Secrets to saving on hockey accessories

[Thesensation19*]

The official thread to discuss all matters of saving $$$$ when it comes to hockey accessories and maybe equipment.

For example, one question I have is about the skate stone. Its some kind of material that looks easy to obtain. Has anyone ever used anything cheaper. Like actually obtain a large portion of the material its made from and make small pieces so you dont have to constantly buy one and what not.

Another is hockey wax. Can regular candle wax be good enough? Any other wax better to use but cheaper than the $10 for 1 piece of hockey wax you can buy at a pro shop or that new stupid coloring crayon of a wax their selling lol.

I look at companies like hockeymate? and they sell skate stones, helmet kits and what not and im wondering if there is any way to go around the crazy prices. Like helmet kit is about $10 bucks, maybe more. But go to a hardware store and buy a better screwdriver for under $5 or use one from ur garage lol. Screws, my dad has 10000000 but I also can obtain a handful of free ones at differ pro shops or buy a bucket of them at a hardware store for under $2.

Stuff like this boys!... and girls

I also was wondering if there is any company anyone has heard of where you can buy a huge amount of tape for the cheap. Its freakin tape. And best deals I find are like $10 for 3 pack. I am sure somewhere in Asia their is a company selling a box for $20 lol


Sorry if this came off weird, but I am sure we can all discuss the secrets behind saving money on equipment and accessories here. Lets try to be mature. Obviously posting something "put on your own visor and you save $10" wont get us anywhere.

 

[Thesensation19*]

Lets not leave this to just saving $$$$ but innovative ideas. A object that you found to be better than wax but legal for hockey. A better visor cleaner.

Look at underarmour. They put in foam pillows in their clothes and it became literally equipment for every sport especially contact. Is there any other ideas you guys ever thought about that maybe you dont have the power to do, or have the power yet.

Companies selling equipment for cheap. Keep in mind shipping and quality!

 

[Thesensation19*]

Cheap Hockey Tape

Made a whole thread on the secrets to cheap accessories and equipment and our lil hockey secrets but seemed it didnt take off.

So basically I have a question about Hockey tape now.

Its tape. I know its thicker than most tape but there has to be a company out there somewhere that sells it on the cheap. Best deal I found so far is $10 for 3. I found cheaper buys like $10 for 6 or 8 on ebay or something but than the shipping costed much more!

Anyone know of anywhere I can purchase in tri state area or online cheap tape. Somewhere in Asia there has to be a factory making tape like this and selling it like for $20 a whole box

 

[Thesensation19*]

There has to be... But besides tape. What do you guys use to keep your shin pads tight and your socks nice and fit.

Hockey laces? Anything better?

 

[Vip]

I know some guys that just use hockey laces. I prefer the clear tape but like you mentioned it gets pretty pricey sometimes.

 

[greyraven8]

for shin pads - elastic shin pad straps with the velcro closures.

something like this:
http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/5/SportsRec/2/HockeyIce/HockeyShinPads/PRDOVR~0832555P/Shin+Pad+Straps.jsp?locale=en

 

[Lonny Bohonos]

Electrical tape.

Most flexible than clear sock tape.

 

[American in Paris]

I like this thread. I'm a long-time hockey deal-hunter and DIY maintenance/repair kinda guy. Here are a few of my tricks:

1) Stick wax. Yes, candle wax works very well. But you have to melt it into the tape. I light the candle and let drops of wax fall all over the blade. Then I wave the blade over a gas stove to remelt the wax. This causes it to be absorbed into the tape resulting in a durable, completely waterproof tape job.

2) Tape. Look for deals and buy in bulk. I just found a closeout deal on a German website for 10 rolls for 6€. Even better, buy generic cotton athletic or medical tape. It's basically the same stuff and can be found at even lower prices.

3) Sticks. I know there are many partisans of the OPS on this site, but the shaft/blade combo is by far the most economical option. I've already broken 1 shaft and 4 blades this year. I used to buy the expensive carbon blades (on clearance of course) but recently I've gone back to wooden blades and I find that I like the feel just as well and that the difference in weight has no impact on my play. I'm finding good quality wood blades online for between 5-10€ (clearance of course). I got a Reebok 5K shaft on clearance for 25€ earlier this season. I simply can't understand how people can spend 200+€ for a consumable item like a stick. Also, I try to always have 4 shafts in my arsenal. I buy 5-6 blades at a time when I find a good deal. This way I never need to rush out to buy a stick after breaking one.

Taping and waxing the blades will extend their lifespan considerably. But I also look for knicks and chips on the blade and shaft. These I cover over with a little epoxy glue which forms a tough protective coating and stops a chip from progressing into a full blown crack.

