Hi all, there seems to be a lot of blade talk recently. Well, I have another one. I bought my Pattern 99's last April 2008 and they seem to be almost 'done' so to speak. There is not much metal left on them. I have been wearing this style for at least 10 years and they usually last 2 to 3 years. And I have really only been skating on them for 9 months because last summer I didn't skate. And...I have been using the same guy to sharpen them for years and have not been skating more hours or getting more sharpenings. I skate 3 hours per week.

I think I know the answer to my question already. The question being how long should these things last? I have a sinking feeling that it is my guy has been taking off too much. I'm planning on having a conversation with him regarding this and how my blades have always lasted much longer. My DH wants me to try to get him (skate guy) to replace them - free.

Opinions?

I think you are right. He has been taking off too much. There is no way they should be gone yet. If you do have that conversation with him, you know you will have to find another sharpener if he refuses to replace the blades, but then, I guess you would want to do that anyway, if he doesn't think he is at fault and has no other plausible explanation.

If you don't mind, I would like to know who it is (PM me please), since I get my blades done in your neck of the woods. I was very unhappy with my last sharpening by my usual guy, and am switching. Don't want to jump from the frying pan into the fire though.

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Mine typically last about 3 years as well, with a sharpening every 6 weeks.
It's quite possible that your sharpener is taking more off the blade with each sharpening, but part of that could be the need to remove nicks. That's what mine explained to me when I was trying to understand why I had blade left at the rocker but not at the back of the blade. He was right; I tend to nick the back of the blade with the other blade quite often, and he has to remove steel to remove the nick. But he also said he's noticed the blade manufacturers seem to be putting less steel (the blade part) on the blades at time of manufacture, so you now run out of blade with fewer sharpenings. If that's true, that's pretty clever.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

I had my first blade replacement last fall, so my former blades lasted about 4 years at an average of a sharpening every other month or so (there was one 8 month period when we stopped skating, the rest of the time every 4-6 weeks), so in the same ballpark as Doubletoe's experience.

Thanks guys. I appreciate your input and would like to hear more. Also, I like to replace my blades before they get down to NOTHING. I've done that before and then I have them for 3-4years but my skating suffers at that point. So now I usually replace 2 to 2 1/2 years.

I also emailed the blade manufacturer to get thier opinion. Like doubletoe said I was wondering if the manufacturer put less steel on thier products now. Hmmm.

Something I forgot to mention in my PM reply is that your sharpener restored the rocker on a pair of ancient Pat 99's for a friend of mine. She's been using them for over a year now since he did that, and he keeps on going with them past the usable area. She's fine with it.

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Some obvious questions:

1. How often do you get them sharpened?

2. Do you ever skate on outdoor ice? synthetic ice?

3. Do you walk with your blades off ice - e.g., on the floor outside the ice, without blade covers on?

4. Do you leave your skates in a closed bag or trunk, or under plastic balde covers, without wiping them dry first?

5. Have any of these things changed since your last blades?

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Mitch Grunes ModifyingBoots FallingGently HomePage

I get them sharpened every 6-8 weeks

Never skate on outdoor ice or synthetic

Never walk without guards on.

Always open the bag, take soakers off, take bag in house and they are dryed before leaving the rink.

And nothing has changed since last blades.

dbny-I know he doesn't stink but somethings wrong.

Sounds like you've been a good girl and did everything right.

You may get credit for discovering a new species of steel-eating bacteria!

Interesting opening for a science fiction story. Imagine the consequences.

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Mitch Grunes ModifyingBoots FallingGently HomePage

I think somebody who has access to some lab should simply test the composite of the current blades and past ones to compare the amount of steel. Also, note that steel is not some element. Many alloys are steels. For different utility, there are different steels with different elements with different proportion and different process of making. It is simply not a well-defined statement to say that people put less steel in the blades. What makes steel hard is not the main element iron in it. It is other things and the processing of making the right crystal structure.

I am not an expert on commodity price, nor manufacturing. Not associated with any blade manufacturer either. Correct me if you are an expert. Following is my opinion:

Although the metal price has risen over years, the raw material cost for the amount of metal in a blade is really low, nor is the manufacturing cost much more significant for a high end blade than a low end one. The most significant difference in price between high end and low end blades is really the profit margin. I would certainly not think using lower quality steel in blades a clever business idea. But I don't have the means to check the facts.

