How to Make Composite Hockey Sticks

Three considerations that usually determine the effectiveness of a hockey stick are stiffness, lightness and responsiveness. While you want to avoid flex in a stick blade, a certain amount of flex is desirable in the stick shaft. When players shoot, they contact the ice before the puck. As they do, so the stick bends and energy is stored in the flexed shaft---it is released to produce power in the shot as players follow through and make contact with the puck. Providing players with a stick that produces optimal flex-power while ensuring durability and easy handling has been the primary goal of innovative stick makers for decades. Experimentation with different manufacturing processes and materials has led to the modern production of composite sticks, which provide players with an advantageous combination of stick strength and stiffness as well as lightness and responsiveness.

Things You'll Need

  • Kevlar, graphite or other comparable synthetic fibers
  • Binders such as polyester, epoxy or another polymeric resin
  • Stick blade
  • Shaft mold
  • Heating press
  • Hot glue
  • Clamp
  • Rubber plug
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Instructions

    • 1

      Wrap several layers of your chosen synthetic fiber around a mold in the shape of a stick shaft. Most contemporary stick makers use composite fibers that have been pre-saturated in epoxy resin; this helps the fibers bond.

    • 2

      Heat and press the unfinished stick shaft. There are several ways to do this. Conventional methods include placing the fiber-wrapped shaft in a mold of a similar shape. The composite material can then be pressurized and compacted by applying hydraulic pressure to the shaft, by using vacuum pressure to force the composite material against the mold or by using an inflatable device to force the composite material to push against the mold.

    • 3

      Attach the finished shaft to a stick blade by coating the peg on the end of the stick blade with hot glue and clamping it into one end of the shaft. Insert a rubber plug into the other end of the stick shaft. Leave the finished stick to dry.