Is it in my head or real? Runner profiles

[marka 519]

Howdy,

So I have two sets of steel for my skates (Mako M8, OE steel / boot / whatever).

I swapped them the other day.  When I did, I compared the first set to the 2nd set.  With the screw holes lined up the first set lined up nearly identically to the 2nd set on the back of the blade up to around the middle of the blade.  Then from the middle forward, the 1st set gradually had less material, maxing out around 1/16" to 1/8" less than the 2nd set.  I assume this is from sharpening.  Note that the 2nd set was used (by me... it was the set I'd run at first with the OE profile / whatever, I just swapped in what I'm calling the 1st set a few months after I got the skates when I got spare steel), so this wasn't a comparison to new steel

With the first set of steel, I very occasionally would sort of fall over the front of my skates, if that makes any sense.  With the 2nd set, I haven't done that and I feel a little more secure, particularly in sharper turns.

Is that indicative of me working better with the profile that's on the 2nd set or just in my head?  I don't have a good feel for how much of a profile change a 1/16" to 1/8" difference in material height on the toe with no difference on the rear would be.  If its not much, then I'm voting for "its in my head", but if that's a lot, then maybe its real and I should get the 1st set of blades re-profiled back to the OE profile?

I'm still pretty new and suck, in terms of experience level, etc.

Mark

[darkhors 88]

That has a major factor on were your balance of the skate is at and with the steel gone at the front of the skate, you're going to feel like you're more on your toes. If your skating type is more upright, it's going to be harder to feel "secured" to the ice with that profile (although everyone is different, this is just a generalization). In turns, that's going to lead to you being able to really control your feet from front to back, more so, than on your other set of steel where's there's more blade on the ice across the entire skate.

[boo10 323]

1/8" is a material change in pitch, especially on a pair of Makos, which already have a +2 pitch built in to the holder.

[JR Boucicaut 3759]

** A 1 increment in pitch is 1/32".  Just food for thought.

[DRR 112]

Your brain, and your body, will eventually adapt to a change. When I put new steel on I can immediately feel the difference in height, but as the old pair was sharpened, you don't notice tiny changes. I would say you have a significant enough change between the two sets of steel that you could feel the difference, sure.

Regardless, I think it would be best if the profiles matched, so your brain isn't constantly retraining to a different profile every time you switch.