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Exciting: Finding Eagle/Warrior/MIA/TPS gloves from the mid to late 2000s, or heel curve sticks that aren’t made anymore. Not exciting: The latest iteration of a P92 stick with a new paint job and gimmick taper.

The only thing in new gear that excites me is if it can still be made the old way. I am still excited over my Eagle goat skin player gloves, and I have had them for YEARS. NOS “pro fit” CCM HT2 helmets excite me, though I use a Kustom Composites player helmet. Goalie gear can excite me, but only if I do some sort of customisation. I just got a pair of Vaughn pads that require no strapping change for me to use them; the plus 2” thigh rise will need to be corrected. Guess what I will be addressing whilst out for my surgery? Lastly, vintage gear and restoring it REALLY excites me. The vintage gear I have collected is not pressed into service again, but making it suitable to be used makes me excited. There is something about the old stuff that stirs the imagination for me.

New soakers ALWAYS make you happy! 😁

I now only get excited for gear by reading through the 188 pages (and counting) of the VH/True skate thread.

You could try baking them again, I would have thought the shop would do it for free given the circumstances.

It just occurred to me that a better option is for smu to start a new thread, using his second from last post, and people can comment if they wish, rather than use this thread for one issue. That way everyone is happy. Just a suggestion folks.

My experience with Flare blades is that they are like a FBV on steroids. Much better glide, and better bite for the angle. After a few sessions, I can confidently say I'm faster on these runners. It's to the point that I was actually out of control until I learned to adapt to the speed. I was running into other players and the boards/net because I was going faster and cutting faster than I thought and misjudged things. It's resulted in a few pretty hard hits, in non-checking hockey. These blades are definitely as advertised, more than I expected them to be. There's more of a learning curve than I anticipated, and I'm still finding how deep I can get and still have an edge. There is also a spot where you do lose an edge if you were to very lightly turn your ankle (I guess it's in that 0-6* range before you engage the flare). Even with that, I still very highly recommend them.

I know smu has been annoying in the past by repeating himself in numerous long winded posts, but this time I think he has given a very succinct summary of his issues, with an update on the third pair - 😲 - , and the fact that he still does not have a skate that fits - the heel is far too wide - is shocking. Perhaps people here who fit skates can comment. In his position I would be looking for a full refund and moving to a custom skate from Bauer or CCM. Assuming they can fit skates to his feet. I suppose it is possible that he had such strange feet that they are unfittable. Or perhaps only True can not accommodate him.

Oldtrainerguy posed a question initially about my scans and I expounded upon the scanning issue he brought up. My last pair still had that issue and I told, in short, the poor service and exactly what happened in the end or now near end. I have emailed Rob about the problem with QC and getting back with information, but that did not help. I did that for all of us. Perhaps most here are pro True supporters that don't want to hear any negativity.

We've already read about the story about 10 times now.

I started by contacting Graf directly through social media, which may have made my process a little more unique. They recommended a skate to me based on our conversations, so when I went to the local dealer (about 45 minutes away), I already had some framework in mind. He had me try on a bunch of different retail skates just to hone down fit profile. We decided on the Graf 9035's vs the G75's because the retail boot depth was perfect so we could use the retail uppers. I think they were a little cheaper too. We did tracings and photos. I got to pick the liner, the tongues, stiffness, and the holder size (more on that in a minute). I got two different length skates. Width was pretty close out of the box, but had to have a couple of punches right behind the toebox (my feet have a weird curve in them). took about 2 months start to finish, and while I could have had the tweaking done locally, I wanted to keep going back to the original guy. I did decide to scrap the footbeds they gave me (the much nicer SIDAS ones) for speedplates. As for the holders, I've got small feet but I'm a big dude. Was coming from a 254 holder, but in skates that were a little too big. I told Graf to fit the biggest holder possible as the correct size holder for me would have probably been a 246. I expected them to fit a 254 (+1) no problem (PS - I decided to do a Graf holder since the steel is cheaper and I dont need the trigger, plus I like the idea of a stiffer holder and the whole package matching), but they wound up fitting a 263 which is awesome, but it clearly overhangs the front of the left (smaller) skate. Because its so big, I'm not convinced its mounted perfectly square, and I'm not convinced my profile is set right as the centerline of the holder/steel/boot would be a little off/inconsistent given the different mounting positions. They came with the new Graf steel which is actually very nice steel. I've got a new pair of step steel coming, so I'm going to break the boot down, make sure everything is squared off, and really work with my guy to make sure the profile is perfectly aligned given the unique holder setup.

