Making my own wood replacement blades

[dw91 0]

I know pretty much the whole process, but i was wondering if anyone has actually tried this themselves, and where a good place to get the wood would be. i dont think a hardware store would have exactly what you need, would they?

[Ital79 0]

If you're looking for high quality timber - go to a music instrument store that makes/knows who makes custom guitars. Chit-chat a bit and find out who supplies them with wood. Another place to try would be antique furniture stores that also do restorations. They'll know who to contact.

Next you have to find a supplier of resin...and not that stuff that's been sitting on the shelf for ages at a hardware store. The secret to good epoxy resin is to use stuff that is no more than 30 days old. Select Products out of Florida has the good stuff & will sell retail...it'll cost though. The real fun part will be fashioning a hot press and female mold to curve the blade and hold it in place while the epoxy cures & shrinks. Good luck with that!

[chikinpotpie 138]

I am reminded of Homer Simpson's "Wunderbat"

[dw91 0]

thanks for the encouragement^^ lol. i have big ideas. this one struck me as a fun project. ive got plenty of workspace, so there will be room to make a press

[CH_Hockey12 0]

Not a bad idea.

Seems like it should work, I really don't see why it wouldn't.

POST PICS WHEN YOU DO IT! :D

[dw91 0]

heck, i might even make custom patterns for teammates, for the right price :P

[mack 44]

We have this guy's blades and the other guy's wife who can make gloves, so who's doing skates?

[minwookie 0]

I guess I can piggy back on this topic. I'm doing some custom curves on retail woodies. The fiberglass wrap peels off when I put too much heat on them, guessing because I'm vaporizing the epoxy that held it there. Anyone suggest a good epoxyresin I can buy at homedepot to reattach the wrap?

The real fun part will be fashioning a hot press and female mold to curve the blade and hold it in place while the epoxy cures & shrinks. Good luck with that!

I guess since I'm here I can add some input. You could make a press mold small enough that you can insert it into an oven. That way you don't really need to work out the logistics of a hot press. I'm getting ideas now....

[westcoastsniper 0]

I think the wrap is a sort of one time thing, and that will probably also have to be replaced, I remember the first aluminum two-piece that i got (blue with yellow lettering, it was a jr.). the blade I got was so crappy that it just sort of peeled off after a game or so, I remember getting dad's epoxy and layering it on there then I put it in the oven like a coach said he did to curve his blades.

needless to I think we ordered in chinese that night

[minwookie 0]

I think the wrap is a sort of one time thing, and that will probably also have to be replaced

I don't know. The engineer in me thinks that if it can be placed, it can be replaced. Especially when it comes to binding two different materials. Only reason I can't see it working is if the epoxy that is between the weaves of the wrap don't bind properly to the added epoxy. Seeing as the wrap gets malleable when heated and stiffens when cooled, I feel hopeful that it will work.

[Ital79 0]

Anyone suggest a good epoxyresin I can buy at homedepot to reattach the wrap?

The stuff they have at Home Depot & auto parts stores is complete crap. But if you're hellbent on getting an over-the-counter resin...get a 5:1 Epoxy resin. That's 5parts resin to 1 part hardener (by weight - not volume). The garden variety fiberglass repair kits & resins are just not up to snuff; they bond poorly & can do really weird things when they cure.

For the best stuff; contact Select Products.

For OK stuff; 5:1 Epoxy will work

[WSjo22 1]

We have this guy's blades and the other guy's wife who can make gloves, so who's doing skates?

I'm in the process of a homemade cure for a depth issue on my One95's if that counts lol

[Chadd 916]

We have this guy's blades and the other guy's wife who can make gloves, so who's doing skates?

Well, we could just place an order.

http://www.skatetrigold.com/ice/web%20page18.htm

[Keith 0]

They are making cheap, pitiful skates using the purefly tooling? How tragic...... It's like putting an engine from the worst Renault into a Ferrari.

[Chadd 916]

They are making cheap, pitiful skates using the purefly tooling? How tragic...... It's like putting an engine from the worst Renault into a Ferrari.

