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Brians Subzero catcher refurbish


ArdeFIN

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Had some projects in between but nothing so fancy I'd write up something of them.

Now I thought it would be nice-to-know basis of a Brians Subzero glove.

There are some differences to Gnetik 5.0 glove but except for the skin it's very much the same structurally.

Subzero is a different angle and the pocket style is a bit different to Gnetik but that mostly comes from the break angle too.

Overall feeling of the glove is very Brians-ish which I like a lot. There are those finger loops for pinky and thumb that I need to have (Gnetik5.0 doesn't). Those loops kind of mold the glove to my hand.

Basic issues are there for a long time Pro glove, plastics have some damage, jenpro and some stichings are worn and laces are worn too. Not surpricingly the insides of the glove are in a good shape with usual filth and smell but nothing is worn to mention. Few outer velcros are to be changed which implies the glove has been dried somewhat constantly.

I'm personally biased towards the Vaughn gloves a lot, and also the Simmons one is very much what I like. Hopefully I can add this Subzero to my glove rotation too as I've liked Brians gloves earlier, I have Gnetik5.0 and DX2 on the racks.

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This one has already been dismantled, washed and some reparations are done. Quite excited about it. Brians gloves are sort of rarity here in Finland. Those who have'em tend to keep'em and new gloves are quite expensive.

 

Edited by ArdeFIN
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Some minor things that needed attention:

Wrist strap was broken some day, or the buckle to be exact. Fixed with nice and quick "tie a new buckle with strap" to the end of the original strap.

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Now it's taken apart for washing so it's easy to also attach the buckle to the strap as it is meant to be.

Thumbnail has driven it's way through fabric, foam and to the plastic which has stood up 😁 The round Brians logo on the outside is also gone and needs something to cover the hole.

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Fabric isn't easily replaced as it's sewn around and covered with binding also. So take it apart as much as necessary and get the job done properly.

New fabric includes soft foam and I didn't replace that HD foam. I don't think it's needed there, hopefully I'm right about this one.

Fabric is from an old CCM or Bauer thigh pad and feels nice to finger as much as it's needed to. Rest will stay at place when the lacing is done. Some holes for the laces still are to be done when I find the right places, there were interesting design in the placement there.

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Brians logo had to go, I was planning for a B-star logo to replace but it didn't work out so I adopted the ice shards theme somewhat and it is now like that.

Few holes are to be done here too. The two originals were hidden under the black spike and were way too close to pocket side and thumb, pulling the plastic and jenpros over each other at the pocket edge. That should be corrected with new hole placement later on.

IMG_20201014_114439_16x12.thumb.jpg.833533e56c690d59e8221accc0e1f950.jpg

 

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Continuing with the thumb area, again an interesting design flaw.

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The thumb loop from the palm view point, and next one from outside.

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So the thumb loop should come through that neoprene fabric to make a straight way out. 

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Not that much to say or show, make one hole and cut that thumb loop a bit so it can be tightened enough when going through that neoprene which will limit the loop motion from now on. 

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Then a small finger stall operation to give more room for my long fingers. Remove a stiching and replace it further. My fingers just reach the edge of the jenpro and now there is enough room there. Brians seems to make short'ish finger areas as I have a Zero G blocker which is with short finger space too. Othervise there is ample room for the hand. 

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Same from inside. Notice the green geltec slice there protecting index finger.

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One picture of the new thumb plasting being made. It isn't 100% straight copy from original once again but extended a bit there and cut shorter there.

IMG_20201014_115516_16x12.thumb.jpg.05821629ed4dc56a4cc9bccd9a9801a3.jpg

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Once again so into the doing of it that I forgot to take any pictures.

It is going back together, I got the plastic done and it formed out very nicely except for the cup shape at the wrist. It didn't like any of my attempts with heat gun so I just used a torch to melt the plastic a bit and then used flat pliers to mold the the soft plastic. Looks awful but should be fine at that spot.

Here's few pictures, one about the palm strap that didn't have enough space to tighten around my skinny hand and the velcro on the other end had torn some binding. Now it's 10mm farther and the other end is an inch shorter and doubled up to form a tab.

