What to do about blade maintenance?

[Xtra 0]

I ran into a post not too long ago that vaguely mentioned something the pro's do about blades that are splitting.

With great luck - there was a S17 in the trash can of my local hockey rink ( sharks practice facility ). It's a BROWN s17 back from when he was on the sharks. It's in fantastic shape! Used, but come on... lol it was sticking out of the bin.

So the shaft has no cracks on it. Some goo for grip, but that's easily taken care of. The blade from Toe to about 1 inch left of the heel is in great shape. No cracks, chips... you name it.

Now, that ONE INCH looks like it can be patched up - But I don't remember with what. Basically, the lamination of the blade, on that 1 inch, seems to have come undone and the carbon exposed. There is a bit of chipping of the carbon where the lamination has come undone( it's not splitting ). Now, before I tape this up...

I know there is a special type of material or tape I can buy to over lay it on that one inch but my memory sucks right now.

What is recommended for this? - I am not going to send it out into the repair shops to get this little inch worked on - so leave that out from the pointers you all come up with :)

[Giroux28 0]

maybe some epoxy or something

[goodguy 7]

I put some super glue in mine and it seemed to do the trick. Have to check it every so often and maybe reapply a coat.

You got me thinking and I am currently testing some PC11 Marine Epoxy on another stick - I will let you know how it works.

Also (saw this on another forum - this would only apply to a large exposed gap I assume):

... Can you carefully pry it open it to see inside? there should be a visible core. Sometimes the foam core breaks down... If the core is intact, cool, get a "syringe epoxy" from Canadian tire. While you've got it pried open (use a Popsicle stick or something to keep it open) Liberally Inject the epoxy inside the crack along both sides of the core. when you think you have both sides coated, Pull out the popsicle stick and it will close with the epoxy inside. Gently Clamp it closed with a couple of wood clamps. Not too tight and be careful that the epoxy doesn't drip on the clamps. Leave it over night and un-clamp it in the morning. Some excess epoxy may have squeezed out. That's OK, you should be able to use a hand sander, or file to clean the drips off. you could then finish sand by hand....

[Xtra 0]

I'm gunna try superglue because this is something I actually have in my garage.

But the epoxy will do the trick for sure. The stick isn't split to where you can pry it open. It's just chiseled through the carbon. Epoxy, I know for sure would patch that bad boy up.

Super glue will do the job long enough for me to be able to acquire some epoxy from my local hardware store.

More input is definitely welcomed. Thanks for the responses so far, though.

[Darshu 0]

http://www.uscomposites.com/epoxy.html is a good place to get professional grade epoxy if you really wanna go nuts.

[vitaminZ 0]

fiberglass tape and epoxy

[fatwabbit 93]

just make sure that you use clamps. The trick to getting a solid fix would be the clamping force... without it, the epoxy wont achieve the full potential of keeping the split together.

also, 3M makes really good epoxy, but its pretty darn expensive.

[jimmy 194]

Epoxy by itself is not very strong and is only a very temp fix. A stick repair place should be able to fix that for about $15 using carbon fibre and epoxy. For the DIY'r use fibrebglass sheet and epoxy avail at Wally world.

[Xtra 0]

I have plenty of other sticks to where I wouldn't be using this particular S17 on a consistent basis, so the do-it-yourself-epoxy patch up will do just fine.

- Also, I'm aware places will fix them for a small fee. The only problem is? There isn't one near me. Not in this state? Duno if that's going overboard but regardless -- shipping charges are iffy especially to and from and then the labor charge... might as well save some money to cover tax on the S19 :D