An Fear Rua - Fixing A Hurley Enquiry?

underneath

(64 Posts)

Posted: 16-May-2012 22:42

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Just wondering about fixing a hurley myself. There is 2 big cracks in the middle of the boss. I have tried to fix it several times. Gave it to a friend to fix 5 or 6 times. Band keeps falling off. Nails fall out/loosen etc. awful noise off the Hurley now when I puck the ball and also I don't get as long as I should. What's the best solution?

wingforward

(27 Posts)

Posted: 16-May-2012 22:48

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take it to a hurley maker and get him to make an exact as possible copy of the hurley.........simplessssssssss

underneath

(64 Posts)

Posted: 17-May-2012 00:34

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I meant to say this but I have a game Sunday so I need to do a quick fix on it.

This message has been edited - 17-may-2012 @ 14:04

Hurlingfever121

(206 Posts)

Posted: 17-May-2012 01:33

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wer u from?

Snoop99

(234 Posts)

Posted: 17-May-2012 04:37

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Originally posted by underneath:
Just wondering about fixing a hurley myself. There is 2 big cracks in the middle of the boss. I have tried to fix it several times. Gave it to a friend to fix 5 or 6 times. Band keeps falling off. Nails fall out/loosen etc. awful noise off the Hurley now when I puck the ball and also I don't get as long as I should. What's the best solution?

Take off the old bands and Glue the all cracks and clamp the hurley while it sets, leave it 24 hours to set. Good glues for the job is Ardalite, tec 7 or even the standard white wood glue will do the job fine, sand the glue after it sets, to remove any unwanted splodges.

The bands need to be tight, that is the key to hooping a hurley, if you don't have a proper banding clamp you can add tension by then looping the band over the hurley then catch the tails of the band in a vice, squeeze them by pulling and levering the grip of the hurley down, to add tension to the bandb before you tack them in place. If you don't have a vice you can use a vice grips to lever the band, however it is not the ideal method, but it can get the job done. When the band is tight put a nail thru the band near the heel of the hurley, thereby the tension is held at the top. To avoid the nails loosing the nails should be driven thru the bands out the far side and riveted at the other end by using a ball pain hammer. Lose nails are very dangerous so always rivet them thru the hurley.

Clip or grind off the pointy end of the nail and leave about 1mm of nail and finish the end by tapping with a ball pain hammer to Mushroom head the far side of the hurley, put the boss of the hurley flat on the end of the bench vice or an anvil to rivet the nails. Tap them with the ball end of the hammer to mushroom the head. If you don't riveted the pointy side of the nails then will always become lose after a certain amount of use, don't use too many nails about 3/4 will do fine on the boss, and 2 in the heel to finish off the band. Use a file to take off any shape edges etc. Take a look on you tude there are several clips that demo how to band a hurley, a banding clamp makes the job very easy, but the others methods works fine too. A toe band and a heel band is enough on any hurley. Best of luck.

Habanerocat

(2,252 Posts)

Posted: 17-May-2012 10:07

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Originally posted by underneath:
Just wondering about fixing a hurley myself. There is 2 big cracks in the middle of the boss. I have tried to fix it several times. Gave it to a friend to fix 5 or 6 times. Band keeps falling off. Nails fall out/loosen etc. awful noise off the Hurley now when I puck the ball and also I don't get as long as I should. What's the best solution?

Unfortunately it sound like your hurley might be nearing it's end. It's had a good and long life by all accounts. Perhaps its save-able but may need a proper splice-ing job done.

There is a good American site out there on hurley care. Well worth a read. I'll find it for you if I can later.

I have designed and sell a hurley bander that takes the difficulty out of banding a hurley properly. Plenty of lads on here have bought one in the past. Email me at habanerocat@hotmail.com for details.

