Taping Sticks

[maxamillion 3]

I've done the same generic knob since i was about 10, and I kind of color coded my sticks haha, my thornton curves have white tape, and the lecavalier's have black. Black friction on the blade from toe to heel, and a little wax melted in.

[Somemeat 0]

heel to toe..white tape (compo-stick only!) and then wax..i usually cover the toe but sometimes dont

[reyno2ac 0]

Heel to toe then back to heel. Decent amount of wax because they don't resurface the ice for beer league. For the nob I wind up some tape into a roll and criss-cross it down then back up so its got an "x" pattern, then tape over twice. Give me a minute and I'll grab a picture...

[dumbpolak9 1]

white,, no wax, usually 9 times around the blade with normal tape ( luckey number) and 4 or 5 times with the extra wide tape. then taking the puck and rubbing it leaving puck marks

[RetiredTender 0]

Heel to toe.

Cover about 5/8 of the blade.

Cover toe only when it is a rounded toe blade. If square, stop about 1 cm from the toe.

Knob, wrap around end of stick 13 times for small bump/knob, work it down to cover the shaft similar to the Kovalchuk pic poster earlier.

White tape for everything.

Mr. Zog's sex wax to top it off.

[cammerz12 0]

I use white tape on the knob. For practice I use whatever tape is floating around the locker room and games I use black. lately I've been taping toe to heel, never really noticed a difference in feel or snow build up. I also use the sex wax on the blade.

[thejackal 46]

white or black, heel to toe the whole blade. rub bottom against locker room floor, rub puck against the tape to flatten it out a bit. for the knob I rip the tape in half widthwise and make a small knob only

[Jarick 5]

Currently,

Blades - 1" black cloth tape (prefer Gear), heel to over the toe (cut off excess), spacing overlap depending on the blade (more wraps for more cushion), wax, then heat gun to melt the wax.

Knobs - 1" black tape on black sticks, white on colored, wrap the end of the stick maybe 15 times to make a knob, rip about a foot of tape lengthwise, roll up half and spiral down the shaft (I make sure it spaces between my fingers), then tape over it.

I just put on a Tacki Mac ribbed texture on one shaft, but it seems pretty thick and the knob is too short. Going to try out the Tacki Mac ribbed wrap to see how it compares to my tape job.

[AHF 1]

For the more visual (like me), here's pictures of my tape-jobs:

Nice and simple knob. Working in a store, I get to see a lot of fucked up tape jobs, and a lot of people don't seem to know how to tape their butt-ends properly. <_<

[acthomas 0]

i do kinda waht kovalchuk does, about the middle of the blade all the way to the toe. folded over at the toe to make it look clean (if anyone knows what im talking about lol), white tape on the blade and knob with red grip tape on the knob as well

[Rustpot 1]

For the more visual (like me), here's pictures of my tape-jobs:

Nice and simple knob. Working in a store, I get to see a lot of fucked up tape jobs, and a lot of people don't seem to know how to tape their butt-ends properly. <_<

I hate that! The knob that looks like they tried to make it double wide or a bulb and failed. Tape peeling off, shredding, used to be white but is now a mix of black, yellow and grayed white. WTF is that? I also don't know how people can use just a single layer of tape, no knob, no grip to it at all. Maybe my big hands just need something bigger to hang on to so I beef the ends of my sticks up.

I'm particular about the knob size (slightly larger than the ribbing), direction of ribs (CCW looking down the stick), and the general "feel" of the grip job (rib spacing, rib height, rib hardness, etc). The more I like a stick the more time I will take making it and the more often I will redo the grip. The XXXX and 9k were fresh in this pic, the SE is gone. I've gotten compliments on my grips and have had guys ask me how I do it. It probably takes me 5-10 minutes and most of my sticks are almost identical save color and length/# of ribs.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/rust...ar/IMG_0871.jpg

[gelowitz 0]

Knob: Buy a roll of tape, split it into two halves. Exactly how JR does it, but with tape instead of a Tacki-Mac.

Tape: Mid-heel to toe, cut off excess at the toe.

All white.