I think the sharpener I worked with so far always wanted to remove every nick on my blades. I think that's not necessary, since I would make new nicks the next day anyway. But if they do so, the newly sharpened blades do look nicer.

I may be wrong but this seeeeemmmms to be taking on a saarrrrrcastic undertone. I may be reading between the lines. My objective here to get others experiences with the blades they are using. I do not understand the science behind metals nor do I care.

Personally I think my sharpening dude has been taking off too much. Just getting others experiences like I said before, before talking to him.

I don't know that much about the life of blades but I did once have the experience of going into my skate-shop after the first sharpening and having the guy say, "Oh, it looks like you need new blades - these are worn down - how about some Gold Seals?"

I was outraged - saw that half of the blade was gone and threatened to sue him if he didn't get me a new pair of blades, as he had obviously ruined them. I was quite horrible and he ordered a new pair.

When they came in, he look them out of the box and took off the rubbery-stuff right in front of me so that we could both see the new blades. The new blades also looked like they were half-gone. Neither of us said a word, he sharpened the new blades and I skated on them for years with normal sharpenings. I eventually had to get new blades because there was nothing left on these blades.

It was just the way they were.

I never went to that shop again because I was too embarassed by my behavior over the blades.

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Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

No sarcasm intended and nothing between the lines intended.

I skated on $60 MK Club 2000 for like maybe a year or so. Sharpened every 6-8 weeks. I (150lbs) skated 4-6 hours or more a week with jumps and spins. When I took it off for an upgrade lately, it had 1/4 of the usable life left. I think it is supposed to last shorter than high end blades. There are two sharpening options, one is regular $5 one is pro $12 or $15. There's no noticeable difference in terms of skating between the regular and pro sharpening. But it seemed to me that the pro sharpening took off a lot more metal off the blades.

Make friends with your sharpener and talk about it. Maybe build some mutual understandings. It's not an easy job. I have used a file to make a flat surface on a piece of iron cylinder in high school, it was hard to get it just flat. I wouldn't try to ask a sharpener to replace my blades for free, well, unless she grinds it into two piece.

Thanks xg for the clarification. Idk, maybe I'm making a big deal out of this but at $480+ a pair...I don't want to replace at 9 mths.

And icedancer I would have FLIPPED out too if my dude said I needed new blades after the first sharpening. Especially if HE sold me the ones that were currently on my boots.

I have no intention of making a scene with the guy. We can talk pretty openly. If they need replacement I'll wait till after my next test then replace. I'm not going to fight with him. I may use someone else but will not make a scene.

I wasn't being sarcastic either. Just having a little fun.

You got 5-7 sharpenings out of the blades. I can't imagine anyone competent removing that much metal, unless the blade is being reshaped (new rocker, new hollow, etc.). If he goes deep to remove deep nicks, I think he should warn you. (I assume you stay to watch it being sharpened, so he can't assign a less experienced person to do the job.) The blade cost adds $69-$96 to each sharpening! I couldn't afford it, and would have to switch sharpeners.

Of course ask the sharpener whether he has any idea what happened; it would be interesting to know what he says. Maybe he will claim the rink no longer distills the water that goes into the ice, and the ice is removing the metal? If you have no choice but to stay with him, you could ask him to remove no more than a few thousandths of an inch, no matter how deep the nicks.

BTW, are you down past the tempered part of the steel? If not, a good sharpener can remove or shorten the first toe pick tooth, and you can keep going a while.

Maybe in the future you can try to measure how much the (new?) sharpener is taking off each time. You can get a cheap depth gauge for $5-10. (I've never gone that far.)

You can hand sharpen yourself using

http://www.pro-filer.com

and do it the way the directions say (create a thin horizontal lip or burr, straighten it vertical into an edge), you only removes a few thousandths of an inch each time. It effectively creates very sharp edges. Since you are sharpening every 18-24 hours (very frequent), you must like it sharp. (Unless they don't distill the water, and they dredge it out of a very muddy pond.)

