String Required:

4 Leathers
2 Sidewalls
4 nylon strings
3-4 shooting strings

String-O-Meter rating:

When stringing this stick the leathers are placed in at first just as they were in the six and eight diamond sticks in last months edition. Eventually the two outside leathers will be pulled closer to the sides of the stick and the middle leathers will be strung closer together.

The sidewalls should be strung tightly to the plastic and unlike the six and eight diamond sticks are left fairly tight after the stick is strung.

Stringing the nylons in this stick is where things can get a little tricky. This stick takes four pieces of nylon to string and be able to adjust properly.

After the leathers and the sidewalls are into place the first two nylons need to be strung. These are the nylons that attach the outside leathers to the sidewalls. Use two short strings of nylon. I prefer to start from the bottom and string towards the top. While stringing between the outside leather and sidewall, make four or five knots spread evenly along the leather. Then tie off the nylon at the top through the loop created where the leather goes through the plastic.

At this point there are four leathers in the stick, sidewall strings, and nylons connecting the outside leathers to the sidewalls. No holes need to be cut in the outside leathers in this stick. Instead, cut a slit at the bottom of each middle leather.

Two longer pieces of nylon are now needed to finish the stick. These pieces should be a little more than twice as long as the nylons used to connect the outside leathers to the nylons. Always use a generous amount of string to start with. You can always cut a little off at the end. Starting at the bottom of the stick again, tie a knot at one end of each of the strings and pull one string through the hole in the leathers from the back of the stick to the inside of the stick.

Twist the nylons around each other four or five times then loop the nylons around the leathers and pull them tightly. Repeat this process about five or six times until you reach the top of the stick. Remember that you must string this so the knots around the leather are in between the knots on the outside leathers. Then when you reach the top loop the nylons through the top of the leathers and string each nylon back and forth (as you would string on a 6 or 8 diamond stick) Then tie them off through the same two holes in the leather that you started the nylons from.

Now we have to put in the shooting strings. I prefer to use a nylon as the top shooting string. This keeps the top of the stick tight and creates a crisp release of the ball. Take one or two pieces of nylon and pull it twice across between the other nylons and leathers, then weave around the two pieces with one more piece of nylon.

String two or three hockey laces below the nylon shooter in order to create a smooth feel when throwing the ball, yet this still maintains the crisp release that the nylon shooter creates.

Now the only thing left to do is break the stick in. When doing so concentrate on stretching out the two inside leathers in order to create more of a channel in the stick.