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Mask Down! Mask Down!


MadMax
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Fellow Gear Hounds,

Over the winter, I bought a Nike NR Steel from @JoHart10. He had it powder coated Gunmetal Metallic by Tony at MaskIt, and it is a beautiful piece of equipment. It became my primary gamer, and really want it to be my go-to for upcoming tournaments and CDP.

Just yesterday, I finished a stretch of 14 games in a local tournament (lost 1 due to rain), with the championship U16 game being the last game in the entire complex. I'm on plate, and trotted out the really snazzy gear. All pitchers were dealing, with the combined walks kept to the single digits. In the 4th inning, I took a foul ball to the face, and the mask, TWs, and loose harness did their combined job – I didn't feel any pain whatsoever, despite everyone immediately inquiring "You alright, Blue??". Even my grizzled BU partner came in my direction to check before I laughed off everyone's concerns and rearranged my mask and said "Play!"

Peering through the bars, I felt crooked. After the next batter, I took my mask – my treasured Nike NRS – off to find... that impact bent the bars!!

Just to the right of the lower eye slot, off-center, just off the upside-down-U, the ball pushed the main horizontal bar in noticeably. Now, I'm a farm kid and a technological whiz (quite the combo, huh?), so while I know bumps and dents are inevitable, I also know there must be a way to fix this.

How would you fix this? Please advise!

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My concern would be any further re-shaping of the metal will weaken it more.  I know it's a sweet mask, but maybe it's best for your future and well-being to replace it.  It's done its job -- kind of like a motorcycle helmet.  One crash and it's done.  Yeah, they can cost upwards of $300 for a basic model, but that's money well spent when it's your noggin we're talking about.

I wouldn't want you to take another monster hit then have to read posts from you that look like "Wunys 99nd saiNwe %y2 ) nDpo nacdoHur  aiwu39njapcih."

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 Just get you a Davie strap. Is no way your dent could be any larger than what he had in his mask in the video. 

​Oh my gaawwwsh, @Majordave. That mask that ol' coot had was an epic ol' hubcap.

As I wrote above, I have my mask harness pretty well adjusted, so yes, the mask did fly off when I got hit. As miffed as I am, I feel better about a rare foul-off to my mask than what my partner experienced this weekend. It seems this gentleman had never worked the slot before. :blink: Yup, he was in the Kill Zone, and took two to the chin and one to the upper chest... with a softball softie CP no less! I thought I was going to have to wheel out a cardiac cart.

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