"Better Butt End" wooden end plug?

[busdriver 6]

I prefer the feel of a pistol grip on my hockey stick.

On my old junior sticks i'd use a worn down or broken wooden blade from a street hockey stick and use it as a plug. Id start by flipping the stick over so the top of the blade faced to ground and the crook of the blade rested in the fingers of my top hand. Then I'd basically trace the outline of my hand and cu it out. This was in the aluminum stick days so I would just put the new blade in the other end.

This type of grip just feels really nice in my hand. The stick just rests nicely using hardly any grip strength. Pulling in, poke checking, and twisting while stickhandling seems to use fewer muscles in my forearms and vibration from shots are spread more evenly across the whole palm of my hand rather than coming all into the knob and whatever part it has the most pressure on. This set up may even allow taller folks to buy intermediate sticks and just use a cheap blade as a plug to bring it to the right length but I haven't tried it personally.

I'll try to post pics if I can figure out how.

I recommend this "pistol" type of grip. If you want to get an idea of what it feels like flip your stick over and hold the crook of the blade in your top hand. Notice how much leverage you have twisting the shaft. Then imagine just sanding down the pressure points on the butt of your hand until it feels like butter in your palms.

Hope this helps with someone's hand pain or helps someone get their stick dialed in.

[bunnyman666 445]

I have often wondered if there was anything against the rules for making a defenseman's version of the Curtis Curve, except it would extend the butt-end of the stick. I am thinking that one could get a stick flatter onto the ice to block shooting lanes. The pistol grip described could make a defenseman Curtis curve. Sorry for the slight hijack here.

My brain is working...

[MThockeydad 469]

wow, if you react this severely to vibration then would it be best to use wood sticks ?

i thought about doing this myself, wood is very forgiving.

Alot of people talk about wood, why? do you know where the wood that your stick is made of comes from? Do you know what type of wood your wood sticks are made of? Your looking for a custom stick? Try an Easton with an Oggie. Thats what I use and I am very, very happy. Confortable!

Unless it's some exotic rain forest hardwood, or an extremely dense North American hardwood like Maple (which I doubt it is either), wood is going to be more resilient and dampen vibrations better than most composites.

Most likely your wood stick is going to be poplar or birch or a composite of the two.

Carbon fiber is much stiffer than wood and it transmits a lot more vibration. Just a fact of the material.

There's a reason why most framing carpenters have gone back to hickory handles instead of glass and there's still a huge market for wooden oars when composites are available.

It's all tradeoffs.

Is wood heavier? Yes

Is it harder to tune a stick for a given flex or flex point? Definitely.

...but if your shoulders/arms/wrists are shot, is it worth trying wood instead of giving up the sport if composite sticks hurt your body?