Flex and Durability

[SCOMPL 14]

A stick's flex rating is the amount of pounds of force it takes to flex the shaft one inch. My question, for anyone well versed in stick construction, is does the flex rating affect the durability of the shaft? Or is this number simply a "feel" factor?

My initial thoughts are that a bigger or stronger player using a very low flex may over-flex the shaft beyond its breaking point. On the other hand, a stick with a higher flex is not as flexible, and may break under lower loads because the material is not as flexible; more brittle.

I've seen guys that weigh 20 pounds less than me snap their 100 flex shafts in half on a snap shot, and I've yet to break a 75 flex shaft and prefer to take a lot of slapshots. Anyways, food for thought. Let me know what you guys think.

[Stewie 721]

I don't have the scientific knowledge on that subject, but I haven't noticed a difference

[Sliwka 0]

Carbon fibres are can be very bendy. I flyfish a lot. This is a video if a pencil thin fly rod.

Sure not a perfect analogy, but I have tended to believe a lot of breaks happen to bad format. How many sticks per NHL game are broken? (honest question)

[guitarfreek92 7]

it all depends on the amount of weight you actually put into your shot and how much "drag" your blade has

[Souldriver 64]

Well I wouldn't say carbon fibers are bendy. But they do, what they are designed for. For rods and sticks they have flex in them for obvious reasons. For things like the truss rod in a guitar their job is to stay stiff and straight and counter any movement the wood naturally wants to make.

But back onto subject, in another thread it was stated that people that break sticks break sticks, and those of us that don't, dont. I won't say it's bad form with the nuances and differences in everyone's style it does stress a stick differently.

[Chadd 916]

Some people use a shooting form that results in more down force than others. I theorize that it often comes from using sticks that are too stiff when they were younger. Those people tend to break more sticks, especially if they try to go to a lower flex as that form does not work well at all with soft flexes.

Short version, it shouldn't matter within the same general classification (senior, intermediate, junior), the more important issue is usually shaft wall thickness changes between the classifications.