blade that won't crack easily

[chelster 0]

Hey everyone, I don't usually post but I'm hoping maybe someone can offer me some advice. I've been playing inline since I was a kid and somehow I've had the luck to never break a blade. i'm female so fortunately nothing gets to rough which probably helps. but my boyfriend is new to the sport and has had the bad luck of breaking 3 blades in a period of about 4 months. the first one was a rbk 2k that he broke practicing slapshots and it cracked right in the heel/hosel area. i think his slapshot technique was to blame as he's just learning. the second was the blade that came with my old easton ultra lite. i think it was kevlar and the bottom wore down, the inside started to fall out, and the blade got really weak. then someone borrowed the stick and while he was using it, a goalie fell right on, and it bent into two sections. the last blade was another rbk 2k, and was kind of a fluke. we live in mexico and there's no decent rink in the area so we practice at a basketball court that is made of several cement slabs. my boyfriend wasn't paying attention, had his stick on the ground, and the blade found it's way into a crack, got stuck, and my boyfriend skated into the stick, causing the heal of the blade to crack. it seems to be wood in that area which probably made it more susceptible to breakage

so i am hoping someone can suggest a blade that won't be so easy for my boyfriend to break. we're not really concerned that much about the bottom of the blade wearing down as he's going through them so fast right now just breaking them...he never even gets a chance to wear them down. would a composite blade be more durable than wood in the heal of the blade? I also noticed these on inlinewarehouse: http://www.inlinewarehouse.com/descpage-MZB.html Never seen them before, but they're relatively cheap, and maybe the plastic wouldn't crack so easy? we'll probably get him one blade to use for practice and another blade for games so performance isn't really an issue. i think any blade would be better than a cracked blade at this point...

Thanks!

[fatwabbit 93]

Any abs blades should be alright. Koho Ultimates are not bad for the price, and Koho Crossovers are fantastic. You might want to try the RBK 1k, and Easton makes decent ABS blades as well.

You didnt mention which surface you play on?

[mhkehoe 1]

The KOHO Crossover for an ABS blade should stand up to some major punishment. I would not recommend the Easton ABS blades for someone with a bad technique on a slap shot. Easton changed how they build the blades at some point, and the fiberglass seems to separate from the ABS if you take anything but wrist shots.

If you are on an indoor surface, composite blades could work, but I don't think they would solve the issue much.

[AIREAYE 248]

I think the first instance of cracking at the heel could be that the stick is too long for him, combined with a bad technique, the heel comes in contact with the ground more often than the rest of the blade bottom

[camhockey16 5]

honestly ive used the rbk 2k blades a lot and never had that happen to me - and i shoot slapshots a ton. I would bet AIREAYE is right and that his stick is too long for him or there is something weird with his technique.

[wetwilly17 6]

a LONG time ago i stockpiled my favorite outdoor jofa blades. i only have two left. they consisted of a wood hosel and the blade was a laminate of fiberglass wrap - wood - abs core - wood - fiberglass wrap. they were by far the best performing outdoor blades i've seen (and i used a lot). they were stiff, light, had decent feel, and lasted forever.

does anyone make a blade similar to this anymore? basically a wood blade with an abs core.

[chelster 0]

Thanks for the replies, very useful info!

Regarding the surface, due to lack of adequate facilities, we train on an outdoor cement basketball court, but it's not well maintained. There are cracks betweens sections of the court, and basically what happens is if you're not careful, as you're skating, your blade gets stuck in a crack, and you end up skating into the end of the shaft putting a ton of force onto the blade and causing it to break. Tournaments are held at standard outdoor rinks (no weird cracks in the surface), and the surface is usually smooth or coated cement. But I'm not too concerned about the tournaments because he could probably use one blade for training and another blade for tournaments. I guess I'm most concerned about a blade that can withstand some force in the heel/hosel area because that's where they seem to break when you skate into a stick like that. I almost broke a blade that way once or twice, but I managed to brake just before I would have done some damage. I think an issue is even on the 2k which i believe is partially abs, that area is made from wood so if I could find a blade where that part of the blade were better reinforced it would probably help.

About the slapshot, he definitely didn't have good technique when he broke the blade the first time and I think he was hitting the ground to far behind the puck. It probably had something to do with the flex as well. He's using an senior ultra lite stick I bought when I was younger and had no idea about flex and only shot wrist shots. It's rated as 100 flex, and he only weighs about 140 - 145 pounds though he's about 6 ft tall. Since breaking the blade practicing slapshots he's pretty much avoided them, and the stick seemed to be working fine for other shots, passing, and stick handling. I think his stick might be the right length for him though I'm not an expert. It comes up to just slightly below his chin on skates. Would he need something longer?

One issue is gear is difficult to get here and usually about three times the price which is one of the reasons he hasn't gotten a new stick. But when I go home to visit my family in New Jersey in June I'm going to buy a ton of stuff to bring back. So if it's worth getting a new stick, we'll definitely think about it. Any recommendations? The thing we like about the ultra lite (probably at least 10 years old) is it's pretty much indestructible. I use an ak27 now and I haven't had any issues really and the performance is good, but the ultra lite really feels like it's unbreakable. It's also a lot easier to change the blades on. The ak27 can be a hassle when the blades that very slightly in size as it's a very tight fit and I have trouble sometimes even using a heat gun whereas with the ultra lite I could change the blades with just a hairdryer. Probably has something to do with the different materials. Do they make anything like the ultra lite these days?

The Koho Crossover blades and sticks look good, but I can't find the right blades in stock anywhere online. Same with the sticks. Everything seems to be lefty. Anyone know what the deal with that is?

Edit:

Actually, I just found the crossover here: http://www.hockeygea.../koh22cros.html

Anyone have any experience with them? I usually like to stick to inline warehouse when I can...

[pby 0]

wall of text

koho was bought out so they're not as common as they used to be. the rbk 3k fiberglass blade is the closest substitute to the crossover followed by the 2k. personally did not like the 2k blades because it torqued much more than the crossover blades, had alot of trouble getting hard shots out of them.

as for crossover blades, if only used them indoor so cant tell you how well they'd do outdoors. however i can say ive only broken one 2260 by the hosel and they definitely very durable as far as blades go.

[nyrmetros 0]

I use the RBK 2k ABS blade. It is the only blade that I will use. Sometimes the blade will crack and I get pissed, and other times I will just wear it down to a natural death. At some point, you will get either a good batch or a bad batch of the same blade.

[fatwabbit 93]

Any chance you could use cheap wood sticks for practice and then those other shaft/blade combos for games?

[savethechief2011 0]

Any chance you could use cheap wood sticks for practice and then those other shaft/blade combos for games?

that would be a good idea if you can find the curves or you could use a cheaper blade in prac.

[davidc 0]

i used an easton zetterberg blade recently and had the laminate separate after about 4-5 sessions.

a little dissapointing.

i have 3 more left. hopefully it was a bad one since i do like the curve.

i used to have a montreal blade that was abs core but wood on the outside. that blade was strong and took a beating and lasted a while.