Habanerocat

(2,252 Posts)

Posted: 17-May-2012 10:11

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My Best Friend

Extract from 'HOOKED: A Hurling Life'
Justin McCarthy with Kieran Shannon

"Hurling has always been a way of life with me. It was never my ambition to play the game for the sake of winning All-Ireland medals or breaking records. It was to perfect the art as well as possible."

Christy Ring, The Spirit of The Glen

The hurley means everything to me. That's the tool of my trade. Most players don't know a good one from a bad one. They'll get a stick from a hurley-maker and say, `That's fine' when it's almost certain that it's not the finished article. It's crazy. The hurley-maker is unlikely to have played in Croke Park, and extremely unlikely to have played in the hurler's position, yet the player won't even think that it needs some modifying. It's like the fella with the car that has no power steering. He thinks it's fine, it gets him from A to B, no problem. Then he drives in a car with power steering, looks at the old car and says, `How did I ever settle for that?' You'll never know a good hurley until you have one in your hand. It can add 15 per cent to your game.

One of the first things I do with a team is look at their hurleys. I want my players to appreciate what a good hurley is. Hurleys are mass produced. If someone makes a dozen hurleys, only two or three are likely to be exceptional. Sometimes, I have to tell a player, `Look, I'm wasting my time fixing that; we'll have to get you another one.' The grain could be too straight or too close, which means the timber is liable to crack quickly. I look for a wide grain running down the shaft and round the bas. If it runs along the back of the heel, that's better still. That tells you the ash comes from a good root, that it's durable.

There's also nice `give' in a wider grain. The spring of a hurley is important. I don't want too much `give' in it though. When I was starting out with Cork, I thought that it was great to have a stick which could spring two inches either way; I was one of those fellas who loved to bend a hurley. Then I went up to Ramie Dowling's workshop on Upper Patrick Street in Kilkenny. I was constantly testing the spring of this one hurley Paddy Grace, the famous player and administrator,was there too and he told me, 'Justin, don't do that. A hurley is made up of fibres. The more you test the spring of a burley, the more you're weakening its fibres.' I'm no longer the type who gets a kick out of bending a burley. If a hurley has too much spring in it, you're not going to have the direction and accuracy you want when it connects with the ball. You can throw away that kind of hurley.
The same if a hurley has a knot. I've seen loads of hurleys that had a perfect grain, a lovely bit of ash, and then, halfway down the shaft, there was a knot. A knot means your hurley is likely to give in one good clash. I don't doctor hurleys with knots.

Now, if the hurley has good ash, the right amount of `give' and no knots, that means I can do something with it. The next thing I look for is if it has the right size and shape. In 1966, I won an All-Ireland medal and the Player of the Year award using a Saint Lua burley made in Clare. I wouldn't use the same hurley if I had to do it again. It was 37 inches long. It should have been 36. That inch makes a big difference. A 36 is easier to handle. You have more control over it. You can always extend your hands or bring your back down that extra bit to make up for that extra inch, whereas a 37-inch hurley is more difficult to manoeuvre in a tight space. I could get away with a 37 inch back in '66 because the game wasn't as fast then. I couldn't get away with it now.

An extra inch also means extra weight. Most inter-county players these days use 36-inch hurleys (and a smaller player could go for a 35 or 351'2 but most young fellas starting out favour a longer and heavier burley. They think the extra weight will help them when they're clashing on the ball, that it will offer them more protection, that they won't be splashing out on another stick. The reality is they'd break less hurleys using a shorter model because they'd be able to deliver the ball faster. That's why, when an outfield player gives me a 37-inch hurley, I reduce it by an inch.

That Saint Lua hurley also had too much timber on the snout of its bas. Since then, I like the bas of my hurleys to be more compact to give a more consistent, controlled shot. I also make sure the face of the bas is flat. I'll put a straight edge across it and hold both towards thelight. If I see any light below the ruler, that tells me that there's a slight curve on the bas. Even the smallest of deviations can cause the ball to veer away, so I'll take a few shavings off the centre of the bas with a spokeshave to eliminate that curve. The same, of course, with the other side if needs be.

