I am starting to get a slight dip behind the toepick from repeated sharpenings. Has anybody else got these; does it effect the sweet spot?

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Skate Free

How long have you had the blades?

yes i've gotten them...
when you have those dips it means that you don't have as much of a rocker ( the curve in your blade) as before. I had to get new blades. When I started getting these dips i also realized that the blade would dull more easily. I also had problems spinning and landing my jumps with those dips.

I would strongly suggest getting new blades, if you just changed your boot. If you have an old boot ( more than a year old ) i would suggest going to your skating store and asking them whether you should change the whole skate. changing the whole skate if it's old would cost less than buying a new blade and putting it on an old boot.

Boots and blades; 14 July 2006 (so ~2 years & 4 1/2 months)

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Skate Free

I figured out that my rocker was damaged on my last pair of blades, mainly because I couldn't spin anymore (very unusual for me)

When I stood the skate on the blade (on a table or hard surface) and then "rolled up to the toepick," it was easy to see that there wasn't enough clearance for the bottom toepick anymore. A more careful look showed that the RO edge was totally sharpened away.

I don't know if it's correct, but a sharpener once showed me that he cross-grinds the area directly behind the toepick, then sharpens the blade and also the bottom toepick, to lower it evenly.

I'm leaning more towards Bill_S's method of using a hand-sharpening tool like the Pro-Filer. I just have to justify the $70+ cost to myself. Let's see: at $15 - 25 per sharpening...

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