4) Skates. I use t-blades. You'll find a variety of opinions on this site, but I love them. I like the autonomy of being able to change the blade to get a perfect edge when and where I want. I like that I can instantly change from a deep to shallow hollow - for example when temps rise in the spring, the ice at our rink gets a little softer. Most of all, I like that my cost of having sharp blades is much lower. I also use a stone and a Skate Mate sharpener. These can extend the life of a blade considerably.

5) Visor anti-fog. I wear a cage now, but back in my visor days I used the Rain-X anti-fog product instead of the expensive hockey specific stuff you see in the LHS. It was about 1/10 the cost. Other guys just buff a little shampoo on there and say it works well too.

5) DIY repairs.

5a) I got a new helmet this year (online clearance of course) and despite having carefully measured my head discovered that it didn't fit very well. Front to back was fine, but side to side it wobbled. I guess I have a narrow head. I keep a box full of materials on my hardware shelf including a number of high-density foams. I cut several pieces to precisely fit inside the helmet and stuck them in place with hot glue. I then shaved them to precisely fit the angle of my head at the contact point (a picture here would help). The result is a custom fit better than any stock helmet I could have found at the LHS.

5b) Sewing. The armpad on my shoulder pads ripped off earlier this season. I stitched it back in place using a special heavy duty needle and a 20kg test heavy duty thread. I fixed my shinguards and my shinguard straps the same way. Also fixed the velcro strap on my elbow pads like this. I never automatically throw something away just because it breaks.

Some people will argue that I'm cutting corners at the expense of my game. I would respond that the performance differences (eg. OPS verus shaft/blade combo) are marginal while the cost difference can be huge. Better to spend that money on getting extra ice time. I'm playing 4X/week this year up from 1X/week three years ago and my game has improved more than I imagined would be possible. I'm getting complements from teammates about the visible progress. Of course playing more often makes your equipment wear even faster, so these DIY tricks become even more important.

 

[Ozz]

I buy used gear whenever the deals are there. Saves a heck of a lot more than a few bucks on accessories here and there. A couple that I can remember:

- shin pads for $35 that were retailing at the time for $100-120
- inline girdle and pants for $20 each, retail at the time for each was $60+ (pants were decently used, but the girdle was as good as can be)
- RBK inline skates for $150 that were retailing at the time for $400-450. They and the wheels were practically mint
- CCM ice skates for $40 that fit me very comfortably. Didn't even have to bake them and never had a blister. Just so comfy. They were a bit old but I looked up their cost and it was a couple hundred back in the day.
- ice pants for $5 at the rink pro shop (matches my team colors, too!)

...and I'm currently playing with an APX stick that I found broken in half, and had repaired with SRS stick repair for $30. Can't beat that and you can't even tell it's a repair.

 

[Jarick]

The official thread to discuss all matters of saving $$$$ when it comes to hockey accessories and maybe equipment.

For example, one question I have is about the skate stone. Its some kind of material that looks easy to obtain. Has anyone ever used anything cheaper. Like actually obtain a large portion of the material its made from and make small pieces so you dont have to constantly buy one and what not.

Cough up for a good skate stone or honing stone. You don't want to scratch and dull your blades to save $2. Even most hockey shop stones are terrible. Two stones for $12 shipped will last you forever.

Another is hockey wax. Can regular candle wax be good enough? Any other wax better to use but cheaper than the $10 for 1 piece of hockey wax you can buy at a pro shop or that new stupid coloring crayon of a wax their selling lol.

Wax is usually $3-4 for a puck. If all you want is waterproofing, go to the hardware store and get some paraffin wax from the canning department. You can get a pound of it for $5 and that will last you 5-10 years. But it's slippery, not sticky.

I look at companies like hockeymate? and they sell skate stones, helmet kits and what not and im wondering if there is any way to go around the crazy prices. Like helmet kit is about $10 bucks, maybe more. But go to a hardware store and buy a better screwdriver for under $5 or use one from ur garage lol. Screws, my dad has 10000000 but I also can obtain a handful of free ones at differ pro shops or buy a bucket of them at a hardware store for under $2.

Yep, go grab some of your dad's old screws and strip the **** out of your helmet and watch them rust!

I thought I was clever and got some screws from the hardware store, they rusted out at the end of the season and I couldn't get them off the helmet, had to buy a new helmet and cage. $150 to save $2.

Just go buy helmet screws.