I don't want a bas that's too rounded either. That's the problem I have with the traditional Wexford burley The ash in it is very good but the bas is too stubby. There's not enough of the hurley on the ground.That means it's not conducive to ground hurling, even though Liam Griffin and Tony Dempsey in recent years have tried to bring more of it into the county's style of play. Wexford players also tend to struggle more than others at picking the ball up at speed. That has more to do with the standard of hurleys than the standard of skill in the county.

The hurleys are that bit too thick at the point where it slips underneath the ball. I'd pair down the bas to make it easier to pick up the ball. Wexford players are obviously used to those hurleys but it would add 15 per cent to their game if they'd take a few shavings off the bas. Those hurleys are too stubby at the moment which means they lack balance.

It's vital that the overall feel of the hurley itself is balanced. The reason I fix hurleys is that the player can pick it up and say, `That feels great.' When I'm reshaping a hurley for myself, I'll measure its centre of gravity and mark it. Then I'll get out one of my favourite old hurleys and measure and mark its centre of gravity. If the new hurley has a different centre from the old one, I'll make some adjustments to get it closer to `the prototype'. I can take a bit of weight off one side by taking a few shavings, and I can add a bit of weight to the other by putting on an extra band or some more tape. In general, a hurley should weigh 22 or 23 ounces. More importantly though, it should feel great. You must be able to feel that hurley. I can pick ten hurleys in my workshop that are roughly the same, close my eyes, and pick out which one I played with in, say, the 1972 league final. A hurler should have that feel relationship with a hurley.

It helps if you have a good handle. The handle is very important because you're always catching the hurley there. I don't like a round handle because it can turn in your hand. My handles are oval to flat so that my small finger fits in snugly underneath the grip on top of the hurley I also put a tape around the very top of the handle six or seven times so that my hand won't slip off the top of the hurley. That could happen on the point of impact if your hands are sweaty.

The tape also helps dress up the hurley. I think any hurler with pride in himself and his hurley should dress it up. It's like putting on a new suit - it makes you feel ready, confident, good about yourself. I'd always write my name clearly on both sides of the hurley; your name is the best thing you have. I hate to see a player going out with a hurley not banded. I think that's a disgrace. I wouldn't play with a hurley that wasn't banded; I'm amazed so many players from Wexford do. A steel band helps protect the hurley. Remember, a hurley is only a little plank of wood, at most an inch at its thickest point. The band tightens up the timber, meaning that if it cracks, it won't just break; it can be repaired. And again, the band helps dress up the very tool of your trade.

That's why I also put some tape slightly above the second band. I never put on colour tape, only black. You must remember, the sliotar is nearly always white. If you're going down to pick a ball at speed, red or green tape could catch your eye ahead of the ball and you won't pick it up cleanly. The white shows up well against black. That's why my tape is black.

You should also study the heel of your hurley. Some say it should be an inch thick but three-quarters of an inch is plenty. True, an inch means you get a better cut off the ground but it leaves the hurley too wedgy and unbalanced. John Fenton used to have heavy hurleys at the start of 1984 because he had a great shot on the ground. But I said to him, 'John, you won't be taking lineballs all day. You won't be hitting every shot on the ground either. You'll have to pick a ball, you'll have to hit out of your hand, you'll have to hit in the air. Right now your hurley is too heavy for those shots.' John had to compromise to get the best hurley for his game. I refined his hurleys down to a more respectable weight to give him a balance between a light and heavy hurley. I also reminded him that it shouldn't affect his sideline cuts. That shot primarily comes down to the speed of your hands, the speed of your hurley and the angle of your shot. I'd make sure that the edge of the heel of my hurley is sharp because that's where you lift the ball when taking a lineball. Sometimes when a fella goes out with a new hurley, he gets great height in his lineballs, but after a week or so, the edge wears down, which hinders the elevation in his ground strokes. I file down the heel to bring back that edge.

