ArdeFIN

Very interestin project. Keep up the good work! Funny to see that minimal piece of XRD in the knee flap. That hitech material isn't that expensive that they couldn't afford to have atleast half of the flap covered with it. Not sure it would make any difference but that small tab isn't doing much either if your knee isn't hitting the center of it. You are not planning to bend the thigh lift at all like the Brians are? That would help the most with 5-hole coverage...

The edge on the fingerside got a little piece from T to the inside to reinforce things and take rubbing of the edge of the plastic. The outside came out really nice in my opinion one of the best I've managed so far. The jenpro to this also came from the T so only original jenpro from the glove used here. As it would matter at all but just to mention.

Skip the dismantling and washing part that was the same old, really dark brown water and a nice clean soft and scentless end result. Then the findings. Felt was just like the NXG but a little better as was the closure. Still some bunching was there. Propably the holes are lined somewhat off and so on... The T; three pictures. 1. 2. 3. The second reinforcing layer of plastic was added after the normal production and that needs some more space inside. The Jenpro slice is propably a little bigger and the stiching of the removed jenpro was different than all of the others on the glove. Fingerside plastics are readily cut from the factory here as well as was on the NXG and the thumb side has only bent yet.

A few pictures to start with, I'll just continue this topic while this glove isn't NXG but Total One. Maybe later on (or if any mod will) this part will be moved to under it's own topic. Pro returns sort of and after the Pro use these have been used by a young Finnish goalie so there is a lot of wear and some tear too. You can easily find things from these pictures. Takes some time to do but nothing really bad or hard to accomplish. And one of the catcher itself, the blocker will follow later on. I really like the color scheme Black base with white accents. Would be lovely if it was stiched with white thread. I already gave it a short thought but after a little thinking I decided not to. These look good even without. Some things to note from the start. Reinforced T means double the 3mm plastic and that's it. I don't remember the price for this option but seems to me that it's not worth it anyways. The T is folding in now that the plastic have been "broken" in. And still the closure is really stiff but easies a lot with just pressing the T's break together. And opening the glove to wide open with only one hand is desperate. "Alivecomposite" on the cuff. The only composite part I could find from the glove is the edge on the finger side. It's not like the Curv material is but more like the one that Vaughn uses as Pro Carbon. This is the only glove I've seen this name on. The white-blue Total One had the same emblem but it was already so worn out that I couldn't see any clear text on it. First glove with such a heavy history of use and not a single stiching is worn out. Only Jenpro damages are the T and the edge on the finger side. Pretty amazing.

Got to play with this one a week ago and if it wasn't a real pleasure then again it was nothing short of convenient. The glove is a bit stiff but with a few uses and wrapping it closed a few times and pin it open in the between might do the trick to make it soft enough. Other than that the glove felt just as good as it should. Easy to catch pucks and nice feel in it when the puck hits the pocket. And very decent feel of a puck hitting in the palm area. I'll hold this for a few more tryouts but after that this one might go to someone elses possession. That's it and then one picture of what is coming compared to what is already done. Top left is the NXG, top right is the other Total One and black one is the to be refurbished. You can easily compare them and notice that the NXG is in different angle, thumb side is shorter and the closure is index to thumb. The Total Ones have a bit more 590ish style closure and longer thumb side.

Smooth closure and the glove feels ready to go so just a few things left to do. 4mm lace for the pocket and the backhand protection. The jenpro I use seems a lot brighter in pictures but IRL it is really close to the original Bauer jenpro in color. Seeing it against the sun light Bauer material looks white while the jenpro I use looks greyish. Hopefully it'll blend in better with some use and puck marks. The mid lane wants to close but there is enough lace for it to open up to 40mm wide. Soft and stretchy lacing to kill the puck entering in. Atleast with tennis ball it seems to do the trick pretty well. Next up might be the Bauer Total One set from former Pro Riku Helenius.

After the mentioned fixing parts which meant cutting about 5mm of plastic away from the break line and adding two more holes for the lace at the heel were good to test again and this time with the T. Setting it so that the perimeter length is about 114cm the pocket seems really nicely sized. Then some plastics again for the lip to make it close nice and tight. And straight on with no 580 imitations... (that look could be achieved easily with proper plastics inside the T lip) Interesting mod had been done to this glove already, the T spines were cut separate and moved wider out by two holes. I made the same mod earlier to my V6 2000 glove where it worked really nice. I don't really know but I think this glove feature was modded and not factory made. (noticed that where bought this one there is a few similar Bauer gloves now that seem to have the same mod done, these are "pro return" gloves from Finnish Liiga team I think) Then I was to add the cuff part and was trying it on to get a feeling of it. Earlier I moved the strap from the lacing to the flap attached on the cuff. Now I removed the flap stiching and sewd it as close to the lacing as I could without covering the lace holes. Now I have the free mobility for the wrist. Even more could've been available but that would've needed some heavier modification and I'm pretty happy with this. And then it was time to get it together to see if there was still something bugging.

