Adding a Toe Bridge on old Vaughn Legacy Pads?

[jpeaslee 30]

First off, I don't play goalie. I've grown up (since middle school) playing roller hockey in a small south georgian town. My little sister now is playing goalie with these pads. We got them about 7 years ago at a play it again in tallahassee for 50 bucks (mismarked price). They used to be Tallahassee Tiger Sharks Goalie (Mike? Richards). They don't have a toe bridge, but i noticed they do have holes for one. I also don't fully understand the purpose of a toe bridge. I've done some searching here and goaliestore.com and haven't found much. Sorry if i missed a big thread or something.

So basically, can I add a toe bridge to these? Also what exactly is the purpose of one?

[JR Boucicaut 3760]

It's to hold down your pads to the ankle/skate. You'd wrap the laces around your skate.

You can add toe straps to it quite easily, they don't cost more than $15 for a set. Comes with a set of nuts/bolts that will attach through the pad, holding it in place.

[jpeaslee 30]

Thanks JR. I've seen people talking about different methods of tying knots in certain places and whatnot. Is there any good link or anything to a list of ways or explanation of how that works?

[JR Boucicaut 3760]

If I am not mistaken, I think Vaughn's site shows different methods of tying them.

[Law Goalie 147]

Yep, Vaughn still has their pad-strapping tutorials up.

Do those holes have T-nuts still in them? If not, just pick some up, along with some machine screws. Get stainless steel and as small as possible: you won't find 6-32 T-nuts easily, but 8-32 or 10-32 should be available at any good hardware store.

There are several things you can attach to those holes with the T-nut/machine screw combination. The first is a set of toe-straps, the old leather kind, which is almost certainly what was on there before. The second is a toe-bridge, which would give you strings or lace instead of leather straps, and leave the toe of the pad still open. The third is a toe-cap, which would cover up the gap at the toe of the pad. Some toe-caps have holes for toe-strings/laces already drilled in them (or they can easily be drilled later), so it works the same way as a toe-bridge. The fourth is a sliding toe-bridge, which is a Pete Smith invention (see smithhockey.com for more) which has become more popular over time. Bear in mind that with slightly longer machine screws, you can use any combination of these you want: a toe-cap with a sliding toe-bridge, a toe-cap with leather straps, etc. I would recommend getting a toe-cap on each pad, if only to protect the toe of your skate and the important foot inside.

[jpeaslee 30]

http://www.totalhockey.net/tab3.asp?item=1007

Is that what you're talking about with a toe cap? Also wouldn't the toe cap on her skate protect that part of her foot? No one at the rink (this is inline hockey too) has a real great shot in any age group, especially not hers. If its still a good idea then I'll get her to go for it though. And with that, would you just drill two holes in the middle for the laces to go through? It looks like its just made out of leather and some padding maybe.

I just came up with a second question too. Being that these are ice pads made of some kind of traditional material, they don't slide on sportcout (the outdoor sport court). I've seen threads theads that mentioned adding slider plates, but I can't seem to find much information on them when I search for it. I've also never really seen a 'how to' on it. Are there any good sites or threads on it that I'm missing?

[Law Goalie 147]

It's more about protecting the skate than the foot (so the cowling doesn't get damaged), but I can tell you that I've been stung a few times in the toe when my skate snuck out from behind my pad. You never know when some donkey's going to blast one at her... slamming into the post can also be a little painful/damaging.

Those Vaughn caps are a pretty common design; here's another example.. Toe-caps can be as simple as a flat three-layer sandwich of plastic, foam and synthetic leather - that's what I have on my pro-return Bauer Supremes. To add toe-strings, you just drill a couple of holes about an inch apart, an inch up from the bottom of the toe-cap. Go slowly: use low RPMs on the drill, or ideally, a hand-crank drill. You probably want about a 1/8" bit, maybe a little bigger if you're going to use skate lace.

Slide-plates can be purchased or retrofitted on pads by a few people (chiefly Scott Battram, who does it quite a lot). You can, however, DIY with a little effort. These are the two most detailed guides I've seen:

DIY Slide Plates

I made slide plates, and I like them.

If you know for certain that these pads will never be used on ice again, it makes things a little easier. Attaching anything to a pad permanently is much less hassle than making it removable. My advice would be to cut out the plates, then use a rotating leather punch (looks like a pizza cutter with sharp hollow spokes) to create a line of holes, then just sew the plates to the inside binding of the pad and whatever else will allow a seam.

One word of warning: stitches on sheet plastic will wear through in about four seconds unless you protect them. Grab a bottle of cheap clear nail polish and *smother* the exposed stitches on the face of the plastic. Really butter them up, leaving a nice, smooth surface. When this hardens, it'll be as tough as the plastic itself.

[dcdot377 0]

you could also get some black shoe polish and touch thoes pads up. i had a pair of black velo's and it makes a world of difference

[Law Goalie 147]

Or just replace the toe bindings...