When to get new blades?

[jazzpants]

I now have my old MK Pro blade for 3 years and according to one person, I still have plenty of wear left. But according to another person, my blades are going b/c of the spins.

I'm not gonna speculate on who's right or not (I think it's the blade alignment still), but I'm curious to know when you think a freestyle skating blade is on its last legs and should be replaced ASAP?

Thanks much!

[MQSeries]

The bottom of the blade has a section for sharpening that is of a different color than the rest of the blade. For me, when there isn't that much of that section left because of too many sharpenings and the bottom toe pick is scratching the ice when I simply stroke around the ice (and you know that you're not purposely hitting the ice with the toe-pick), then I would normally buy new blades.

If you go to the same person for skate sharpenings, he should be able to tell you how many more sharpening is available on the blade. I would ask him for advice and also your coach if you have one.

I'm not sure why one of your friend thinks that your blades are on their last legs because of the spins. Did she explain what were her reasonings about that?

But sometimes blades can do strange thing to. I had one adult skater told me that her blades broke in half one day, although she barely jumps or does any hard skating at all. I guess the quality of the blades that you bought originally also play a role in their longevity.

[sk8pics]

My first pair of MK Pro blades lasted me around 3 years, I think. And there was still plenty of steel left for more sharpenings, but they had definitely flattened out so it made spinning even harder. My sharpener actually had a little device to measure the radius at any point along the blade, and that told the story. I don't know if other sharpeners early on had not done a very good job, but I think over time the blades will flatten out a bit due to your weight. And it doesn't take a very big change to affect your skating.

Pat

[TashaKat]

I've had my Gold Seals for 5 years (skating 6/7 days a week) and they still had life in them. BUT it depends on whether they're sharpened properly or not. I always made sure that they went to someone that I trusted so that they didn't do them unevenly or take more off than was necessary.

My ex-pig used to work in a skate shop and they had this *fantastic* deal whereby you bought a years worth of sharpening ..... sounded great until he told me not to touch it with a barge pole because they were 'instructed' to take off more of the blade than was strictly necessary so that new blades were needed quicker and where would you go for new blades? To the nice gentleman that sharpens your current blades of course!!!!