Stick customisation

I'm looking to add a bit more grip on my stick, I suppose this is the most traditional way:

However, I have recently seen some players taking a hacksaw to their sticks and sawing vertical grooves on the flicking face of the stick- giving far more grip. Is this wise? Are there anymore suggestions on how to add more grip onto your stick?

glue

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-Push a rasp into the front edge, twist quickly in both directions. Repeat up face.
-Add sand or sawdust to paint and apply along the front edge.
-Buy a black ribbed knobler and unroll over the stick.
-Melt a bicycle inner tube along the front edge.
-Place a piece of coarse sandpaper tightly along the front edge and rub another piece of wood forcefully into the back of it to drive it into the face.

Never really liked the hacksaw approach, reduces the stick to puck contact area too much and tends to disrupt the puck moving smoothly along the face.

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It's not whether you win or lose - but whether I win or lose.

yeah bennys points are way better. grooves dont do anything... the only thing they may do is make a few little feathery bits.

feathering, very slight, is ok for gripping the puck, BUT feathering on the edges of your stick will affect your pass in a bad way, will reduce your consistency especially.

you certainly don't want a glossy paint finish on the passing edge of your stick, you should always use mat paint and mixing sand or sawdust in is a decent hing to try... but in general you will get a better more consistent pass when your stick is new and the edges of the stick are nice and sharp (legal ), straight and crisp.

even one little chunk cut out of the top edge of your sticks passing face will affect your consistency.

personally i dont do anything to texture my sticks, i chop em out wih a bandsaw and leave it, it textures very slightly. just make sure the paint aint too thick and it's ready to play.

the reason the dorsal fellas go on about texture is because the dorsals are good at making high shots, with not so much distance... and the way to get high shots wih dorsals is to rip your wrist and twist a lot. so more texture helps with that technique. if you just use a flat stick passing technique you dont need that texture... well its debateable that you need it at all anyway, and effect will vary with pucks, and age of pucks.

i like bennys idea about rubbing a sandpaper texture onto the face... i might try that after painting, sometimes i end up having to rub the face across the edge of a tile to break the paint into the wood texture underneath when a stick is just painted.

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Dose your glove expose any of your palm or do you have an enclosed glove?
Sometimes this can make a difference to your grip.
Cheers
Belle

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I've got an open-palmed glove, how does this affect the grip on the puck?

Thanks for the ideas guys, I think when the BOA shop has them in stock I might get some Dorsal sticks. Meanwhile I'm going to experiment at training tonight with different types of grip.

Do you use Dorsall sticks or slovenian sticks?

There are some differents between wood or plastick

Wooden sticks most time are not well painted so they dont need any more gripp
Or are not as smoot before painiting and therefore dont need more grip in the beginning.


The Dorsal sticks and slovenian sticks are made from polyuretheen and need to have some more for grip
Not by sawing groves in it. That make the sticks only more easy to break. And indeed dont give any more grip.
Try to grasp with a very fine sawblade sideways over the sticks. (that gives very fine lines)
That is the only teksture you need with polyuretheen sticks.
And the polyurethaan made sticks like the Tilburg sticks and the Wonder sticks.
(sometimes it good enof to only sand them. You dont see groves or teksture you only feel it then)
But for longer gripp we do grasp sideways with a very fine sawblade over it.
It gives gripp and gripp you need for controll the puck
(Most wooden sticks have more teksture)

But never by wood or plastick saw groves in it.

@ Belle
Do you have cut out the palm from the new glove? :shock:
That we did not have tested by that type glove.
But indeed sometimes it is nessesairy to feel the stick beter.
Some glove are to thick on the handpalm side so you dont have grip and feelling.

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Try to understand. "By winning you can losses more then by loosing.

yeah belle meant to give better grip on the stick there lewis, lots of people prefer to have their palm contacting the wood.

um, mate, personally i think you should make some decent wooden sticks or get someone to make em for you. if you like the shape of the dorsals then use them as a template for some wooden sticks, but if you are wanting your skills and pass etc to go a long way you may as well shoot yourself in the head now if you are going to use dorsals.

can i just repeat here again, the guys who use dorsals and get results, like in the freestyle video, use MODIFIED dorsals. they are thinned down and tapered and work far better than the basic design which is fat and chunky and yuck, good for schoolkids and beginners.

if you are prepared to go to a lot of trouble thinning down the dorsals after you buy them then fine, otherwise make wood sticks @ 16mm or so thick and you'll be a lot better off in the long run.

i think dorsals are great for farming out to lots of kids and beginners, dont get me wrong, but you have to realise when its time to move on to something more effective.

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it's more polite on the grating than on the subs bench

Thanks thats really useful, what wood do you use to make your sticks from?

How do styles of stick relate to the results they produce? For example what are the advantages of a slim wooden stick over a chunky plastic one?

Thanks. By styles do you mean the model off the stick?
There are many different types/models. And all are good.
it pure what you want do do (skills)
And that has nothing to do with wood or with plastick
A stick is as good as the player that used it.

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Try to understand. "By winning you can losses more then by loosing.