Are you tired of getting your gloves caught up on your hockey stick because of that tacky finish all over it? This is especially annoying for goalies. So, how do you remove that grippy finish from your hockey stick?
The best way to remove the grip finish from your hockey stick is to cover it with a light coating of clear spray paint. You can also lightly sand your hockey stick with a fine-grit sandpaper. Both options damage your stick a bit by removing the outside coating of the grip and also some paint and graphics. These methods most likely void the warranty on your stick so proceed at your own risk.
Sanding your hockey stick down to remove the grip coating or spray painting your stick are not the only ways to work around the inconvenience of having a tacky hockey stick. Read on to find out a few more ways to have a smoother hockey stick.
Ways To Remove Grip Coating On Your Hockey Stick
If you do not like the grippy finish on your hockey stick there are multiple ways to get around it. Some ways involve removing the coating while other ways involve simply covering the coating.
I will lay out some of the ways that work to remove the grip coating on your stick and talk about the pros and cons of each different method.
- Sanding the grip finish off
- Spray painting over the grip coating
- Using hockey sock tape
- Use a heat gun and X-acto knife
- Use isopropyl alcohol to remove the coating
Sanding the grip finish off of your hockey stick definitely works. We will talk about some of the details of sanding the grip off of your stick in the next section of this article but there are some cons to this method.
Sanding the coating off of your stick will one hundred percent remove it giving you a smooth surface to grip but you are also damaging your stick by sanding it. Cosmetic damage will occur to the stick. you will remove some paint and graphics by sanding your hockey stick.
These are very minor things that most players don’t worry about however if you sand too much you might affect the Integrity of the stick and even possibly change the flex rating. be cautious if you’re going to use this method and error on the side of light sanding instead of aggressive sanding.
Spray painting over your hockey stick effectively works around the grip coating on your stick. spray painting and sanding I believe are the two best methods for removing the grip off of your hockey stick so like sending we will also talk about this method in more detail later in this article.
Using clear hockey sock tape is the easiest method of working around the grip coating on your hockey stick. You can simply candy cane stripe the tape down your hockey stick. This alleviates some of the grip on your stick. This method does not remove or even completely cover the coating but for some players, the simplicity of this method is really appealing and offers enough movement on the stick to be satisfied.
Some players have tried to use a heat gun or blow dryer to warm their sticks up and use an X-acto knife or razor blade to peel the grip coating off of their stick. I personally would not recommend this method. Anytime you are applying enough heat to melt things to your stick you are going to affect the structural integrity of the stick.
The last method that some players use is isopropyl alcohol to remove the coating from their hockey stick. This method may work but it totally depends on how the grip coating is made. It also has the potential to gunk up the stick if you don’t spend the time to remove the coating completely. if you’re curious if this method will work for you I would suggest trying and rubbing a bit of alcohol on a small section of the stick to see what happens.
How To Sand Your hockey Stick To Remove Grip Coating
Sanding your hockey stick is a great way to altogether remove the grip coating on it. as mentioned above you will damage your stick a little bit so you should proceed with caution.
It’s my suggestion that you use really fine grit sandpaper and that you wet sand your hockey stick.
There are different levels of sandpaper and the so-called “fine grit” Sand papers start at 100 Grit. I believe you should go super fine and start sanding with something in the 500 to 600-grit range.
you can begin by either spraying your hockey stick with a spray bottle full of water or you can get a small bowl of water and dunk your sandpaper in it. Wet sanding is less abrasive which I believe is better because it reduces the risk of damaging the Integrity of the stick.
Wet sanding with fine grit sandpaper will definitely take longer and be more work than dry sanding with lower grit sandpaper but I believe the benefits far outweigh the cons.
How To Paint Your hockey Stick To Make Your Stick Feel Less Tacky
Painting your hockey stick to work around the grip coating is actually a genius method. It is easier to do than sanding and does not actually damage your hockey stick.
Instead of actually removing the coating you can just cover it up. Like in Big Daddy when Adam Sandler just throws some newspaper over little Julian’s throw-up.
Most players will use a clear coat of spray paint. Something like Rustoleum clear coat matte finish.
The key to this method is to LIGHTLY apply the paint to your stick. There is no need to really put a heavy coat on your stick.
Error on the side of not enough. You can always add a little bit more but it is a real pain in the butt to remove the paint if you have added too much.
Now, this method is not always permanent. The light coating of paint will eventually wear off. The good news is, you can simply reapply another thin layer of clear coat.
The only con to this method is that you will slightly…..very slightly increase the weight of your stick. For most of us beer league players this is not going to matter.
Why Does My Hockey Stick Have A Grip Coating?
Grip coatings are on sticks to allow for a better grip. That’s a very obvious statement but why do you want to have a really good drip on the stick? It does seem really annoying when you want to stick handle the puck because when stick handling the puck you want to move your bottom hand freely around the stick.
However, you do not want to ever drop your stick. That is one extremely obvious reason for the grip coating on a hockey stick. The other, maybe less obvious reason, is that with added grip you get more power and control over your shots.
When you go to shoot the puck your bottom hand should be firmly planted and gripping the stick in a downward motion, forcing the stick into the ice. You do not want your bottom hand to be sliding around at this time, so added grip assists you with keeping your power-generating hand in place.
Should I Remove The Grip From My Hockey Stick Shaft?
There is no right or wrong. Having a tacky or grippy stick is a personal preference. Grip coatings are placed on to hockey sticks to give players more control and power over the puck however, some players find it too restricting when stick handling.
If you really do not like the grip coating on your stick, my advice is to just buy a stick without a grip coating.
But if you are too deep and can’t afford a new hockey stick, or maybe you are cheap like me and don’t want to buy a new stick after just getting one there are ways to remove the grippy coating. As long as you don’t have an issue with voiding the warranty on your stick go ahead and remove the coating by either sanding it off or spray painting over your stick with a clear coat.
I would avoid using a heat gun and a razor blade to remove the coating. If you want a super simple way to work around the grip coating, you can use hockey sock tape in a candy cane pattern all the way down the shaft of your stick.
