Heat Guns, Lighters and Melted Wax: Stick Safety

Every so often a TV close-up shows an NHL player holding a flame to his stick. Kids notice. Here is what the pros are doing, why, and how to get a similar result without a flame.

What the pros do

• A lighter on the tape. In Game 1 of the 2024 Western Conference Final, cameras caught Leon Draisaitl holding a lighter to his stick tape. He told broadcaster Gene Principe he has done it for a while for grip, because plain tape gets a bit fuzzy and he does not like that, NHL.com reported. The report does not say exactly how he uses the flame.
• A heat gun on the wax. Washington’s Ethen Frank uses surf wax instead of hockey wax. He told The Hockey News in 2025 that he and his girlfriend melt it in a double boiler and pour it into moulds, and that on game days he spreads it on the blade with a heat gun.
• Torches in the stick room. A Minnesota Wild feature on the team’s stick room lists blow torches and heat guns among the tools. In the wooden-stick era, players were always heating and bending their sticks. Composite sticks, the Wild notes, mostly just need cutting and taping.

These players have equipment staff, a known setup and years of practice. That is not a reason to try it on your own stick.

How hot these tools get

Tool	Temperature	Source
Hair dryer, warm setting	No figure found; Wikipedia contrasts heat guns with hair dryers as far hotter	Bostik and Lowry both suggest a dryer
Heat gun	Usually 100 to 550 °C; some reach about 760 °C	Wikipedia
Paraffin wax melts	About 46 to 68 °C typically	Wikipedia
Paraffin wax flash point	About 200 to 240 °C	Wikipedia

The gap is the point. Wax melts well below 100 °C, and a heat gun can run several times hotter than wax’s flash point. Wikipedia notes that paraffin burns readily, and that a heat gun’s nozzle is concentrated enough to scald skin or set hair alight.

Hockey wax is not pure paraffin. Howies says its wax is a blend of soft microcrystalline and other waxes. We could not find a flash point published for any hockey wax, so use the paraffin figures as a rough guide only.

What heat does to your stick

We could not find any stick maker’s published guidance on heat guns or flames and composite blades. So we cannot tell you how much heat a blade can take. Treat that as unknown and stay well below it.

Two things we do know:

• Heat softens tape adhesive. That is why Bostik suggests a hair dryer to loosen old residue. Too much heat on a fresh tape job can loosen it too.
• Warranties have conditions. Bauer’s warranty page, for example, voids composite stick coverage for use on concrete or asphalt. Read your maker’s terms before you try anything unusual on a new stick.

The safer way to get the same result

Smoother, less fuzzy tape

• Wax it. Lowry says wax leaves a slightly tacky surface on the tape. See stick wax.
• Rub it with a puck. InGoal reported in 2020 that goalie Alex Stalock rubs a puck over his white blade tape, a trick it said two other NHL goalies use. Our player stories include skaters who do it too.
• Retape if the tape is torn or worn. See how often to retape.

Softer wax

Lowry’s waxing guide says warming the wax slightly with a hair dryer is optional. If you do it:

1. Set the dryer to warm, not hot.
2. Hold it a hand’s width from the blade.
3. Keep it moving for a few seconds at a time.
4. Rub the wax in with your fingers while it is soft.

Melting your own wax

If you copy Ethen Frank and melt wax at home, use a double boiler, as he does, on low heat, and never leave it unattended. Young players should do this only with an adult. Do not let wax get anywhere near its flash point: Wikipedia warns that paraffin heated close to its flash point can give off vapour that ignites on its own.

Safety note

• No open flames on sticks, tape or wax. Not at the rink, not in the dressing room, not in the garage.
• No heat guns for kids. A hair dryer does every job a young player needs.
• Let the blade cool before you touch it or tape it.
• Never use heat to bend or repair a cracked stick. Replace it.