Switched to gold seal blades

[Barinade]

From Gold Stars.
It was an easy adjustment... for everything except the toe pick. My triple lutz is now GONE completely because every time I try to pick in... the pick "slips" or drags back across the ice... instead of firmly planting a small hole like normal.

After searching these forums I saw someone else had this problem. Is this common? What can be done about it?

My 2axel is SO much better with these blades... but if I can no longer do the lutz at all there's not much point. I've been on them over 3 months and still no improvement... :(

[doubletoe]

That's great! I have Gold Stars and I've sometimes wondered how the transition would be if I switched to Gold Seals. As for the toepick slipping on pick jumps, I know that happened to me when I switched from my old blades to new blades, even though they had the same rocker radius. I think it's due to the fact that you are going from a rocker that was flattened by numerous sharpenings to a new rocker that is still rounded right behind the blade. The rounder the rocker is right behind the blade, the harder you have to point your toes to make sure it's the pick that comes down onto the ice when you pick, not the rocker. I found that I just had to point my toes harder until I adjusted to the blades. Of course I was just doing single lutzes, not triples. . . Another possibility is that the rocker of the new blade might be making it hard for you to stay on the heel of your skating foot as you reach back to pick. That would keep your weight too far forward so that you don't have enough weight on your picking foot and it slips.

[kander]

I went from a Gold Seal to a Gold Star because I couldn't see any difference other than the price. The are both the same shape, standoff, side honed, tapered, etc. I don't know about the toe picks. At my level of skating the toe pick doesn't make much difference.

[vesperholly]

I went from Gold Seals to Phantoms (GS were actually more blade than I need). I noticed immediately how the toe pick has a lower/more prominent profile on the Phantoms. I wonder how different the toe pick profile is on the Gold Stars. If the pick is slipping, definitely pointing your toe harder would help.

If your old blades were flattened out from sharpening, that should actually make the transition easier, as going from Gold Star (7') to Gold Seal (8') would be to a flatter blade. Also, a flatter blade should also make it easier to balance on the LBO edge, since more of the blade is in contact with the ice.

[doubletoe]

I went from Gold Seals to Phantoms (GS were actually more blade than I need). I noticed immediately how the toe pick has a lower/more prominent profile on the Phantoms. I wonder how different the toe pick profile is on the Gold Stars. If the pick is slipping, definitely pointing your toe harder would help.

If your old blades were flattened out from sharpening, that should actually make the transition easier, as going from Gold Star (7') to Gold Seal (8') would be to a flatter blade. Also, a flatter blade should also make it easier to balance on the LBO edge, since more of the blade is in contact with the ice.

The rocker shape at the ball of the blade--right behind the toepicks--makes a bigger difference in the feel of jumps and spins than overall rocker radius. The rocker on the Phantoms is a little lower/farther back so it's easier to go from the ball of the blade to the toepick and vice-versa. The Gold Seal and Gold Star are different from the Phantom but have very similar rocker profiles to each other (both have a full, round rocker so you have to point your toes pretty hard to hit the toepick). So, in this case, the new Gold Seal rocker at the ball of the blade would probably be rounder than the old Gold Star because the Gold Star has been flattened by sharpenings.

[patatty]

I got a new pair of Gold Seals a few weeks ago, after my old pair were worn down to nothing. What a change! I felt like I was falling over all the time due to that big round rocker. I guess the rocker on my old pair was whittled down to zero, because the new blades felt like I had big balls on the bottom of my feet. I'm used to it now, and my turns and spins are much quicker, but my forward power circles are a disaster (I guess I wasn't doing them properly with the old blades).