strange potions to it, but they'll work more often than not. Modern gloves made of plastics, foams and synthetic fabrics don't behave the way leather and felt does -- though it's important to remember that the majority of pro-level gloves do still use felt in the palm, and so a *little* steam right in the break can do wonders.