Homemade Scribe ?

[Isk8NYC]

We occasionally have people post scribe requests in the Trading Post. When I see one on eBay, I often post for interested parties.
(I want one too, but I'm picky and unwilling to pay $25 in shipping.)

An old-timer once told me that they used to make their own scribes. "Yeah, Yeah," I thought, "and you walked to school 20 miles through blizzards."

But it made me think about all the engineers (like Rusty Blades) and engineering-minded (like Skate@Delaware) people on this board.

Is there a way to build a scribe from scratch? A DIY project, so to speak?

[double3s]

Can you point the way to a picture? Google images did not return any useful results for "skating scribe."

[Isk8NYC]

http://i18.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/bc/bd/ebd4_1.JPG

This is a good description:

A scribe is used to make the circles of the figure eights so the skater can get the feel of the size and shape of the circle. It adjusts so you can use it for skaters of different heights. The same general idea as a compass, but when it is extended out it is shaped like an "L", with the short bottom end of the "L" in the air as the handle (if you can picture that). You stick one end into the ice on a point, and the other end has another point that draws a line into the ice. The skater then traces the line. For testing and competition you had to do the figure eights without the scribe.

OK, as for "patch". Skaters in the olden days used to call figure eights "patch", short for the patch ice that you mentioned. We all had scribes back then, and in fact I think mine is still in my parents garage 8O. We used to do patch at 5 and 6 am, before school, because that was the cheapest ice times. It was COLD!!! I, myself, had enough of patch in the 70's and 80's:?? .

[Virtualsk8r]

I remember when I was really young, my coach had a wooden scribe - pieces of wood that collapsed together and extended when needed.

My scribe is pristine gold - with my name engraved on it. I was so happy the day I was 'allowed' to get my own scribe instead of my coach drawing the circles. It cost $32.00 - which was seemed like a fortune and I had to pay for it myself.

Still have it !!! (along with the Gold Test figure blades and boots!)

[Isk8NYC]

I never owned a scribe. My figures coach could skate perfect circles in her sleep, or I would side-step to measure the diameter, scratch, then skate the circle. Now, I want a scribe to put over my mantle! (J/K - one of the rinks down here has ice that can be used for patch.)

Do you remember what you did when you finished with your first set of circles? We always side-stepped a few feet and started a new set of circles!

[icedancer2]

"Back in the day" the scribes were all home-made jobbies. Sometimes they had a big nail on the end to etch the circle and sometimes they had a magic marker (that is, after the magic marker was invented!).


Do you remember what you did when you finished with your first set of circles? We always side-stepped a few feet and started a new set of circles!

I remember this like it was yesterday - only it WAS yesterday!! You don't side-step a few feet for the new circle - you side-step just one step - otherwise you wouldn't have much room on your patch to do all of your figures!

[Isk8NYC]

I never said I was GOOD at figures, lol. One sidestep was two feet wide. ANy closer and I would go back to the wrong center. (I still measure that way, it's convenient.)

[HelenC]

My mother threw away my scribe from the 60's (yes, I'm that old!) and about 8 years ago I called Jerry's World and asked if they had any. They said they were trying to get rid of them, and sold one to me for $25, and a pair of Silver Test patch blades for $25. I still have the detachable Pattern 88 blades that I used in the 70's and they look so weird now, with three tiny teeth at the toe.

I haven't been able to get to real patch sessions, so if a freestyle session is not crowded, sometimes I patch without a scribe. I use one of the blue lines to the side of the center circle as my centerline. I look over to the center circle and eye the center of the circle, making a heel mark on my centerline. The circle at the rinks where I skate are about 30' diameter. I'm 5'- 2", and I make my circles 15'-6" diameter. So I make heel marks 6" outside the circle on both ends as a guide to make the circles the right size. The center line helps keeping the circle even and making sure the turns and serpentine changes of edge are on center.

Sometimes I carry my scribe, and frequently skaters will tell me that they have a scribe in their parent's garage somewhere. Maybe you could post on the rink bulletin board asking if anyone will sell you their unused scribe.

[Isk8NYC]

I was thinking about the thread we had last year for the DIY wireless music system and wondered if some of our engineers and creative wonders could meet this challenge.

I don't know if I would actually use a scribe - I'd probably just put it up on the mantle. lol