How an ice stock is built, what handle, body and running sole do, what the club lends you — and when buying your own stock actually pays off.
An ice stock consists of exactly three parts — handle (Stiel), stock body and running sole — and weighs around 4 to 5 kilos complete [1]. For your first sessions you need none of your own: most clubs provide or lend the equipment on site [3]. So you turn up with firm shoes and warm clothing — the rest is handed to you.
The honest answer to the question almost everyone asks first: no, you don't have to buy anything before you know whether the sport suits you at all. And when you do buy, the most expensive stock is rarely the right one — what decides is a different component nobody talks about.
A quick placement, because it often gets muddled here: this is not curling. In curling you push a granite stone of around 20 kilos and sweep with brooms in front of it; here you guide a light stock by its handle, you sweep nothing at all, and your target is the movable Daube rather than fixed rings [5].
And because it appears throughout this guide: the Daube is the hard-rubber target puck, 12 centimetres across [1] — about the size of a beer mat lying in the middle of the lane, with everything running toward it.
The handle is the grip you guide the stock by — and your only connection to the lane. Ash wood is the classic; modern tournament handles are made of carbon or titanium [4]. Wood feels warmer and more traditional, carbon is lighter and stiffer.
For the start that is a side question. More important: the handle must suit your height so you stay upright in the lunge step and don't drop the stock onto the lane.
The stock body carries weight and balance. Under the rulebook it weighs between 2.73 and 3.83 kilos [1] — from the feel of a full two-litre bottle up to a small dumbbell on an outstretched arm. The complete stock may weigh at most 5.46 kilos, and the classic wooden stock sits at around 4 to 5 kilos [1]: roughly a full five-litre water canister that you swing forward under control.
In the shops many bodies consist of a steel ring with a wooden hood and sit in practice at 3.8 to 4.3 kilos [4]. Heavier does not mean better — heavier only means you have more mass to meter cleanly.
This is where how your stock runs is decided. The running sole (running plate) is the disc under the body, and it depends on the surface: rubber on ice, plastic on summer asphalt [2].
Plastic soles come in different Shore hardness grades, colour-coded [2]. Rule of thumb from practice: the higher the Shore value, the harder the plate and the faster the stock runs [2]. Two players with identical stocks and different soles are effectively playing two different sports.
Almost nothing. Call the club, say you're coming for the first time and ask for a loan stock — that is exactly what the try-out offers are for [3]. Dress warmly, bring firm shoes and arrive ten minutes early so you can warm up calmly [3].
Only once you play regularly and notice that the loan stock runs differently every week. Don't let the prices scare you: a complete tournament stock in the professional range costs around 500 euros, used beginner stocks sit in practice nearer 100 to 200 euros [4], and for summer there are cheap hobby sets of stock, handle and plate [4]. Buy used and put the rest into a second running sole.
An ice stock is not a toy: four to five kilos of mass on a slick lane hit ankles and fingers painfully [1]. So stay consistently behind the delivery spot while others are playing, and never step into the running lane while a stock is on its way.
On the stock itself: check sole and screws briefly before each session, never leave a loose part in the field, and never swing the stock at head or hip height to set it down — it is placed low, not carried and swung.
And as always: this guide explains the material and motivates you to start — it never replaces the supervised club or course where somebody puts the right loan stock in your hand and keeps you safe on slippery ice.
At your first session, don't ask for the best stock but for the club stock most beginners use — and note its weight and sole colour. Those two details are your reference when buying later: you then not only know what you liked, you can name it [2][4]. — and buy only once you know what you are buying.
From three parts: the handle (grip), the stock body (weight and balance) and the running sole (the disc that glides on the lane) [1]. Under the rulebook the body weighs 2.73 to 3.83 kilos and the complete stock at most 5.46 kilos; classic wooden stocks sit at around 4 to 5 kilos [1]. The running sole is matched to the surface [2].
For the start the club lends one. Over a hundred clubs in Germany offer try-out sessions and provide the equipment on site [3]. On day one you only need warm clothing and firm footwear; in summer a trainer is enough [3]. Your own stock only becomes interesting once you play regularly.
A complete stock in the professional range costs around 500 euros, used beginner stocks are available in practice for nearer 100 to 200 euros, plus cheap hobby sets for summer [4]. Buying pays off as soon as you play weekly and want consistent running behaviour — before that you learn just as much with loan stocks.
A rubber sole on ice, a plastic sole on summer asphalt [2]. Plastic plates come in various Shore hardness grades, colour-coded; the higher the Shore value, the harder the plate and the faster the stock runs [2]. Ask at the club which hardness is usual on your lane — it depends on the lane and the weather.
Ice Stock Rules Made Simple: Daube, Moarschaft, Kehre and How the Points Are Scored