[TBLfan 25]

For the more visual (like me), here's pictures of my tape-jobs:

Nice and simple knob. Working in a store, I get to see a lot of fucked up tape jobs, and a lot of people don't seem to know how to tape their butt-ends properly. <_<

I hate that! The knob that looks like they tried to make it double wide or a bulb and failed. Tape peeling off, shredding, used to be white but is now a mix of black, yellow and grayed white. WTF is that? I also don't know how people can use just a single layer of tape, no knob, no grip to it at all. Maybe my big hands just need something bigger to hang on to so I beef the ends of my sticks up.

I'm particular about the knob size (slightly larger than the ribbing), direction of ribs (CCW looking down the stick), and the general "feel" of the grip job (rib spacing, rib height, rib hardness, etc). The more I like a stick the more time I will take making it and the more often I will redo the grip. The XXXX and 9k were fresh in this pic, the SE is gone. I've gotten compliments on my grips and have had guys ask me how I do it. It probably takes me 5-10 minutes and most of my sticks are almost identical save color and length/# of ribs.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/rust...ar/IMG_0871.jpg

Yours actually bothers me because of the colors and the lack of consistency in length. :P

Don't mind the watermark, went a little watermark crazy one day. :)

[Rustpot 1]

Yours actually bothers me because of the colors and the lack of consistency in length. :P

Don't mind the watermark, went a little watermark crazy one day. :)

I'm going to use your grip in a week or so when I finally get on the ice and can try out that Sickick I got from you. The stick might need an extra inch, but I'm just curious as to how I'll like it. It looks very weird to me, can't really tell how you went about making it to get it so rounded and the wrap layer to fit so well. It's very nice, just not for me I don't think.

This is what part of my collection looks like. The SE is probably my favorite of the bunch, I got bored living in Philly with no ice so I redid a few to experiment. The Ballistik, Dolomite and SE are good to go, though I'm probably going to redo the Ballistik with a different plug that sits more flush to the shaft. The white TPS is too thin overall, the ribs don't stand up enough. The black TPS is too disproportionate, not enough ribs and too soft with a large knob. The Montreal just feels off (probably the shaft size). The Fuel was done using the 1.5" Andover you sent me and the ribbing is too high and the overwrap tape won't contour properly, and I used some cheap tape another member tossed in a box for the knob that is too thin.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/rust...ar/IMG_0056.jpg

Too anal about some things, not so anal about others :). I'll probably order a box of tape in the next few weeks and go nuts.

[TBLfan 25]

My only problem is I need to clearcoat it so it will stay white! haha. The rounding is a trade secret. ^_^

I've tried your taping method and I actually didn't mind it but I think I might have had to adjust the knob width for some added comfort. I hold the stick more in my fingers than in the palm so that might have something to do with it.

I'm pretty anal about my taping, but I also am just used to it enough that they all come out the same way. Unless there's a long plug in the stick, they all come out to within a couple MMs of length just out of habit... Now if I could just figure out how to keep the tape on the toe from splitting so quickly. <_<

[Jarick 5]

Wax? How about wide cloth tape folded over?

I did the wax-melt-wax-melt-wax thing last night and my blade didn't get torn up at all. I also put a strip of tape along the front of the blade to help cushion the puck, but it probably didn't do anything.

I'm picking up a couple different Tacki-Macs tonight...enjoyed the last one and want to try the ribbed one now.

[K9 Unit 1]

For the more visual (like me), here's pictures of my tape-jobs:

Nice and simple knob. Working in a store, I get to see a lot of fucked up tape jobs, and a lot of people don't seem to know how to tape their butt-ends properly. <_<

lol my butt ends like that if u flip it over...with the knob at the bottom of that tape job and not as big of a knob...i prefer it that way for some reason...

[sensrock15 0]

I tape mine Heel to toe, different lengths. Example, the first wrap around the blade I go far away from the first wrap, then I go close, it looks bad, but I guess its a bit of a superstition. I also write some sort of saying on my Tape (White tape) with a postal marker. I am actually running out of Ideas, any suggestions?

[Rustpot 1]

I'm picking up a couple different Tacki-Macs tonight...enjoyed the last one and want to try the ribbed one now.