I like most of my hurleys to have pretty much the same type of banding, the same tape, the same shape. They can't all have the same weight though. I was a versatile player. When I was playing in the halfback line, I'd have a different hurley to the ones I'd use in the halfforward line. A lot of players don't realise that. That shows how far we have to go before we're really professional. The average inter-county player will dabble with golf. He wouldn't dream of going out onto a golf course with only a putter and one other club because he'd know that you need different clubs for different distances. He mightn't know that you need different hurleys for different positions though; he might think his team's big full back has a similar kind of hurley to his team's big full forward. Goalkeepers tend to be the exception, not just out of necessity but out of personality too. Seamus Durack had to have his hurleys down to the last detail. The same with Ger Cunningham. He once called me at eleven o'clock the night before a Munster final to say he wasn't happy with one of his hurleys. His father came over with it and we were still in my workshop well after midnight. Outfield players don't have that same eye for detail, even the versatile ones. They need to realise that there are different hurleys for different lines of the field. Fenton had slightly more weight at the bottom of his hurleys than had Seanie O'Leary. Fenton was playing further out the field and needed more distance in his shots. O'Leary needed a lighter hurley because inside-forward play is all about the quickness of your stroke.

Every hurler should have at least three or four hurleys. I'd always have a dozen ready to be dressed up and three or four already dressed up. I'd always use at least two different hurleys in training, one maybe for half an hour, the other then for the next half-hour, go back to the first one again and then finish up with the second. I'd also bring a slightly heavier hurley on match days in case it rained. On a wet day, the ball will be that bit heavier and you won't get the same drive as you otherwise would. These little things count.

I think it helps to know how the elements can work for and against your hurley. Hurleys tend to be very fresh when you get them from the hurley-maker. Before I reshape mine, I sometimes leave them on the clothes line for a few days to put a skin on the timber. The wind, sun and rain toughen them up, make them more durable. When I've finished reshaping a hurley, I put two coats of yachting varnish on it. The varnish reduces the chances of the sun cracking the hurley It also means that if ever the hurley gets wet, the weight won't go out of it. (You should be careful though that the varnish doesn't leave the hurley too shiny; lightly sand the varnish off.) I'm also vigilant after the hurley has been done up. When I've cleaned and dried my hurley after I've come home from training, I make sure to put it in a place that's cool enough, so it won't crack. That's why I never keep my best hurley in the car. I'd always have some hurley there but never my best because the heat in the boot opens cracks in the timber. Remember, a hurley is only three feet of ash.

I'd like to see more players being more familiar with the hurley. Hurley-makers are great but they can't make a tailor-made hurley for a player if the hurler himself isn't aware of the benefits that some modifications can create. I'd also love if each club and each stadium in the country had a special room and special equipment for hurleys. There should be some place where they keep spokeshaves, hammers and pinchers and you can go in and fix your hurley. I coached in Na Piarsaigh recently and they had the vision to have such facilities. Croke Park and Páirc Uí Chaoimh don't.

And we claim our game is virtually professional.

JohnneyCool

(2,069 Posts)

Posted: 17-May-2012 10:18

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Originally posted by Habanerocat:
Unfortunately it sound like your hurley might be nearing it's end. It's had a good and long life by all accounts. Perhaps its save-able but may need a proper splice-ing job done.There is a good American site out there on hurley care. Well worth a read. I'll find it for you if I can later.I have designed and sell a hurley bander that takes the difficulty out of banding a hurley properly. Plenty of lads on here have bought one in the past. Email me at habanerocat@hotmail.com for details.

I hope you've changed them bloody grub screws with the hex heads, they're a pain in the arse.

Habanerocat

(2,252 Posts)

Posted: 17-May-2012 13:39

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Originally posted by JohnneyCool:
I hope you've changed them bloody grub screws with the hex heads, they're a pain in the arse.

Email me and I'll send you on some hex heads. You must have one of the very early models?

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