Another small victory: played goal at drop in today. New exercise regimen has paid off as I was nowhere nearly as winded as normal when playing. I let in a few muffins, but it’s not like I get to play all that regularly at this point.

It's good to know that many others have also found the benefits substantial and even, dare I say, revolutionary? I wasn't just imagining things. I don't expect products to always deliver what is promised but when they do, you just like, feel good about humanity 😄 I had some doubts that these might be like those heated blades or the spring-loaded blades. Hard to substantiate with so little information and feedback out there from normal guys like us. Sorry, when I mentioned the hollow that I used, I was referring to traditional blades. So according to the Flare chart on the package, the 3/4" (traditional) would equal to 1 1/8" (Flare). In fact, I'm thinking of going up to a 5/8" (traditional) or 1" (Flare) because as a defenceman, I need some "grip" to gently move guys in front of the net. Like I said, during my skate, I didn't feel much bite until I leaned into turns and really focused on my edges. I've since had a stick and puck session and the sharpening is already feeling a bit worn so I think I will try the next hollow up. I think this current hollow is too flat for me. Btw, I had these Flares profiled with Quad 1 just like my Steps and LS4s. But those sets are flat-bottom sharpened.

Our stores in Seattle, WA sell a lot of them and everyone who has used them, myself included, finds the benefits of these are substantial, especially if you get them profiled. You really should try going to a flatter hollow, less than 3/4" once you get adjusted. Most of the people we sharpen that have Flare are on 1" - 1 1/2" ROH, the ones with a 1 1/2" ROH usually have a ZC though.

Picked up some step blacksteel. Will be interested to see if it feels any different than v-steel.

I am trying to get my arms around this statement... Can we back up and unpack this? Did you weigh each setup? I'd like to see pictures to back up how much " Drastically " is. It's not a unit of measurement I am familiar with.

Ok, I haven't really seen anyone here say they've tried these blades so... I'll be the first? Wow. Just wow. I normally just roll my eyes whenever I hear hockey marketing and about advanced technology in new gear. 10% faster this, 20% harder that, blah blah blah, etc. But I was able to confirm everything these blades were advertised to do during a skate (no game action yet). Massive glide, tighter turns and as good or better edges or "bite" using a lesser hollow. For an experienced player and above average skater like myself, this was one piece of equipment where I feel was not just a small, incremental improvement but a next-level type of improvement to my skating. I know that might sound like hyperbole, but that's how it felt after only one 2-hour skate with them. I'm going to have to try them back-to-back-to-back with my Steps and LS4s, but after the first time with these, I feel like I should just retire the conventional blades. I agree with this. Although I thought the wider blade would feel different and more "stable", I really didn't notice anything while standing still. The blade didn't feel wider or any different than normal. It did feel taller though. As someone who isn't that good in science, I can't wrap my head around how a wider blade would give you more glide... but there it was. It was massive and it was strange in a good way. Yes, I did go down to a 3/4" (The last time I used a conventional sharpening I was going with 5/8". Been using flat-bottom for 5-6 years now) but it was the flare and not the shallow hollow because I was never so smooth before Feeling how little bite there was initially while gliding, doing basic snowplows and forward strides, I was really hesitant to do a fast tight turn. Well, I was absolutely shocked and delighted that my edges were better and cleaner than, well, ever... using a hollow that would have normally sent me sliding towards the boards on regular blades. Finally, some truth in advertising. Anyways, that's all I got for now.

I just started backpacking. And I thought being a goalie was an expensive hobby...

Wine...... we haven't met yet. If we had you'd understand.

You don't really skate on your toes or heel. Also, the primary benefit of Flare is not the width as most people think, its the actual flare of the steel which allows you to get over further on your edges. The width obviously does help with stability and glide, having a more flat hollow, but that's not the main focus of the benefit of the steel.

You can actually use a prosharp level if you have one, measure it from the left side and right side. The amount it should be off on each side should be equal. If that doesn't make sense I can snap some pics later today.

They look like a prop from the movie TRON.