I've been meaning to pick one up, I either don't remember or the shop doesn't have them. I have a feeling they're going to be too tacky for me, but if they're pretty much the same as what I'm making I'll try it. But with how anal I am about how they feel I'm just skeptical. I was telling Joe from Oggie Grips to make one like my grip that you could sand the knob down on to get more customization out of it, we'll see if he thinks it's a good enough idea ;)

[Jarick 5]

I'm picking up a couple different Tacki-Macs tonight...enjoyed the last one and want to try the ribbed one now.

I've been meaning to pick one up, I either don't remember or the shop doesn't have them. I have a feeling they're going to be too tacky for me, but if they're pretty much the same as what I'm making I'll try it. But with how anal I am about how they feel I'm just skeptical. I was telling Joe from Oggie Grips to make one like my grip that you could sand the knob down on to get more customization out of it, we'll see if he thinks it's a good enough idea ;)

I'm really picky about my tape jobs, but for this one I just thought "to hell with it" and gave it a shot. It does add a lot of thickness though. I want to try the regular wrapped/ribbed to see if that's any thinner.

It's really grippy, but I actually kind of like it. I think that when I shoot, the impact rotates my stick slightly, which causes me to lose power and reduces accuracy. Last night, my stick wasn't rotating AT ALL, and as a result my shots seemed to have a bit more power and accuracy, especially with slap shots. Usually I wind up and hope it stays down on my goalie in warmups, but I could actually steer the puck low corners or five hole. Also, the extra grip and larger diameter seemed to allow me to loosen up my grip, which might have helped too.

EDIT: I should note that I never realized the stick was rotating before, and last night I could feel the resistance of the grip/palm stopping the rotation. I also felt like the shots were coming off stronger, and they were definitely hitting the boards/pipes/glass harder. A couple teammates noticed as well.

I noticed last night I had the end of the stick a little higher up in the palm, like I was gripping more stick. Probably just because it's a different tape job. Normally I have two fingers below the knob, ring finger against it, and pinky on top. I think last night I just kind of grabbed it with all four fingers. So another theory would be that the additional grip from the texture and the different position of my fingers is giving me more stability.

Who knows. It was a bit strange but I played well, so I'll keep going with it.

[Fourth Line Grind 0]

I've been meaning to pick up a tacki mac, my LHS only sells the sand grip though, is that the thick one?

For my tj I usually just use cloth tape and tape heel to just about the toe, although since I'm using a wood stick it would likely be smarter to cover up the toe to reduce chipping or wetness.

Edit: Also use Zogs wax on my blade after, usually not in excess just enough to keep my tape job clear.

[TBLfan 25]

Wax? How about wide cloth tape folded over?

I did the wax-melt-wax-melt-wax thing last night and my blade didn't get torn up at all.

Do that, always tear it up after the 1st use. <_< Which is odd because the rest of the tape job lasts about 3-5 uses, with repairs(the wax makes cuts fix-able).

[sabres48 0]

No knob, just about 4-5 spirals down at the top...then heel to an inch before the toe, end the tape either on the backhand or forehand, no discretion, but the end of the tape always points 45 degrees towards the shaft.

[habookus 1]

I usually switch patterns every once in a while, and find that different blade patterns/sizes need different tape jobs to feel good on the ice, for me anyways. For instance, the Sakic blade, which is a large blade in width and length, I find I can't do a full tape job heel to toe because it feels too blade heavy, so I'll tape half or 2/3 of the blade. On the other hand, with a smaller blade like the Iginla or Smyth I'll probably tape the whole blade, because it feels right. So for me it depends on what shape/size the blade is to determine how i tape it. I'm very picky about how balanced the stick feels.

[AHF 1]

Tape peeling off, shredding, used to be white but is now a mix of black, yellow and grayed white.

Bahaha. That's exactly what I had in mind when I mentioned fucked-up tape jobs. You go to remove the knob in order to put a plug in, only to find out that below the layers of black tape is a layer of green tape, which covers electrical tape, which covers white tape. :lol:

Oh people. ;)