It’s winter here in Northern Virginia and my sons discovered a strange and wondrous sport of the North:

Hockey!

To help them become familiar with the game, we’ve watched a few movies, plan on attending a game or two and we built a pair of matching shafts to fit a pair of hockey blades.

This is a quick technique to build a shaft with minimal tools. Shafts built with this technique can be used in tool handles, lacrosse sticks, shovels, poles, furniture, etc. Very approachable for young makers if you buy approximate sized lumber.

DIY Street Hockey Sticks

Tools:

• Hand saw & miter box, or table saw if you have access to a wood shop.
• Bench Plane, the larger the better. Bench planes are usually 8” and longer.
• Block Plane, a small, hand size plane for fine work, usually 6” in size and smaller.
• Wood Bench with a Wood Vise.
• Round Stock Jig & Clamps, such as F-style bar clamps or pipe clamps.

Materials:

• Square or rectangular hardwood stock, as long needed. The shaft must be made out of hardwood, such as ash, maple or oak, for strength.
• Hockey blades. Ours were cannibalized from a broken gift of a Franklin Sports Floor Ball Starter Set.
• Sandpaper
• Boiled Linseed Oil & Wax Finish
• Athletic Tape.

Assembly:

1. Dimension stock to size, if needed, using hand saw and miter box or table saw. The shaft must be made out of hardwood, such as ash, maple or oak, for strength.
2. Sketch the profile of our socket (the hole of the blade) onto the end of the shaft.
3. Secure the work in a vise. A small jig, such as the one below, can be made to help secure round stock with clamps. This jig is useful when sawing dowels also.
4. Using the bench plane, shave the corners down. Continually rotate and adjust the jig to round over the stock, until the socket profile emerges. Leave the stock slightly oversized at this stage.
5. Use the block plane to fit the shaft to the socket.
6. Secure shaft with epoxy or other glue formulated to stick plastic to wood. ThisToThat.com is a great resource for glue questions.
7. Sand to 120-grit, a medium-fine texture. We are looking for something smooth yet grippy, so don’t sand too high. Make sure there are no splinters.
8. Rub in a boiled linseed oil & wax finish such as Tried & True, Briwax Creamed Beeswax or even Howard’s Feed-n-Wax.
9. Tape your edges with hockey tape as needed.

Thank you for your continued support.

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