I don't know of a pro shop near me.. so how can I get them sharpened?

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Giaz.
scene chav gonna tear you down .. because i'm gonna come and get you!
take the pee, and i'll hit you where it hurts with my toepick.

Ask some of the other skaters at the rink where they get theirs sharpened. It's probably the best way to find out since skate shops are generally found by word of mouth unless you have one at your rink which knows something about figure skates (which really doesn't help when you are new to the sport or have moved).

Whatever you do, don't take them to someone who says they can do figure skates, but usually does hockey skates...I made that mistake once and had a large dip behind my toepick which is now just finally getting fixed by my current sharpener.

What area do you live in?

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Billingham.

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Giaz.
scene chav gonna tear you down .. because i'm gonna come and get you!
take the pee, and i'll hit you where it hurts with my toepick.

I agree.

Second best, if you're the do-it-yourself type, is to use a hand-held sharpener, such as the Pro-Filer. There's a lot of skaters here who like to do it this way.

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
--Thomas Jefferson

www.signingtime.com ~sign language fun for all!

I can't afford the pro-filer.

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Giaz.
scene chav gonna tear you down .. because i'm gonna come and get you!
take the pee, and i'll hit you where it hurts with my toepick.

I hear alot of people saying NEVER to get your blades sharpened by a rink sharpener. Why though?
For me, it would be alot easier to get my blades sharpened by a rink sharpener. But I was just wondering, with all this bad talk of rink sharpeners, is it safe? are my blades at stake here?

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Giaz.
scene chav gonna tear you down .. because i'm gonna come and get you!
take the pee, and i'll hit you where it hurts with my toepick.

Much of the fear of rink sharpeners I think comes from the fact that most of them do hockey skates and simply do not understand or care about the differences in doing figure skates. One or two bad sharpenings can destroy a set of blades.

Finding a "good" sharpener can be remarkably difficult. In my whole province there are only 3 that are considered "good" and after learning about proper sharpening I wont even use them anymore - I got my own machine.

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

I get mine sharpened at the rink's sports shop. But we have a GOOD sharpener here. The sharpener directly at our rink is awful by the way, despite that the sports shop and the rink sharpener share the same sharpening machine, one girl had her skates sharpened by the rink sharpener and they just removed all of her toepicks. She had to get new blades. With cheap blades, that means about $40, with expensive blades it can mean a sum of over $200, so you understand why figure skaters look for a good sharpener.
A similar thing happened to me at an other rink, and I'm hearing such stories all over the place. Their machines are adjusted to doing hockey skates and rentals, not figure skates, so they take off a part of the toepicks by accident.

The effect of removing a lower toepick is that the skate becomes, well, mostly useless. You'll be more prone to falling over forward, you'll be unable to spin and you might be unable to do 3-turns and spirals in it. The effect of taking off a part of the back of the blade is that you'll be much more prone to falling over backward and hitting your head and tailbone on the ice. The effect of flattening out a blade will be that you will be unable to spin in it, do shoot the ducks and sometimes spirals too. The effect of making uneven edges is especially treacherous as it makes it very hard to learn to use the edges.

$200? Try $500-600 for Gold Seals, Pattern 99s, etc!

Why not to use the rink sharpener if they are not conversant with figure skates? He/she could:

Clip the toe pick(s)
Leave a dip behind the toe pick
Round the back end of the blade
Give you a hockey hollow
Sharpen the edges unevenly
Peel the plating

and various other things that would leave your blades useless and possibly cause you injury. There are only 3 guys here in the Chicago area I would trust with my blades and this is an urban area with a lot of rinks!

It varies from rink to rink and shop to shop. Figure skate sharpening is a specialty and different figure blades require different "jigs" to hold the blade properly while sharpening. AFAIK, hockey skates are easier to sharpen - the process is pretty simple and straightforward. Some rink pro shops are really good, others are really bad. The best figure skating sharpeners have enough of a following to open their own store, independent of any rink. People travel from all over to have their skates sharpened there.

While the pro shop managers/owners often train their inexperienced staff to sharpen hockey skates, the don't always teach them how to do figure skates. They get cocky and try to sharpen a pair of figure skates without being trained and voila! You have a flat blade with no rocker. Or they take off the bottom toe pick. Or the edges are uneven. It's just not worth the aggravation. That's why you should make an appt, to ensure you get the right PERSON to sharpen your skates, not just walk in and hand 'em over to the pimply kid behind the counter.

I used to drive 45 mins to get my skates sharpened because my in-house rink sharpener at the time was just okay. Good enough for my kids' beginner blades, but I wasn't letting him touch my Gold Seals. My new rink's pro shop is outstanding for sharpening and tech fixes, so I go there now.

Let's clarify one of your statements: I haven't read anything about NEVER using the rink sharpener. They advised you to ASK figure skaters and coaches where to go, not just walk in and hand over your skates to the unknown sharpener that could damage your skates.

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True enough. I just don't see those blades on anybody except girls who do nationals over here.

BTW anybody know what brand those gold-coloured blades are?

MKs or JWs - they're either the gold Gold Seals or the Gold Stars

Do new skates need to be sharpened before use? I have Riedell 110

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Skate at: Lee Valley
Date started: October 2008
Level: 6 (UK skate levels)

Aiming for Figure club

Yes. They say they come with a "factory sharpen", but that really isn't a proper sharpening. My coach always makes us get new blades sharpened before we skate on them.

okay will get that done next weekend hopefully doesn't cost too much

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Skate at: Lee Valley
Date started: October 2008
Level: 6 (UK skate levels)

Aiming for Figure club

In the UK the average price is £5 it seems. I'm lucky in that our pro shop is fantastic, the guy who works in it runs it and is amazing. After the sharpening he stands there for ages feeling them to make sure the edges are spot on. Trouble is they keep changing the opening time of the thing

Thanks! I thought it was the gold seals but couldn't find them listed in gold on the store in the Netherlands that sells 'em, so people are probably getting them online. Did find gold stars in gold though.

WOW I just saw their "laser etching" option for blades... That looks SOOOO cool. *droooool*

BTW I pay 5 euro (like 6-7 dollar) for a sharpening, but it goes as high up as 12,50 euro.

I used to pay about $20-25 US for my sharpenings, but the new pro shop is about $10-12. Big savings for me!

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Well, depending on where I take mine - and there are 3 sharpeners I trust, one of whom is a friend who only charges me £4.00 - it varies between £4.00 and £7.00....

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Thats why I said on average £5.

Yeah - I was just slightly cross at having had to pay £7.00 - well, I haven't paid it yet, but it'll go on to this week's bill - although I do like the way this particular guy does my skates. Haven't had him for ages, as the coach usually takes a load on a Thursday, which doesn't suit our schedule, but he was going today and that works!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

the ISE Storm blades are also gold

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Youtube Videos

What a nightmare. What would a skater's recourse be if this happened? I'd be demanding that they buy me a new pair of blades.

I'm not sure, she got replacement cheap blades for her graf davos skates from the pro shop where all of us have the skates sharpened, but I seriously doubt the rink sharpeners paid anything for those blades. The rink is government run and they have an attitude of "I'm not me and that's not my cow" (ya ne ya, i korova ne moya).


The sour part was that this happened like... less than a week before a testing session (like a really easy testing session, just 3 turns and mohawks and spirals, that sorta stuff). Then she broke her toe on the morning of the test, helping with moving a couch... But she passed!