I also was wondering if there is any company anyone has heard of where you can buy a huge amount of tape for the cheap. Its freakin tape. And best deals I find are like $10 for 3 pack. I am sure somewhere in Asia their is a company selling a box for $20 lol

Check out Howies Hockey Tape, you can get a box of 30 rolls of tape that will last you for years for about $75. A lot of shops will do bulk discounts. Ice Warehouse does $1 off for six rolls. Their prices are about $1 per roll cheaper than most shops, so buy enough stuff to get free shipping and you're coming out ahead.

 

[CornKicker]

i know alot of guys that use electric tape instead of sock tape. but sock tape is made for hockey.

stick wax is not just for waterproofing it is to add extra grip to the blade for control and eliminate snow build up.

helmet screws are designed not to rust or wear. i wouldnt use anything else.

the reality is that hockey is an expensive hobby, in most cases where you cheap out on something it will end up costing you in the long run.

one thing that does work though is pledge on visors instead of that little tiny bottle of whatever they sell at the store. I have used pledge on my visor for 3 years and its still in great condition. as do most guys on our team.

also i have a great recipe for making soap if you want that for the showers after.

 

[TUCKER 06]

An idea which occured to me was to use a strip of clear shin-pad tape along the top and bottom of my stick where all the slashes, hacks, and stick-lifts occur. I found that it prolonged the life of my OPS enormously. It acts kind of like the clear 3M Stone-Chip Guard tape that people have installed on the hoods of their cars.

I replace the tape after a few games. Even after weeks of use, the stick looks brand new under the tape and since you're using clear tape, you don't even notice it on there. The other beauty part about the clear shin-pad tape is that it can be stretched to fit the contours of the stick where the shaft meets the blade.

I've never seen anyone else do this, but every guy I show it to thinks it's pretty darn genius.

 

[jaysoneil]

Dunhams Sports has tape on the cheap. It's either a 6 or 8 pack for $12. About the only thing that store is good for. But like others have said, any cloth tape will do. Especially if you're caking it in wax. Wax is personal preference, some want grip and others just use it for water repellent. I've always been a Mr Zogs fan, $3 a puck, but any wax works.

Whatever you do, buy in bulk. I still have a ton of wax and tape left over from years ago. Just don't let your teammates know you're loaded, or they'll hound you like gypsies.

 

[cptjeff]

An idea which occured to me was to use a strip of clear shin-pad tape along the top and bottom of my stick where all the slashes, hacks, and stick-lifts occur. I found that it prolonged the life of my OPS enormously. It acts kind of like the clear 3M Stone-Chip Guard tape that people have installed on the hoods of their cars.

I replace the tape after a few games. Even after weeks of use, the stick looks brand new under the tape and since you're using clear tape, you don't even notice it on there. The other beauty part about the clear shin-pad tape is that it can be stretched to fit the contours of the stick where the shaft meets the blade.

I've never seen anyone else do this, but every guy I show it to thinks it's pretty darn genius.

I do that around the edge of the blade before I tape it up, but never thought of doing it on the shaft before. Probably just because my blades always die before the shaft anyway, so I never had reason to care.

 

[CornKicker]

Dunhams Sports has tape on the cheap. It's either a 6 or 8 pack for $12. About the only thing that store is good for. But like others have said, any cloth tape will do. Especially if you're caking it in wax. Wax is personal preference, some want grip and others just use it for water repellent. I've always been a Mr Zogs fan, $3 a puck, but any wax works.

Whatever you do, buy in bulk. I still have a ton of wax and tape left over from years ago. Just don't let your teammates know you're loaded, or they'll hound you like gypsies.

lol yep and then you always get the inevitable time where you run out and have a hoard at home and you have to bum some tape cause you didnt reload your bag

 

[Beville]

Shower gel is a good Visor cleaner, imo.

 

[AcidJazz]

...and I'm currently playing with an APX stick that I found broken in half, and had repaired with SRS stick repair for $30. Can't beat that and you can't even tell it's a repair.

This is brilliant. There are a couple of places around my town that do composite stick repair with "Carbon Fiber/E-Glass Hybrid, Vacuum Infused Repair Process". Same tech used to fix airplanes. This video kinda blows my mind thinking it's too good to be true:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cyzcriSA38c

Is there much difference in flex after the repair? I've heard that it raises the flex point up 5 points.

 

[Jarick]

My local PIAS has some repaired sticks for sale. But they look way worse in person than the ones I've seen online. Not sure if the performance is the same or not. Just makes me so leery of picking one up. Especially since they're so overpriced at close to $100 each.

