This might be an odd question- My blades look flat compared to the rink rental blades.

When I used the rink's rentals, they all had deep sharpenings. My skates (sharpened at the rink, by the same guy, presumably, as they said "the guy who does the sharpening") have a flatter look to the blade bottom. I'm not sure exactly what the radius is, but I did the "penny test" suggested in the last sticky link- a penny sits in the hollow and has a bit of room to roll back and forth.

When my skates came from the factory, they had the same deep hollow as the rink rentals, and when they came back from sharpening, they were at their current flat-appearance.

I can run my finger down the blades and they don't feel particularly sharp.

However, they feel fantastic on the ice. I can really move in them, I can lean into my turns, and as long as I keep my body in the right place I feel secure and solid. So I'm resisting the urge to have them sharpened more, or go looking for my own hand sharpener (I can't remember what it is called... Skate Mate or something?).

Any idea why the rentals and factory sharpenings are so deep-looking?

One more question: in the sticky, the first link said 20-30 hours between sharpenings, and the third link said 100 hours between sharpenings. That's quite a difference. Is there a happy medium? I don't walk on anything but rink ice with my bare blades, so all the wear is from actual skating.

I currently have my blades sharpened with a hollow radius of 7/16. Cuts hard ice nicely and doesn't let me slip off of my edges. Makes my jump landings secure.

Now if I can just fix the ankle area of my boots. I'm moving inside of my boots from side to side involuntary. I tried taping my ankles but that just cuts of my circulation. Stops me from bending my knees and feet. There must be a better way.

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I've noticed that rentals have strange sharpenings, so don't use them as your guide. I looked at a pair last week that were terrible, with a dip before the rock, and no hard steel left at the blade tail! Maybe they use the rentals to teach pro shop rookies how to sharpen, but those skates are usually very dull.

Factory sharpenings are a myth. The "sharpness" that's passed off as a sharpening is just the result of the manufacturing process. Always get new skates sharpened before you skate. A lot of the pro shops here have two key phrases you can use: "Recreational" is a flatter sharpening (probably what your new skates have) with a shallow hollow, designed for beginners. Once you start spinning and jumping, you'd probably like a "Competitive" sharpening. It has a deeper hollow and sometimes they adjust the rocker.

If you like the way your blades feel, trace a profile of them to use as a guide for future sharpenings. Ask the pro shop guy how he sharpened them and if he remembers what hollow he used -- a little flattery ("I really like them!") can't hurt. Write it on the tracing.

As for time on the ice, I think a hundred hours is way too much. I get mine done when I feel the edges slipping, it's usually between 40 and 50 hours of skating when I check my notes. I wait a little longer than I used to because most of my ice time hours are in teaching, not skating.

Congrats on the new skates!

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Thank you! That clears things up.

I'm a ways from jumping...

Ok, here are some questions (this subject will never die):
-what hollow is a competitive hollow?
-in what way do they adjust the rocker?
-Where do you get your skates sharpened? I don't get them done at my rink (all they know is 1/2" and they even screw that up) so I either have a private person do it and only can get 1/2" or I will have to go somewhere else). I'm contemplating a different roh because i like them to really grab-hate feeling like they are sliding out, which is how they are feeling now with 1/2"

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

Assuming you were asking me:
I take my Klingbeils with Gold Seals to Jim at the Ice House in Hackensack, NJ. I tell him I want a "deep hollow" and he knows what to do. I have the measurement written down, but I never look at it because I've been going to him for so long. The only reason I know about "competitive" vs. "recreational" sharpenings is because I also take my kids' skates to him and he always asks me before he sharpens them. My oldest gets competitive, while the twins were getting the recreational sharpening. I'm going to switch them after the Show to competitive because we're going to start working on skills again. The competitive sharpening rocker has a more curved profile.
Jim also asks about stoning the blades afterward because some people want it, others don't because they like the grabbiness of the edges. (I flip back-and-forth depending on what's coming up in the next week.)

What a shame - I can't believe that Delaware doesn't have a really good sharpener, considering the UDEL programs. What about outside of Philly? IceWorks seems like they would have a good pro shop.

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I've taken my skates to the Pond, and have had no problems with them if you get the older guy (not the young hockey-type guys)... I haven't tried U of Del because there is no public ice in the summer. I don't know anything about the sharpenings at Skate Club of Wilmington.

At my rink in Harrington (The Centre) the sharpener sucks. Plain truth. Anyway, I'm thinking of switching to a different roh, probably the 7/16" i think that's the next one up...

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

Why not discuss it with the sharpener? Radius of hollow is very much personal taste, whatever the standard. I prefer a flatter hollow, too - enables deeper edges without catching IMO. Anybody who has done school figures will have been used to blades with a very flat hollow.

So I ran into a couple of the adult skate guys at the rink today, and talked to them about who sharpens their blades. One takes his accross the border to Canada (he used to live there and trusts the guy who sharpens them), but the other one is one of the guys who sharpens at the rink. So much for "the guy" sharpener. The guy I talked to does semi-private sharpenings... People ask him to sharpen their skates and he uses the rink sharpener. (He isn't the one who sharpened mine.) So he said when my blades get slippery to talk to him about the sort of sharpening I want to try.