First time re-lacing my glove and doing a floating T.

[OldSchoolGoalie]

I've always wanted to re-lace my trapper and do a floating T but was a bit nervous to do it. Since I'm doing a bit more ball hockey now a days I do get more pop outs and thought it would be a good time to get this done.

I've never re-laced my glove before so this was the before:

 

This is the final result:

 

I couldn't go any looser on the lace as I barely had enough left to do the final weave to secure the floating T with 120" lace. I used Wax lace as well. I noticed the T isn't as curved but not sure if that is due to it not being secured to the glove, or something with my lacing pattern or tension. My biggest struggle with this was I had to do both sides at the same time so when I would insert the lace through the T I had to clamp it with pliers to push it through. Doing it after another lace was already through just wouldn't work.

So far with some tests, the ball does indeed get locked into the pocket and even when hitting the palm if it rolls up with speed it will get lodged in. The puck also seems to fit nicely as well. I didn't really have issues with pop outs when playing ice. These single T gloves give you enough of that snap where anything hitting the pocket is secure.

Edited September 10 by OldSchoolGoalie

[OldSchoolGoalie]

Just an update!  I did a few more tests and with Ice it really works well but could be a slight bigger for the pocket. For Ball Hockey I would like to increase the size so I re-did it and floated the T much higher leaving the spine with more a curve, which gave me a deeper pocket than before. This however makes the holes too big as more distance is needed (even the stock lacing was pushing the limit for space where a puck could nearly push through, so it was no surprise here). I noticed with the Vaughn gloves they only have one hole:



When looking at other gloves like the G6 I noticed more holes and even people's images showed a very deep pocket and the lacing was perfect. One guy even made a lacrosse style pocket with a G6 which was done for Ball Hockey specifically. If my guess is correct I would just need to punch two additional holes per side giving three like this:

Then I'll be able to make a pretty deep pocket and not have the problem where my sections have too much of a gap allowing pucks / balls to go through.

I'm also going to do this with 3mm 550 paracord (black) that I picked up instead of skate lace. When I did my second test it was before a Ball Hockey game so I ended up doing it with lace again because paracord just twists and seems to be a real pain to work with, and I'll need more time to work with it.

Before this coming Monday I'll have it done and post my pictures up!

[OldSchoolGoalie]

I managed to do the re-lacing and also made two extra holes on each side. My goal here was to use paracord and I found it was just horrible to work with due to how much it would twist up. Also, I think using paracord along with having the two extra holes on each pocket side just made this take way too long. I can do this in about 40 minutes with skate lace following the stock way Vaughn laced the pocket (not using the extra holes I made). Sadly it took me just over 3 hours! The reason I added the extra holes was due to making 100% sure I would not have sections that got too big due to the increase spacing between the top of the T and the parameter. When I tried to use the single hole that was there prior in a test run the sections were all too big allowing the ball/puck to go through with ease.

My main objective was to get a deeper pocket than I had before, and I really wish I could've used lace but I had used 25ft paracord on each side (50ft), and once done I had only 11.75ft total remaining! It took me 38.25ft to do this in total (I had to cut and burn ends a lot as well because my needles haven't arrived, so I'm stuck forcing these through with needle nose pliers). The only way I could do it with lace would be to have end loops at the parameter where I would re-lace in the new set of lace when I ran out, but it might not look that great, who knows?

Here is some before and after my last re-lacing:




I then stacked a puck at the top to show the extra space now with the ball (my before one was actually more far back due to having looser laces, but I found they could space just enough for a puck or ball to get through in a few spots) - The after is a lot more secure at the back now:



Final result:



I'm not 100% happy with this and it looks a tad bit sloppy to me. The most painful parts were the twisting paracord, and having to work with both sides at the same time because it was impossible to force the cord through the T if another cord was already in the hole. I had to make long thin tips, burn them and pinch them together with my needle nose pliers to get them in and it still wasn't easy.

I'll test the glove at tonight's game, and report back.

EDIT: and of course, my needles just arrived! Oh well!

EDIT 2: Post-game... it actually worked pretty well compared to the last version I did. It is a tad bit easier to keep the ball in the pocket. I'm sure for ice hockey it will be even better.

I might consider re-doing the back part which is why I left a good amount of lace and tucked it under the wrist flap area just in the event I wanted to go back and change something.

I'm considering doing a separate section down the middle of the back of the T Spine, then doing a weave on each side so the pocket is extends more back:



It does have give where the paracord does stretch back if you use force. This is fine with ice because a puck is just going to get jammed in there. With a ball it is another story. It usually just stops around where the back ends as is, and jams up near the top. I think I might want a tad more open back on this. I just need to do a good weave to prevent any big gaps.

Edited September 24 by OldSchoolGoalie

[OldSchoolGoalie]

I ended up re-doing the back of the pocket to add some more give making the pocket a bit deeper than before.

The puck in this version goes even deeper:


Same with the ball as the added give will allow a deeper lodge:


---



I opted to put another section of paracord down the back of the spine to the parameter lacing.



It has just enough give to not leave a hole too big for a puck or ball go to through as well and will stretch back as needed.

 

The knotting isn't the most aesthetically pleasing but it is secure with a knot above and below, burned, and re-enforced with super glue. I'm much more happier with this result. I'll leave this as is until the time comes to re-do the parameter lacing. Eventually this glove is going to retire as a back up at some point as I'm not a big fan of the glove break and how it feels for closure, but I've learned a lot from this experience and have lacing down to memory.

I do have my lacing needle set as well so doing this in the future will be a lot easier and faster.

[OldSchoolGoalie]

Did a few more ice games and wow... I'm finding the latest way I did it above is now making it so I have 100% chance of getting the puck in the pocket and staying there. I've had shots hit just below the pocket on my palm and trickle in. Then I had shots hit my shoulder or left chest and drop into my palm and roll into the pocket staying there even when my trapper wasn't cupped to my chest or like a basket but in the process of me moving my glove there. Unless I have it like a yo-yo it seems to just suck up pucks with ease.

Playing the puck from the trapper is also fine, you just have to use a bit of a flicking motion, but nothing that makes it stuck when using force.

This has been a great success thus far, and I'll be doing this going forward on every trapper I buy.