 

[AcidJazz]

My local PIAS has some repaired sticks for sale. But they look way worse in person than the ones I've seen online. Not sure if the performance is the same or not. Just makes me so leery of picking one up. Especially since they're so overpriced at close to $100 each.

I'm not too concerned with looks as long as it performs close to the original. That sir, is an insane price point. My dealer will sell the broken repaired sticks for $65, which is quite reasonable considering the price of sticks here in Canada. The ultimate steal is to be lucky like Ozz and find a broken APX.

 

[CornKicker]

My local PIAS has some repaired sticks for sale. But they look way worse in person than the ones I've seen online. Not sure if the performance is the same or not. Just makes me so leery of picking one up. Especially since they're so overpriced at close to $100 each.

i wouldnt pay $100 for a used broken stick when you can hit up craigslist/kijiji and get a new pro stock one for the same price.

 

[Ozz]

This is brilliant. There are a couple of places around my town that do composite stick repair with "Carbon Fiber/E-Glass Hybrid, Vacuum Infused Repair Process". Same tech used to fix airplanes. This video kinda blows my mind thinking it's too good to be true:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cyzcriSA38c

Is there much difference in flex after the repair? I've heard that it raises the flex point up 5 points.

I don't know, honestly. I'm not too hip on my flexology as I've been an aluminum stick user forever and even recently. They say it changes the flex, possibly up to 5 points, but I can't tell compared to my other composite stick which has a similar flex. I'm sure those who are more in tune w/their sticks could probably tell, but I sure can't.

As far as weight goes, the APX still feels like a feather compared to my 4K Sickick III. Another player on my team has an APX and I held them side by side last weekend. I couldn't feel a weight difference so whatever it is, it's negligible.

 

[jsykes]

There is no way a repaired stick will flex the same as a new stick. When you're adding material into a random place on the stick it will affect the flex of the stick and how it performs, there is no way around it. Those sticks were designed and manufactured with specific amounts of material in specific places so that the stick would flex a specific way. Anything you do to alter that will alter the flex.

Now, whether it bothers you or if you even notice or not is a different thing and it may be fine, however, you're not going to be able to repair an APX and have it flex the same as an off the shelf one.

 

[Ozz]

There is no way a repaired stick will flex the same as a new stick. When you're adding material into a random place on the stick it will affect the flex of the stick and how it performs, there is no way around it. Those sticks were designed and manufactured with specific amounts of material in specific places so that the stick would flex a specific way. Anything you do to alter that will alter the flex.

Now, whether it bothers you or if you even notice or not is a different thing and it may be fine, however, you're not going to be able to repair an APX and have it flex the same as an off the shelf one.

Meh, I just said I can't tell. I have no way to measure either so it makes no difference to me.

 

[n3gkiwi]

Sometimes cheaping out / buying in bulk doesn't always help. I got a mix pack of tape from Walmart and both the stick tape and sock tape are horrible. First quarter of the sock tape rolls. the adhesive is all wonky and barely sticks. The stick tape I pretty much replace every game to every other game (and that's with tons of wax). If you count time as money, I'm wasting more each time I tape my stick.

 

[leftwinger37]

I can totally see both sides of this argument. I'm pretty thrifty by nature, so I got by for a good number of years doing everything on the cheap. Then I got a real job, got some debts paid off, and all of a sudden I could afford better equiptment. At first I went crazy buying stuff just because for once in my life I could. Once I got that out of my system, I settled into a happy medium of buying stuff that I want without breaking the bank.

There's no secret to it other than having the discipline to not to pull the trigger on every impulse to buy. For what it's worth, these are my golden rules:

1.) Do comparison shopping... Lots of it. The more you know about the market for what you want to buy, the easier it will be to spot the best price.
2.) Don't be afraid of ebay. I've found a lot of affordable rare and desirable items by scouring ebay.
3.) Don't overpay on ebay. I've overpaid for a lot of rare and desirable items by scouring ebay.
4.) Buy used. Hockey players are fickle beasts and you can snatch up lightly used gear very cheaply.
5.) Coupons are your friend. Watch sales and combine coupons to get the best deals.
6.) Stock up. When you see a good product at a good price, buy in quantity. When I was broke I started a "war chest" so that I didn't have run out to the pro shop/wait for a new _______ to be delivered.
7.) Didn't like it? Not using it? Sell it. Not only does it get rid of clutter, but it frees up cash for your next purchase. A lot of people do not have the patience or the resources to sell on ebay/craigslist/message boards, but it's really just as easy as putting a flier up the local rink or talking to the people you skate with.

These aren't really secrets and some of this has already been mentioned by other users. However, I believe that it is useful information.