I recently picked up a set of Itech 7.8 X-wing pads and gloves. It was sort of my birthday gift to myself (my girlfriend bought the catcher for me
). I got everything at a very good deal; I don’t have money to through at a custom set. And the pads had the basic key features that I was looking for (right size, adjustable knee lock, flat faced, light, flexible, solid outer roll, butterfly style box pad), but I knew that there would be things that I would want to change about them. I did all of the work by hand, with a sewing awl over the course of a few weeks in the evenings after work. I just wanted to show off a little bit now that the pads are mostly done
I didn’t really take any before pictures, so I’m posting Itech35’s pads, which are (were) the exact same thing).
Strapping:
The pads originally came with: two nylon straps & quick release buckles (one tension strap, and one in the middle of the knee), three sewn in leather straps in the calf area, one sewn in boot strap, and drop-down toe ties (well, mine did not come with these – perils of eBay).
I subscribe to LOTC’s philosophy when it comes to straps. I only really like the essential straps to be there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord of the Cage
The strapping system that I put together is one I have had since my first year of College hockey. I guess that would be 6 years ago. I have stated a lot on here that I strongly believe there are only two major connection points on a pad, the toe and the knee. Everything above and between the two is just there to hold protection in place.
Lord of the Cage
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I opened up the side binding of the pad, and removed the tension strap completely. I removed the three leather calf straps and replaced it with two nylon straps, using one connection point. This is similar to and inspired from the idea of the Y-buckle that TPS uses on its pads. However, with that system, you’re still dealing with two straps every time you put on your pads. I use just a normal quick release buckle, having the two straps attach to a tri-loop. This way, you only have to deal with the two straps once, since the connection point for the straps is before the buckle.
And here’s the underside:
I also left the straps on the female ends of the quick release buckles open, closing them with a tri-glide like Vortek does. This way, if a buckle breaks, it is quickly and easily replaced, without opening up any stitching.
The boot straps were also sewn in to the binding of the pad. This seems to be a mostly aesthetic thing, since most newer designs don’t have straps that come through the front of the pad anymore. However because of its location, I think that this is probably the strap that is the most likely to break and should be easily removeable. So, I opened up the binding, and sewed in a jenpro tab and held the strap in using 3 mm lacing, like a thighboard. Notice that there is jenpro sandwiching both sides of the strap. Without this, the buckle end sometimes slips through the lacing and jenpro tab.
I replaced the toe bridges with Smith sliding toe bridges. I’ve used Smith sliding toe bridges before, as well as my own, and those made by another manufacturer and I will swear by Pete’s. The only thing that I changed is that I used waxed skate laces (they stay tighter better) instead of the ones that he sent with the toe bridge kit.
The knee:
The knee block is basically a 1” thick knee stack that velcros to the knee cradld. I wanted it to be a little bigger, so I sewed my own knee block using an additional ½” stack. I made the block with a double jenpro reinforced Giguere mod, where the strap goes through the foam. I feel like this is a better design to make sure that there are no slip-offs where the knee misses the protection while butterflying. I had to make sure to make the hole big enough to adjust the block up and down, corresponding with the placement of the knee lock, and big enough to slip the buckle through. I also made the block so that it velcroes shut with a strap on the back side, to make the foam on the inside easily removable and adjustable, like Pete Smith’s quick-change knee system
The adjustable knee lock is fully adjustable, held onto the pad by Velcro, as well as Velcro on the back of the knee block, and a removable knee lock strap . However, the foam in the knee lock is really just thick, bulky sponge. It’s tight and uncomfortable to wear with my gatekeeper knee pads (I took off the thighboards when I got the pads). Despite being labeled as prospec, I think that they didn’t consider knee pad wearers in this design.
Originally, I took out the sponge on both sides of the knee cradle and replaced it with ¼” thick yoga mat that I had been using for some projects. But, I still felt constricted by the way the knee lock bunched up on the outside flap when I butterflied. So, I sewed my own "knee lock", which is just the velcroed back, the inner flap that velcroes to the knee block, and a flap that goes behind the knee and belt loops the knee strap, to keep things snug without the knee strap digging into the back of my knee. I basically made this to cover the velcro areas on the back of the pad and on my knee block, where the original knee lock would have attached. This effectively eliminated the traditional knee lock in my pads.
Before:
Quote:
Originally Posted by itech35
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Bulky knee:
After:
Unvelcroed from the kneeblock:
