Stick Science - Shooting Strings

Submitted by Walax on Fri, 2006-04-21 16:30

Features

Last time I talked about how to string in the mesh in a stick. This time, we will show you how to string in the shooting strings, completing the stick.

With shooting strings, it is a lot of personal preference and experimenting. The best way to learn what shooting strings and where they should be located in each stick you string is just by trying out many combinations. Here, I will focus on the two most common types of shooting string: the hockey lace and the nylon shooting string. They are both strung the same way but have different feels:

Hockey Lace: a softer more giving feel

Nylon Shooting String: a crisp snap feel

Generally, hockey laces are used in the bottom two or three shooting strings and the nylon shooting strings are used in the top one or two strings.

You want to string in all shooting strings with a gradual approach, meaning each shooting string should get tighter. Once you have tried this, play around with each string’s tightness to develop different feels in the stick.

Here are the materials I used to string up this Gait Torque:

First, I will show you how to string a hockey lace. I cut the 96” hockey lace into three equal 32” laces and burned the edges. Then I started weaving the hockey back and forth through the mesh like so:

I continued going back and forth until the string and mesh looked like so:

Then, staying in the same row, I doubled up this pattern using the opposite side that I did in the picture above. In other words I went from the top part of the row in one hole to the bottom part of the row on the next hole over.

***Note: I put these hockey laces around the plastic. I do this because it holds the pocket to the plastic in even more places, helping to make it easier to tighten the shooting strings without distorting the pocket. It is also a commonality to see the hockey laces tied to the outside of the mesh.

To do a nylon shooting string, it is the same thing. Here are a couple pictures to follow:

Something that has become very popular in today’s game is the “v” strung with hockey lace. Players and stringers alike cite the accuracy and control of a “v” as the reason why they string these v’s into their stick. The “v” is strung the same way as a straight hockey lace. The only keys to remember are in the original set up. Make sure that your “v” is even by counting the number of holes on each side of the “v”.

Here are some pictures that show me putting a “v” into a stick: