hurley repair advice

Jimbobjoeyman · 25-05-2010 9:47pm #1

Right so ive been breaking alot of hurleys lately and ive decided to have a crack at fixing two of them myself.
Just wondering what would be the best type of glue to use and where would I get it.
And whould I be able to get the metal bands in b&q or places like that.
Any help would be great

Pride Fighter · 25-05-2010 9:54pm

Where are you?

There are hurley makers in most counties. These do repairs as well. Its a pretty good skill, but I dont think the most skilled of carpenters would do it without supervision from the pros. Hurley makers do repairs too. I've seen it done on TV. I think there is some hurlers from Cork that play and make hurleys too. Might be Ben and Jerry O'Connor but not 100% sure.

I'd let a pro do it. If you do it, it could break and fall apart quickly.

Jimbobjoeyman · 25-05-2010 10:05pm

in fairness know i know my way around a piece of timber and i've all the equipment it's not that hard at all I just want to know what would the best glue would be.
I could get it fixed by a hurley maker but it would take too long to get them back and I just feel in the mood for a lil bit o diy

Pride Fighter · 25-05-2010 10:11pm

Jimbobjoeyman wrote: »

in fairness know i know my way around a piece of timber and i've all the equipment it's not that hard at all I just want to know what would the best glue would be.
I could get it fixed by a hurley maker but it would take too long to get them back and I just feel in the mood for a lil bit o diy

Well good luck with it. The cumann itself is ash so whatever the best wood glue for ash should do the trick.

rebel girl 15 · 25-05-2010 11:06pm

Wood glue, and you should be able to get the band in any of the DIY shops really, same as the wood glue. I think there is a couple of different resin types, been so long since I worked with wood now! But with a lot of them, you would need to clamp it overnight for it to dry.

Ben and his father do them in Cork alright, some send them up to the prison as well. I'm sure there are a few workshops held during the year for people who want to get into repairing hurleys - it was about two years ago when I heard about them, I'll see if I can dig up some info

edit - it was actually someone who does them and is recognized by Croke Park that runs the courses, does them all over the country, but I don't have his details sorry!

Lex Luthor · 26-05-2010 1:14pm

are the bands easy to put on or do you need special equipment?

I've not seen them in any DIY shops ???? Are they specifically labelled in the DIY shops for hurleys?

spideog7 · 26-05-2010 4:51pm

Well since I'm a long way from anyone that can fix a hurl I decided to have a go at it myself. I have a few where the crack is running up along the grain in the bas (actually from the tacks that were put in to hold the band on). I had the 2 pieces and all I needed was a bit of glue. I had only a leatherman and a piece of sandpaper so it was a rough and ready job and the glue was doing all the work really!

Wood glue is useless there's no give in it, I used this stuff: Sikaflex-221. Not sure what it's for but it's great stuff. Takes about 2 weeks to cure right and it's got a mighty flex in it, according to the datasheet it's 260PSI tensile strength and can elongate 500% before it'll break.

You don't even have to worry about being good with woodwork to use it, just lash in the glue push the 2 sides together until they line up (no need to clamp it cause you'll only squeeze out all the glue) rub of the extra glue and then after a day or so sand the glue flush with the wood.

Work's well for me and I've been playing with the hurl for a few weeks now since I fixed it. The only thing I could fault it for is that the hurl feels like there's a bit more give in it, so I can't get as much power into the ball... but that could be my imagination too.

I didn't band it at all just wrapped a bit of tape around it. I even managed to find a picture of it here, you can see the three places it cracked down along each tack, the thing was in bits so I didn't really have anything to lose!!

rebel girl 15 · 26-05-2010 5:36pm

Lex Luthor wrote: »

are the bands easy to put on or do you need special equipment?

I've not seen them in any DIY shops ???? Are they specifically labelled in the DIY shops for hurleys?

They are easy enough to put on, I took mine off to treat my hurley and put it back on again no problem - I forget where I got mine, when I changed it, but they aren't labelled as being specifically for hurleys.

Its actually the band being nailed into the grain that damages it, and like spideog7 said, his cracked along the line of the nail. No hurley should be banded unless it breaks and has to be banded!