Sanded pro stock sticks

BigNumber1Centre

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Mar 19, 2010
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Alberta
I saw some Oilers game used sticks today and I was wondering why some of the these guys (I think it was Horcoff and Visnovsky) sand the shafts at the bottom near the blade. Can someone explain this to me? Is it just to add more grip to it?
 

SenzZen

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Jan 31, 2011
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I don't know, but I'll float a possibility out there:

Maybe the defects break right away if you sand them down. I know there's a fault point in that area of the stick, and maybe the flawed ones can be found out by removing the outer layer?
 

ponder

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Jul 11, 2007
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Are you sure the blades were actually sanded down? It's very common for pro stock sticks to have a sort of grippy/sandy coating applied to the blades. If so that coating is mostly for more grip on the puck in areas of the blade that you don't tape, and I guess it could give the blade a slightly more dampened feel too.

If you're talking about guys who actually shave/sand down the heel, that's much less common, and is apparently done for easier stickhandling near the heel, though I doubt it would be much of a noticeable difference for most of us. Kovalchuk definitely does this to his sticks, a few other guys too, but it's way less common. Here's one of Kovy's sticks:
ake32c.jpg


I've never heard of anyone actually sanding the whole blade.
 

BigNumber1Centre

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Mar 19, 2010
753
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Alberta
Are you sure the blades were actually sanded down? It's very common for pro stock sticks to have a sort of grippy/sandy coating applied to the blades. If so that coating is mostly for more grip on the puck in areas of the blade that you don't tape, and I guess it could give the blade a slightly more dampened feel too.

If you're talking about guys who actually shave/sand down the heel, that's much less common, and is apparently done for easier stickhandling near the heel, though I doubt it would be much of a noticeable difference for most of us. Kovalchuk definitely does this to his sticks, a few other guys too, but it's way less common. Here's one of Kovy's sticks:
ake32c.jpg


I've never heard of anyone actually sanding the whole blade.

No the blades were not sanded. It was the bottom of the shaft before the heel that was sanded. It seems like an odd spot on the stick to be sanded down since you don't put your hand there all that often and certainly not during play.
 

ponder

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Jul 11, 2007
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You sure it wasn't just a z-tac style of sandy coating over the whole heel/blade, that you couldn't see on the blade because of tape?

If they actually just sanded down a small area of the shaft really close to the heel/blade, I've never heard of anyone doing that. The only reason I can think of to sand down the shaft near the blade would be to lower the kick point, though it would also likely really reduce the stick's durability (not as important for pros who can use a new stick every game, though).
 

RobertKron

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Sep 1, 2007
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You sure it wasn't just a z-tac style of sandy coating over the whole heel/blade, that you couldn't see on the blade because of tape?

If they actually just sanded down a small area of the shaft really close to the heel/blade, I've never heard of anyone doing that. The only reason I can think of to sand down the shaft near the blade would be to lower the kick point, though it would also likely really reduce the stick's durability (not as important for pros who can use a new stick every game, though).

That would be weird, too, though, since they can often get custom flex profiles.
 
Nov 26, 2010
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Alot of pro's like to sand down the bottom of their blades to get a different lie on the stick and the way that it touches the surface of the ice.
 

ponder

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Jul 11, 2007
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That would be weird, too, though, since they can often get custom flex profiles.
Pros like to make tonnes of little mods on top of the custom options they get so things are really just how they like, for example a lot of guys will tweak their curves with a torch even though they can get custom curves.
Alot of pro's like to sand down the bottom of their blades to get a different lie on the stick and the way that it touches the surface of the ice.
Apparently these sticks were sanded down on the shaft near the blade, not on the bottom of the blade.
 

BigNumber1Centre

Registered User
Mar 19, 2010
753
8
Alberta
You sure it wasn't just a z-tac style of sandy coating over the whole heel/blade, that you couldn't see on the blade because of tape?

If they actually just sanded down a small area of the shaft really close to the heel/blade, I've never heard of anyone doing that. The only reason I can think of to sand down the shaft near the blade would be to lower the kick point, though it would also likely really reduce the stick's durability (not as important for pros who can use a new stick every game, though).

I don't clearly remember if the blade was sanded. I do however remember that the bottom half foot or so of the shaft was sanded.
 

IDuck

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Sep 26, 2007
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were they both the same type of stick (i.e. eastons, etc.)? i think senzzen would make a lot of sense if that were the case.

other than that i have no idea, i tried thinking of reasons like as a PK stick etc. and cant other then they would sand it and put some coating on it for some weird reason, but that far down doesnt make any sense....it is interesting though and has me wondering
 

ponder

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Jul 11, 2007
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Vancouver
I don't clearly remember if the blade was sanded. I do however remember that the bottom half foot or so of the shaft was sanded.
Just had another idea, maybe this was done as an alternative to spray painting the blade/lower shaft a matte black? A fair number of guys will spray paint the blade and lower shaft of the stick matte black because they don't like any sort of glare down there from a glossy finish, lightly sanding down the clear coat would probably have the same effect.
 

Dr GLU

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Mar 1, 2002
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Northern Hemisphere
I have had a few Zubov Warrior sticks that were sanded at the fuse point of the stick (roughly 6 inches up the stick's shaft). A lot of OPS are actually a shaft and blade fused with epoxy. I assume that he (or the EQM) would sand down the paint over the fuse point to check for anything that might cause the stick to fail early there (air bubbles and the like).
 

BigNumber1Centre

Registered User
Mar 19, 2010
753
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Alberta
were they both the same type of stick (i.e. eastons, etc.)? i think senzzen would make a lot of sense if that were the case.

other than that i have no idea, i tried thinking of reasons like as a PK stick etc. and cant other then they would sand it and put some coating on it for some weird reason, but that far down doesnt make any sense....it is interesting though and has me wondering

They were both Easton. Horcoff's was an SE16 and Visnovsky's was I believe an S17.
 

IDuck

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Sep 26, 2007
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They were both Easton. Horcoff's was an SE16 and Visnovsky's was I believe an S17.
i would think it would be checking for flaw's in the stick (mostlikey the joint)...just makes the most sense to me

edit...and if the stick doesnt look like it was used at all there may just be a reason for it...just in case you are in that spot and buying it to play with it
 

BigNumber1Centre

Registered User
Mar 19, 2010
753
8
Alberta
They did look like they had been used a bit. I'm not sure about the average life of a stick in the NHL. Wasn't interested in buying either of them. The Oiler blade curve that I like the most is Smid.
 

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