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The only spot that needed jenpro on this one is the classic boot of the T. Binding hide quite a bit of the added part but that's not too bad. Should do the job.

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Some threads were worn out and those were re-sewn for optical reasons.

There has been some issues with the rebuild process and those will be reported here tomorrow or so and with pictures.

 

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There was some difficulties putting the inner lace and get everything lined up. Or not everything, but the holes for the lace on every layer. Oh well the problematic layer is the inside against palm.

On the picture you may notice some pulling on the left side and what cannot be seen is that the lace is routed very different from the original atleast from what I remeber about that and had a few pictures. But with pictures before and all I just couldn't get it done the way I would've liked.

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The glove and break are working very well though so I'm just battling myself to leave it be.

Here's one from the palm on outside, the lacing is not as it should, lined with break to edge of the glove.

This also affect the perimeter lacing or the other way around as there is a huge shift with material and holes for the lace. It was so far off that it looked like there was two parts that weren't even meant to be together. And there they are.

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Here's one of the cuff attached. I like the Subzero theme a lot, simple yet it "has something going on"...

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One from the above. And fixed the strap, only thing giving the fix out is clear white thread that's not smudged yet.

Also added one ½" layer of soft LD foam in the cuff plate as the original HD foam had been flattened and there was some extra space inside  and looked a bit floppy. Now the covering jenpro is tighter and fit.

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One last picture showing that there is a bit of a problem getting all that finger area material in. It might have something to do with the small slice of 4mm foam I added to finger area. But the whole finger plastic seems somewhat too big and it's the original one without any modifications. It's being pulled byt the lacing overnight to see if it's only jenpro had shrinken a bit and could be returned to original state. If not I'm just have to cut a few millimeters of the edge to make it fit. It'll most probably last longer on the edge if it's not overly tight there.

IMG_20201022_193835_16x12.thumb.jpg.58e512db2f6e4d8c726642a059481443.jpg

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Had to add this one too 😃

The lacing in the middle is done with single lace but it would work a lot better with two different laces, one for each "U"-turn. Then I could tighten up the inner one and give some slack for the thumb side lace as it determines the thumb plastic and protection positioning and affects the glove operation too. I don't understand the design idea behind this lacing but it's difficult to modify as it goes through all the layers. Inside (palm-thumb) jenpro is the most difficult to cover two holes and make new ones next to them and that covering jenpro tab is just where it gets a heck of beating from pucks.

(You can see the loose loop in the picture above is the one next to the thumb. The other loop only goes through plastic but not jenpro for some reason)

IMG_20201022_193858_16x12.thumb.jpg.79dc45a6769ee23421ad7832c1109454.jpg 

This project will have to take a rest as the T needs some new jenpro and I don't have big enough part. And also my supplier is waiting for shipment to arrive.

I'll have my time and take a look at one CCM Eflex3 blocker if I can redo the Warrior palm installation. And some repairs too.

Edited by ArdeFIN
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  • 1 month later...

Ooh my beloved Subzero! Here we go again!

So finally the jenpro shipment is in and I've waited for so long that I almost run to garage to continue with this one.

Using the old sheet as a model I drew the outline and cut it out with a few mm extra to make sure. Jenpro does shrink a bit mostly on where it is bent or sort of flattened. It'll return with a slight stretch but it's difficult to draw the outline while stretching the sheet by not too much.

Then some sewing and while there I added a new leather inserts inside the lip and sew the ends together to make a flat and thin edge to catch those low flying puck too. And it just looks better to me that way than the original style with fat bulk.

Inside the pocket view with only one hole punched yet to try it on:

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Outside view, notice the hole markings "1" and "x" that help me find the original positioning of the T. Similar markings were made all over the glove when taking it apart. Will help a lot when things are going back together as there are those odd shifts and positions that can be restored with these markings. And also help if a change is desired on something. There were more marked holes on the T but those are in the old sheet, still returnable though.