Older style vectors too

[Rustpot 1]

I think the wrap is a sort of one time thing, and that will probably also have to be replaced

I don't know. The engineer in me thinks that if it can be placed, it can be replaced. Especially when it comes to binding two different materials. Only reason I can't see it working is if the epoxy that is between the weaves of the wrap don't bind properly to the added epoxy. Seeing as the wrap gets malleable when heated and stiffens when cooled, I feel hopeful that it will work.

The fiberglass wrap isn't getting formed, only the wood. That's what leads to delamination, as well as boiling the underlying epoxy/resin holding the reinforcing wrap to the blade.

I think it was Dave at Christian who explained it to me; Most companies use layers of composite pancaked onto the blade, as you recurve it those layers are slipping along the surface and you get the corners or the deep of the curve coming off. Couple that with low-temperature resins and you've got a blade that loses all structural reinforcement at 250 F.

[Keith 0]

They are making cheap, pitiful skates using the purefly tooling? How tragic...... It's like putting an engine from the worst Renault into a Ferrari.

Older style vectors too

That's just brutal...

[Law Goalie 147]

We have this guy's blades and the other guy's wife who can make gloves, so who's doing skates?

Well, we could just place an order.

http://www.skatetrigold.com/ice/web%20page18.htm

That's depressing and hilarious at once.

Kind of like a Canadian Tire skate sharpening - which is, I'm sure, where these skates will end up.

[JR Boucicaut 3808]

We have this guy's blades and the other guy's wife who can make gloves, so who's doing skates?

Well, we could just place an order.

http://www.skatetrigold.com/ice/web%20page18.htm

That's depressing and hilarious at once.

Kind of like a Canadian Tire skate sharpening - which is, I'm sure, where these skates will end up.

I love their booth at the Vegas show. They knock off every skate's look.

Keith - just a knockoff, no tooling.

[minwookie 0]

Just got back from the hardware store. Got some 22 gauge sheet metal, a few 2x4s, angle brackets and braces and some wood from some old shelves. Time to make a custom toe curve mold. I'll take pictures.

[dw91 0]

you sir, are very ambitious :)

[minwookie 0]

So I just finished the final iteration of my custom curve maker.

Unfortunately I stopped taking pictures after the first hour because I made so many modifications to the original design. I lacked the hardware to do exactly what I wanted with the wood and metal, so I just sort of settled for a custom curver and not a blade maker. I'll post photos and a write up in the next few days after I pump out a few curves and am satisfied with its current state of existence.

[Jarick 5]

I just did my first successful curving, taking a flat Christian woodie (clearance for $10 at a LHS), heating the heck out of it, and bending in a table vice. Nice little toe curve.

Has anyone been able to shave down a JR standard blade to a SR tapered? I was looking at some Montreal blades (they last forever and have a nice toe curve), and they look like they might be a bit thicker than SR in one direction, but possibly a bit narrower in the other. Anyone have the dimensions?

[JR Boucicaut 3808]

So I just finished the final iteration of my custom curve maker.

Unfortunately I stopped taking pictures after the first hour because I made so many modifications to the original design. I lacked the hardware to do exactly what I wanted with the wood and metal, so I just sort of settled for a custom curver and not a blade maker. I'll post photos and a write up in the next few days after I pump out a few curves and am satisfied with its current state of existence.

Should've just gotten this -

http://www.procurve.ca/

[Neal 41]

So I just finished the final iteration of my custom curve maker.

Unfortunately I stopped taking pictures after the first hour because I made so many modifications to the original design. I lacked the hardware to do exactly what I wanted with the wood and metal, so I just sort of settled for a custom curver and not a blade maker. I'll post photos and a write up in the next few days after I pump out a few curves and am satisfied with its current state of existence.

Should've just gotten this -

http://www.procurve.ca/

The Procurve is a great tool, but it isn't a full custom curver. Without multiple heat and set operations, you can only add or remove curve at one spot.

I'm curious to see what minwookie came up with.