Does anyone know if a too-deep radius of hollow will go away substantially as blades continue to dull, or is this something I should take to my skate guy to have fixed?

I'm having a heck of a time spinning and doing turns (and controlling edges in general) on my freestyle blades (which I'm trying to switch back to after not wearing them for 10 yrs). When I try to do back spins especially, my blade just scrapes into the ice and stops me even though I feel like I'm in the right spot. Today I noticed that the ROH on my other blades is kept much more shallow.

I've skated on the freestyle blades enough by this point to where that freshly sharpened maybe a bit too much "oh my god I can't stop" feeling should have gone away, but it hasn't, so maybe when my skate guy mounted and sharpened them last week he made it too deep. Or perhaps they were just deeper in general back when I wore these blades 10 yrs ago, and I've since adjusted to having it more shallow.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

The edges will blunt but the ROH won't change significantly with wear and certainly not with any degree of accuracy. You need to get to a good sharpener.

Good luck!

Sarah

I agree...the sharpener can change the Roh not wear.

I took them to my skate guru today and he fixed them. They were at 5/8 and he put them to 7/16. Haven't tried skating on them since, but that should help a lot.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

That's interesting. 5/8 is 10/16 - a shallower ROH than 7/16 so you now have a deeper ROH (tighter curve) than you had before so the skates will be more grippy.

Maybe the OP meant 3/8, which is a common hollow for freestyle blades at the higher levels.

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No, they're less grippy, trust me, there is a big difference just running your fingers down the blade (more like my current blades).

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

OK, I know what's going on. Been there. Dull blades with a smaller hollow will slip more than sharp blades with a larger hollow. It's the sharp blade that gives you the grip, so when your blades are dull, the depth of the hollow is less significant.

(Have had 2 martini's and it's past my bedtime, so I hope that makes sense!)

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I blame the Martinis The blades are, according to the OP, now with a deeper ROH (smaller radius), and are less grippy. I think your previous suggestion that the original ROH was not 5/8 but 3/8 makes much more sense.

...and I think the effects of the two margaritas I had last night have worn off by now!

RachelSk8er, I'm pleased to hear that whatever change has been made it has improved things Happy skating!

Sarah

I have a blade radius story: I went to my skate sharpener two months ago and asked him to put in a deeper hollow (I skate in MK dance and didn't feel like I could quite get a good edge - someone told me that dance blades needed a deeper hollow so I thought I would try it).

So I get the deeper hollow and for the last two months I feel like I CANNOT skate - I can't really feel comfortable and eventually I started feeling like I was skating on two basketballs - there was about a 2 inch spot on the bottom of each blade that I was skating on and if I wasn't on that spot... well, I just felt unstable.

So today I went back into my blade guy and said that I just didn't like the deeper hollow and that I wanted it shallower. He does the blades and I went out to skate and viola! edges were steadier, everything felt better, I could feel my blades on the ice, do edges, turns, etc. - wow!

So I went back into the proshop and told him that the blades were great now and what was the difference in terms of ROH - was it 5/16 before and now 7/16ths? etc. He said, "Well, I had you at "7/16 deep" and now I have them at "7/16 lite" - I cracked up and said, "Oh, is this your own special language? And he said no, this was official - they were deeper before and now they are more shallow and they are still 7/16!

Well, I have no idea really what that means but I will take 7/16 lite over 7/16 deep any time!

I may even go to 1/2!!!

The bottom line is that ROH makes a total difference how the skates feel. Period.

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

Hmm ... I have no idea what ROH my blades are at, I just take it to my local pro shop and get a "freestyle sharpening". I am having a horrible, horrible time with the double rockers on Senior moves - I wonder if the ROH could have something to do with it. I am definitely going to look into this after ANs!

It makes you wonder - I couldn't believe the difference with even a very slight change!

Let us know how it goes if you do that!

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

What is the rule of thumb with ROH? Do shallow ROH make it easier to turn, or harder? I'm completely in the dark!

I was thinking about this last night after responding to your post - thinking about how figure blades have an extremely shallow ROH and isn't that so that it is easier to turn without scraping, - plus people tell me it's easier to stay on the edge (without the other edge touching down) and they get a better flow.

So for Moves and especially those involving lots of turns, I think a shallower ROH would make more sense. Wondering if a too deep ROH (as used for the "freestyle sharpening" doesn't just make it harder to do Moves....

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

There are some very interesting comments about RoH on the Everglides website at http://www.everglides.co.uk/about_ice_skates.html

Sarah

I skated on these for the first time since they were fixed and what a difference! I was able to do all my jumps/spins/footwork in my program just fine (even though my boots aren't broken in yet). Still a little trouble finding the exact spot to spin on, more so on back spins than forward spins, but I can at least actually spin now and play around with finding it (whereas before I couldn't even spin). It's slightly farther back than on my old blades. Can do all the jumps in my program, although I've had issues with my lutz the past month or two for some reason and that's not any better yet. (Has more to do with a secure entry edge and being able to bend the ankle I've had injury issues on and off with since October to take off properly without rising up in my knee.) Haven't tackled axels yet, since due to the same ankle and the stiffness of my boots slightly irritating it, I haven't worked on them in a while and won't bother trying to get it back in time for ANs.

I actually switched back to my old skates for the second half of a session on Friday night because new boots are even worse after your feet have been in high heels at work all day. WOW!! Now I'm wondering the same thing everyone else has. How the heck was I jumping in short heels and tiny toepicks before!?

__________________
2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything