Thanks to everyone who replied to my previous thread about my boots breaking down, I am now in new Jackson Elite Plus boots (got them Friday).

The boots are marvelous. A little snug, but not painful, and a little stiff, but nothing that a few weeks of skating won't take care of. I kept my blades from my old boots (Pattern 99s) and had them re-mounted onto my new skates, which are exactly the same size, and the same brand.

Now, for the problem.

I think the blade is mounted with the heel slightly further out than my previous mounting. Right now, there is only one permanent screw in there (and two temporaries), so technically, I should be able to move the mounting fairly easily. However, that's not the odd thing...

With the blade in the new position, the following elements have IMPROVED drastically: back sit spin, back camel spin. This is great news, since I supposedly have a camel-back camel in my program, and it had been giving me fits.

However, I cannot, for the life of me, do a back scratch spin anymore. Not AT ALL. This is bad news, since I warm up for axels and doubles by doing tons of back scratch spins... Also, I can feel a definite difference when I transfer from my RBO edge to my LFO edge as I step into a waltz jump, and so I feel a bit less secure about it.

My left skate feels exactly the same as my previous mounting.

It's been two years since I changed skates and blades, and the last time I did get new skates, I didn't have any back spins to speak of. How much time do I need to give a new mounting to adjust to it? Should I be concerned about that right skate? Should I get it adjusted? Will that damage the leather on the heel to take screws in and out? Or...maybe it's the fact that my new skates actually have arches now, whereas my old ones had broken down?

I would give it about 3-4 sessions to see if you adjust. Then I'd consider moving the blade very slightly if you still feel the blade is off.

I'm thinking that you may not be able to reuse the hole where the one permanent screw is in if you move it......but that should be OK. There are plenty other permanent holes to use up. Then if the adjustment isn't what you want, you can go back and put the blade where it is now. Holes can be plugged if you like.

I had my blade adjusted slightly several times right before I tested Bronze. The smallest adjustment made the difference in me having a backspin or not. I lucked out and eeked out a good one on the test.