Carbon fiber cloth comes already impregnated with partly cured epoxy, a material called prepreg. It is kept frozen, at about -20 °C, so the resin does not finish reacting before it is used. Cutters slice it into plies shaped for the shaft and blade.

Plies are layered with their fibers pointing in different directions, such as 0°, +60° and -60°, to tune how stiff the shaft is and where it bends. Fiberglass layers are often mixed in with the carbon.

Workers roll the stacked plies around an inflatable bladder or a foam core so the shaft and blade come out hollow and light. Next, the bundle goes into a two-part metal mold of the stick's final shape.

The mold closes and heats while the bladder inflates, pressing the layers hard against the mold walls. That pressure squeezes out air bubbles, which would weaken the stick, and the epoxy hardens into one solid piece.

Excess resin at the mold seams is ground away and the surface is sanded smooth for paint.

The stick is painted and printed with its graphics and flex number, which runs from 40 to 160. A 100 flex shaft needs 100 pounds of force to bend one inch.

Samples are bent to confirm the flex, and blade curves are measured. In the NHL a blade may curve no more than 19 mm.