But you may not want to spend the time figuring out how to hand sharpen (5-10 minutes once you figure it out, but that takes some time, and you occasionally have to redo if you balanced the edges wrong).

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Mitch Grunes ModifyingBoots FallingGently HomePage

Can you post a close-up picture of the blade so we can see how much is left on it?

Thanks Query. It's hard to tell sometimes with words alone the correct tone of what is being said. In additon to the fact that I do not know you. Thanks for the explanation. I'm also sensitive right now because I really cant' afford new blades.

Any how, I'm pretty sure he doesn't let anyone work on the blades. But ...I do not see him do it because he is like in a little room. I'm not past the tempered part of the steel it just seems like a lot has been taken off. And when you stated that I got 5-7 sharpenings out of them...that makes me even more upset to think of it in those terms.

I don't think I would EVER sharpen them myself. Uggh. I do have someone else in mind but I will go to my regular guy first to discuss the condition of the blades. + I have a test coming up in August and am not sure I want to change sharpeners right now never mind the blades.

Stardust skies - i will find out how to post a pic. dbny said she would help me in the past. I'm not very good at the technical.

The pro-filer is really easy to use, once you get past the initial "OMG what if i mess it up" nervousness. Several people here on the board use one. Although it seems like it takes a lot off because you scootch it across your blade so many times, it's barely a dusting of metal that you see. It's handy because you sharpen on your own schedule. OTOH, if I had a nick in my blade, I'd have to take them to a pro.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I have a pro-filer that I can't use because it doesn't fit over the blade with the tape on it! It just rips the tape right off and can't be moved smoothly at all. In the past, DH sharpened DD's gold seals with one (different hollows, so we have two), but mine seems to have a problem. My coach bought one recently and also had a problem and returned his. I've emailed but have not gotten a response. When you call them, you always get an answering machine. I'm pretty with Edge Sports right now.

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Sorry Herniated, hijacking the thread a little here.

Interesting. I have a similar same problem with my Profiler. My blades are Ultima Freestyle Matrix system, really narrow. I started with 2 layers of tape, then after about the third sharpening found I had to reduce to one layer otherwise it wouldn't slide properly and would tear the tape.
And now I do them without any tape. Oddly, even though you'd think I'd be sharpening off centre, I'm getting a much better, longer lasting sharpening now.

I've tried them on another sort of blade, not a narrow one, and couldn't use tape at all. On my old phantoms I did use tape, and 2 layers towards the tapered end as per the instructions and it worked fine.

After one year of using it on my freestyles, the usable metal still looks as much as when new, and I haven't had to send them off to be sharpened professionally.

End of my hijack, now back to Herniated's problem.

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Katz

Saved by Synchro!
I was over it, now I'm into it again !

I do know that some blade manufacturers have had "bad" production runs where the quality of the steel and/or the hardening wasn't up to their usual standard. You might want to consider contacting the manufacturer to see if your blades are part of a known problem.

FWIW, Pattern 99 blades (and any other blades) should not be worn down that quickly. In terms of nicks, my DS is notorious for nicking his blades (badly) and the sharpener has to remove them - yet, after 2 years on Coro Comets, with sharpenings every 6 weeks, they are still usable (3 successive pairs with that experience). Granted, my sharpener is wicked good, but, I've never seen any sharpener take a blade down to needing a replacement that fast.

No problem Katz, lol. I just got an email from the manufacturer and they said to me to go back to my skate guy. And the Pattern 99 has not changed at all and if there is that little metal it is usually due to the sharpener.

If the skate guy has a prob he can contact them to try to work it out. So...off the my skate guy to see what's up.

Doesn't that scratch up the sides of the blades? I thought that's why you needed the tape. If it doesn't, then I'll try it.

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I don't use the tape, it doesn't scratch it up as much as the guy sharpening your skates. Maybe trying scotch tape or some oil on the side of the blades but the tape was for tapered blades (so the runner wasn't wobbling). It's a pretty snug fit, oil might actually be a good idea.

Anyone looking for a way to "clean" their diamond stone-scrub it with a brass brush. Works pretty good.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

The directions that came with my Pro-filer say to use tape, and say nothing about tapered blades in particular. But, thank you for the info - I'll go ahead and give it a try. It's not like I'm skating in shows and need sparkling blades.

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