OK, I admit it . . . I'm in a figure skating wasteland (SC). I have a dream of perfectly sharpened blades by someone who knows what he/she is doing . . . but how? I had one local sharpener recommended to me for the last sharpening, it's a drop off/pick up situation at the rink, and I'm just not 100% confident with him . . . and I'm pretty sure the current ROH is not deep enough, they just aren't giving me enough "grab" to make me feel secure. (the rink is out of the question, just "hockey dudes" available for rink sharpenings).

A little background, I'm an "adult" skater , somewhere around the FS 1-2 level (one foot spin, beginning backspin, half flip, toe loop etc). 5'5", medium build. The blades are MK Pros on Riedell Gold Medallions. I had to get my skates via mail order, the blades were sharpened with a "competitive" sharpening before they arrived . . . and I loved it . . . very awesomely sharp and secure. But the local sharpening . . . not so much.

I'm starting to think maybe I just need to go the fed ex option - because I'm sure someone on this board ::wink wink:: knows a top notch sharpener to recommend . . . but how do I work out what my particular needs are for ROH? (OK, I know when it's too shallow . . . but I'm not sure what it is now, nor how deep to go in the future). Do you just tell the sharpener your level? weight? and they figure it out for you? or do you just hope for the best? Would love to hear from other skaters in similar "wasteland" experiences.

When I was away from my regular skate sharpener, I use to fed-ex him my skates. If you're going to send them away, speak to other skaters to get a good place, then speak directly to the person who will be doing your skates. Usually they're more than happy to help out.

__________________
Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

You may well just need to tell your local sharpeners to use a 7/16" or 3/8" radius of hollow sharpening. They are likely giving you 1/2" or perhaps even flatter which won't feel as secure. Doesn't hurt to try as it could save a lot of money.

__________________
Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Professional sharpeners - ptui! The first time I ever had a pair of figure skates sharpened, they removed the rocker completely. They were very fast, but didn't turn!

Fast forward 30 years, and a friend had the same thing done to her blades by someone highly respected (did he give the job to the part-time guy to do?)

I now do my own. Link here

__________________
Bill Schneider

I can say that the method shown on Bill's site will work. It is way better better and more economical than sending skates away. I've used the profiler for a few years now, and it is really COOL. If you just use it in the way that the instructions say to use it, and following some of Bill's tips, there's no way you can ruin your blades with it. I don't use cutting oil though. But I do put some candle wax on the sides of the blade to minimise friction while using the profiler.

It will work for parabolic too, but a little more time is needed to ensure that you get the 'rough' cliff hanging face on both edges before you use the fine honing stone.

Are you using the 3/8 or the 1/2 Pro-filer? I have been researching this already - dh is very good with that kind of stuff (I actually think he would be a great skate sharpener - but don't quite have the $$ to set him up in business!). DS' blades (Club 2000) are supposed to be a 3/8 ROH and mine are supposed to be 7/16 ROH but currently my blades appear to be at least 1/2. I'd like to stay with one Pro-filer if I can, but not sure if 3/8 will be too scary.

Oh and btw, after close inspection of the blades it does appear that my left blade (yep, the one I use to step into spins) is unevenly sharpened (one of the edges is a little higher than the other) . . . so that may explain while spin entries are feeling so bizarre these days. pfftt!!!

I use a Skatemate (similar to the Pro-filer) to keep an edge on our blades once they've been sharpened, but a friend of ours now does sharpenings, and does ours for us about every 6 months. My coach has a special stone to put an edge on blades while his sharpener of choice (a skater, but one who has been trained in the use of a sharpening machine) is training in the USA. I tease him that he looks like a blacksmith at work while he's doing it, especially as he's usually doing it while the skates are on the skater!

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

Oh, that's too funny . . . actually we DO have a friend who is a blacksmith (we have a horse) . . . maybe I just need to talk him into cross training!

Hey Laura;

You really might want to get the Matrix blade system from Jackson. Very nice blades - I LOVE mine, and the runner is detachable and can be sent in the mail quite easily. THey are made out of very hard stainless steel and seem to hold a sharpening longer than my previous coronation Aces. Better yet, an extra pair, and these are a fairly high end blade, cost only about $100!!!!! I always keep mine sharp. PM me if you want the address of my sharpener (I live in Charleston).
Lyle

Bill,

I think you're right about the Profiler. I've been using the 1/2" ROH Profiler for two full seasons now. I think it works great.

You also made a good suggestion about using Scotch tape instead of the masking tape. The masking tape was too thick and only tore off.

I have had some problems with the Scotch tape, but that was in removing it after the sharpening was complete. It often times tears up in small bits and is hard to remove. I started wiping the sides of the blades with a little of the cutting oil prior to applying the tape. It does help a little. Does the parifin you use help?

I also thought about using latex gloves to keep the black, filing-laden oil off of my finger tips, but I found that my tactile abilities were too diminished to adequately feel the bur that was developing. So now I just scrub my hands & live with the residual stains.

I've been pondering going to the 3/8" ROH, but I'm not sure if there will be a benefit to me or not.

Anyway, not to steal the thread too much, if you feel somewhat mechanically adept, the Profiler system works nicely.

I use a single-edge razor blade to "plane" the left-over bits of Scotch tape from the blade.

I use just one glove on my right hand (cutting hand) - the hand doing the cutting is the one that gets especially messy. I use my left hand (ungloved) to feel the edge sharpness.

Heh, this has me pondering a program that features a latex gloved hand!

__________________
Bill Schneider

(Dianne giggles, having just brought home the remains of an old home-made skate sharpening machine which will be rebuilt into a new skate sharpening machine over the next few weeks. )

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

Now, you're dangerous! (Just kidding, Madame Engineer-we love your inventions!)

Good luck with this new endeavour - maybe YOU can become the local sharpening expert!
Could help pay for your AOSS!

__________________

My friends have long known that I shouldn't be left unsupervised

There aren't THAT many skates within 500 miles!

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

Have you got photos of your blade sharpening bench and workshop at your website?

For patent reasons I have resisted the temptation to attach photos. Most of our clients have a tour of our facilities which includes a prototype/research grinding table, grinding room with two machines, a pattern table to produce very accurate master patterns and our boot modification and blade mounting area. All the machines are air operated and turn at 18,000 rpm to ensure correct cutting speeds for 60 RC high carbon blades. The grinding wheels are a special PBHE order, aluminum oxide 120 grit.

This is what I do too. My sharpener is an hour and a quarter away - I swap out the runners, put them in the mail usually on a Sat., morning and they're back to me by Wed. And yes, the sharpening on these blades lasts a lot longer than it did on my Phantoms. They have a very different profile than the Phantoms and that took some getting used to, but I'm happy I made the switch.