If they both fit you really well then it might not give you that much, but the investment isn't huge either. I went from oldish CCM tacks mid level to Bauer S150 that weren't really my fit after all and still I felt like I learned a new way to skate faster and sharper. Later on I went to a shop and tried on a Bauer X600 skates with better sizing and that was once again a huge leap to better skating. I'd gladly take one more of such a step up with my skating if I could get it by just buying a new pair of skates.

I have a JB2000 from about 2015 maybe. I've made a thread about the modding process under the "mods" -topic.

Uh, well I was actually referring to some StanleyCup champion as that C/A looks like a practise version of one. His mask is far in from the C/As front line while he isn't pushing the floater area out. The shape doesn't really remind you of that RBK/CCM product. Now everybody starts looking around to find out what the heck is that.

Hve we seen this type of C/A recently?

@Rayzilla Keep this thread updated or even start your own as I'm also dreaming about a new Brown while I'm really happy with my modified one too. At times you just have to get something new to replace the existing gear...

I use the Warrior X2 pros and like them too. Mobile and all. I have only tried the Bauer 2X in store but from that I'd say they are as useable as Warriors. Felt like a lot less of anything over you and lightweigth. I would happily try the Bauer 2X on ice just for the experience. That said and to compare to the feeling of the Warriors they feel a lot more bulky. But as said by the others and I can trail them, on the ice the Warriors are unnoticeable and still do their job excellent. Either of the choices you have will most likely make you happy so you are pretty safe in your position.

Then some plastic cutting and heat molding. Succeeded pretty well except for the heel cup that is really difficult to make with out exact mold to shape it to the plastic. Once again major difference in the break line shape. The felt part is pretty well aligned to the jenpro on the palm except for the holes for the lace. The new spots are marked with black dots. This might make a big difference in the felt getting bunch up or not. While the felt did feel pretty thick or atleast airy I thought that a pro glove needs to have pro palm. 4mm md foam added. And this is how it should fit to the padding under thumb and wrist area. Then a small effort to give some more life for the plastic in the finger side edge. Sewing and extra line and also melted the carbon a bit and compressed it together a bit. Same spot from backside shows the damage to the plastic and how it's been broken at the sewing. And finally the glove is going to be a real catcher once again, hopefully. Here it is just put together with some random lace to test the new plastics and holes made and how the added padding fits in. Some parts need some fixing but it is working ok'ish already.

A little bit of T work. While it wasn't even broken actually, the gloves perimeter length was only 110cm and get the full use of the regulations I decided it's easiest to achieve by adding a few cm here. Also notice the interesting shape of the spines... Open up the edge and top part to see what is in there. 3mm thick artificial leather sheet sewn together with 3mm plastic. Really wide break area in the middle. More open and the whole structure is there. The left plastic is nicely cut and the gap between looks as if it was done already in the factory. Never seen that before. On the other side the plastic is almost cut through. The spine plastics are broken in a few spots but the structure is really difficult to fix without a sewing machine that can go through few jenpro and 2mm plastic sheet so I just had to leave it as it is. It still holds up the shape good enough so it only looks worn out but functions nicely.

I would be happy if I could use one the above jerseys in my practise icetimes. Those are at the same time having that good mood attitude and still are nice and have a good idea in them too. Oh well maybe this one goes more to the laugh side of it...

If you have a Passau C/A already and it's fitting you well then you should have all the required measurements for Passau to build you a hockey version that fits the same? Unless there is something really different in them? Maybe ask Passau directly, or some of the Passau people could put in a comment here?

The cut on the palm. That and the edge being worn out because of some edge curling are the worst findings on the glove. And as these are pretty normal and easy to fix then here we go. Fixing that cut took a few seconds, should I go for something fancy or just a piece of jenpro to cover it. Yes. Then I wanted to add some mobility to wrist strap and in the same process redesing it a bit to make it easier to put back together. It was like this with the nylon strap having to go around the attach spot of the padding part. And after that the nylon went inside the edge lacing to hold it secure. First I thought to sew the nylon to go under the padding to get them aligned and nice. It's sewn in to the padding anyway, but then I realised that I could give some mobility and adjustability here with sewing the padding part to the edge of the flap that covers the edge lacing. And within same process I'll get the nylon to go in straight line around the wrist. Now I have multiple choices of how I lace the strap and the flap in. Still thinking about this in theory level and the practical part of it is later on. More of that theory of how things work: the break area. This is how the original plastic sheet aligned on the felt. Notice the heel area specially. Also there's a wide area without plastic sheet on palm by the break. With only felt there will definitely be stingers. And the same alignment with the outer layer. The plastic is very much over the break line and the wrinkles formed there over time. A black dot on the plastic is marking one hole on the jenpro and the lace was run around the edge of the plastic. There are also few holes behind the plastic in the heel area. Just makes me wonder how this could ever work really well?