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I never did add any pictures about fixing the boot end of the T but you get the idea from these pictures. Small jenpro pads added on both sides and sewn together. Edges are under the binding as usual to make a clean look.

And final picture from a tryout, T is still without plastics, boot not tied in at all and both lip ends just stuck there the best they go with lacing done a bit too far:

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The pocket looks huge I think, and the thumb end is too much inside the structure. The finger side is nice already but thumb side is a ballooning oddly. I might do an additional sew through the whole lip at the edge to make it tight, just for the visual effect. But first I have to punch the holes and fit it to the final position and see how it works then. And also make the plastic supports there, those might have some effect too. It's been a while since I was this much excited about a glove but I do like the feeling. Oh man! 🤩

Edited by ArdeFIN
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Not so much for today. It's getting into the shape, T is fitted in with plastic supports in. Boot is yet to be done but now that I know the setup is working well it is quickly done. Now it is going to get tight literally but hopefully not too much as there is quite a lot of tightening to be done to stuff all the padding in. And it's possible that it then transfers to operating the glove, now it's like butter, not my Simmons like butter, with good feeling in it. Would be desirable for it to stay that way.

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I actually did quite a lot of work for this little achievement of getting the T mounted.

First I started with correcting the sewing done eyesterday. Nothing big once again but doing for myself it would've haunted me if I didn't do it. After that I noticed that I want to cut a a bit off from the pocket side of the T, some more sewing and cutting and then the T was ready for binding to sewed back on. That once again went ok'ish... Now with completed T part I was ready for the scary part of project, installing the T and see if it works at all and how well.

So to begin I dismantled the laces so much that the T fitted in. Then checked for the hole positions for the thumb end. Fitting, close-open glove, re-fitting, ... Then punch some holes and lace the end in. Then notice that the lace is too short but there is reserve in the other end so pull that lace through the glove. Good. Now start fitting the fingerside. A few more fitting, open-close, re-fitting, ... It's good mark the holes and punch. Lace the whole thing back together to see if it still works.

Notice here! It is a world of difference whether you close the glove with your hand in th glove or just push it together with both hands outside the glove! This same thing has to be noticed when working a new glove break in.

Ok where was I, yes the glove is working. Now I'm only missing those plastic supports from the T. Measure and cut 2mm plastic sheet, clean edges and open the lacing from thumb end. Slide both plastics in from there and lace the T back together.

Wrote this endline for you to get the idea that when I post a few pictures and short story of the project you think that I've done it in no time and just like that. I do make a lot of f**kups, mostly just the small ones luckily and they are repairable. Then it takes time and patience to redo those parts in the right way. Those are the ones I usually don't take any pictures of 😁

But the results usually pay me back. Not moneywise but mentally. Just for you to know that this hobby sucks some times.

Edited by ArdeFIN
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Not much left to say. Pocket made in Brians style or atleast close to it. A bit stiff operation on the glove and the nature is revealed when we get back on ice for a real test. Tennisball was easy to catch atleast so it's not too bad from the beginning.

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What this glove is, it's huge visually. The smaller palm area might do the trick here. I like this style, pocket is the place I want the puck to go.

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Goaliepro is a local dealer/retailer for Brians. But I wasn't able to figure out what in this glove was custom. Except for the text.

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  • 7 months later...

Last sunday I finally got this one to the ice to see how it goes. I had a little caution in my mind as the glove hasn't been really my favourite over the corona break when I've been dryhandling my collection. It always felt a bit stiff and not operating just like I would hope it would be.

But after some good warm up slap shots (and the last one from breakaway to nuts) I had a lot better feeling of it. All the shots that came in just hit the pocket solidly and stayed in even if I didn't close the glove fully. No pop-outs, sticngers, nothing but just solid catching. And after that the next hour of pickup style gaming was just plain pleasure. 

Still not the best of my many gloves but really nice piece. One clear difference to VE8 glove I used before was when the puck hits the pocket at the lips end the VE8 tends to give up a little while Sub Zero holds against more solidly. Both are having pretty long profiled pockets.

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