It wasn't really closing at all with one hand and could barely close it with helping the closure with my right hand. So certainly something was wrong there. From my previous Bauer Total One glove experince I had some vision of what would it be and lookign to the boot of the T... A lot of "extra" material on the palm. And the felt layer inside was rolled almost doubled right at the break. So no wonder at all that closure wasn't working. Jumping a bit over to the thumb plastic reveals more, the break edge is curled a lot as it should be pretty much straight. This is either an effect from the felt and inside fabrics getting stacked or the other way around, this making the fabrics to stack. The plastic itself was cracked from few spots and in my opinion shaped really odd so I'll be making a new one anyway. On the heel of the break one of the three(!) loop straps was cut away and repaired with speedy sticher and some leather strap. Only problem is that it was sewn right through all the layers and thus locking down the break area too. The repair is already removed but the holes still remain and next to them is the remains of the original strap stiching. Would've been super easy to open the edge lacing and then do the stiching only through the top layer. Or even use the edge lace to hold the new strap/buckle. Then opening the inner lace going around the palm, this area was problematic with my Total One glove and some problem is found in here too. Before: And after the lace is off. There is almost 20mm of fabric just rolled and stacked on the break line. Soft material for sure but all this accounts to the poor closure anyways. Somewhat same was found in the Total One too. Not identical though so some design differentials are there. Will be interesting when I get to the rebuild phase. How I can manage all these issues without having to rethink the whole structure. One more of what I found out during the dismantle, I didn't even notice before that there was a very deep and sharp cut at edge and that went through several layers only stopping at the carbon reinforcement. Someone had really stepped over the glove.

This is something I always look for, a project glove that is "broken" and used for it's whole life. "There's nothing to do with it anymore". 10 euros. Yes there are some issues and yes the glove has seen a lot of hockey. But it really isn't even bad.

A bit of a design flaw here, the plastic cover over thumb is too big to fit into the "pouch" and while Bauer has done good job on the edge with extra jenpro binding and all the softer fabric inside is worn out. Repairing this would need the whole thumb protector to be opened, fixed and sewn back. I just left it be to see how it goes and if it wears out worse in short time then I'll get back to it. This is the only odd spot of wear on this blocker. As I usually do I washed this blocker with the basic winegar-water mix and then detergent+water and multiple rinse. After washing it I noticed the padding between hand and plate (that small bagged foam) was completely flattened which might be one reason to get too much feeling of the shots through the plate. After investigating I was happy to notice that only one seam is holding the bag on place, so open it up and get bag out, renew the padding and replace. I used 10mm LD foam and 10mm MD foam instead of original 20mm LD foam. [picture of it missing] Here's the seam I removed. The bag stays on place without any stiching so simple upgrade here. Then to part that everyone was waiting; what is the plate made of and how much it is broken? It's made of styrofoam, a material that I would never consider for a blocker plate. It's built from styrene balls bonded together and because of that it's very easy to crack when bent as the bonding between the balls is pretty weak. And this is the result. On the both edges next to the Curv material there is also a crack through the whole plate. Some PUR glue (I would use a styrofoam glue if available) and it's pretty rigid again. But it will crack again unfortunately. So the Curv is really used in the mid level blocker, well done Bauer! First look tells that it's reinforcing the edges but I couldn't really see if there was any more of it. On the front side of the plate there is 10mm layer of HD foam bonded to styrofoam and some soft rubberlike foam on top of that. And something is loose between these layers too. A bit of a digging to get the layers separated and yes, the Curv really goes through the whole plate which is a lot better than Vaughns partially covered idea. Curv sheet is bonded to the foams and less than surprisingly the bonding has failed. Very sparingly used glue and then heavy bending of plate has worked it out. Second reason to get stingers through the plate. Some polymer glue in there and once again compression for 24 hours and now I have a rigid plate that isn't really bending at all. Then it was only to put all parts together again and we area ready to go. I really like the structure of this glove as it opens really wide at the longer edge and side plate flipping away so it's really easy to make some fixes or do some heavier mods if needed. Short one here but gave some insight on what Bauer is putting into the mid level gear these days. Just makes me wonder what better can they do with pro level gear that would cost so much more? Except print the "PRO" label on.

Bought this one for cheap, only 30 euros with acknowledge that the plate is broken atleast at the ramp. And being used a lot already. Few pictures of how it looked:

Brown and Passau are the ones I think of first. Both do custom and have those extra beefed models. I hear you with those long reach saves leading to getting hit to the wrist. I've had a few of those and that is something you probably can't do anything with C/A as the sleeve isn't gonna stretch out when your arm does. There will always be those odd shots that pass by any protection, but that's more to the hockey itself. Brown user here, dreaming for a new Brown with all you can add for extra protection. Though, the Passau Pro pack is also tempting

That's bad and difficult to solve with adjustments too as the backplate should still keep the C/A from falling to RBK style in front of you. I would try an elastic battle strap with only that much tension that it pulls the neck down enough. Then you have the elastic to give you the mobility you need in the waist area to rotate around. I assume you tried all the adjustments already which we know are many and the combinations on them count to a certain difficulty.

That's gonna be a hard call as the R/GT2 is so comfy, mobile and still huge. I've tried the Bauer on too and it is not bad at all. But if I had the GT2 pro I wouldn't even bother to try lower level Bauer. Unless there was some problem using the GT2. The Eflex 5.9 felt very thin on the arms. Othervise very useable just as the Eflex 2 series was. Just amazing how they cannot make the arms any better. Or want to?