XveritasX

You don't need to cross grind new skates at all.

The current store I work at is moving to a new location and we are getting brand new everything. Yesterday my manager asked if I could come in and set up the new skate machine. We have a brand new Blackstone triple head machine with the revolver system, new jigs, new shaper system, new spinners, etc. It is really nice being able to use everything that is brand new, and the revolver system seems pretty sweet. Once I got everything set up I brought my skates in to put a 11' radius on them and a slight forward pitch. The machine was great to use, super smooth, and my skates felt awesome at my game last night.

I typically will slowly move the spinner into the wheel until contact is made. Once it connects I wait until the spinner has stopped spinning, then I repeat the process. I sharpen machines at a store and typically dress the stone until the black line that develops on the stone is gone or at least has faded significantly. This may differ for you however since your doing no where near the volume.

That looks pretty bad. If I was going to grab a pair of Mako's I would for sure get some skate fenders. I'm in one100's right now and last game a took a slap shot to the outside of my foot, it dented the boot and my ankle was even bleeding a little bit.

I like step steel more, for the $20 or so more expensive it is, I think it's worth it

A few months ago I needed to replace the steel on my one100's. I've heard great things about step steel so I decided to give a pair a try. Edge Retention: Since I work at a hockey shop I sharpen my skates a lot, when I was on ls2 steel I typically sharpened my skates after 3 ice times. With step steel I would say it would be comparable to me skating 4 times on these blades. I know that may seem minuscule, but I like to keep my blades in tip top shape so while I only get one extra ice session, it is still a 33% increase. A couple weeks ago I went on the ice 5x without sharpening my skates and they still felt surprisingly good. 9/10 Ease of Sharpening: Speaking from a skate sharpening perspective, I love this steel. It is my favourite type of steel to sharpen. It sharpens smooth and leaves a great edge. 10/10 Value: Where I live Step steel is about $15-$20 more than basic LS2 steel. So it is about a third more expensive, however I feel it is better steel. 8/10 Overall: I really like my step steel. I'm glad I decided to go with it instead of LS2. I feel there is a big enough difference to warrant the extra $20 if you are looking to replace your steel. 9/10

What skate are you in right now?

I got a chance to try them on this weekend. I am a 8EE in one100's and I would drop down to a 7.5EE in the RBZ if I were to get them.

I think you have the wrong topic. Are you talking about the custom skates from VH Footwear? On another note, I have been really liking the step steel I picked up for my one100's. The steel sharpens nicely and seems to hold an edge longer. So far no complaints.

I completely understand. Luckily I was able to find the sizing guide through my store's dealer portal.

I'm interested in this myself. I have a chance to order a pair for a good price but without being able to try them first. I currently am in a 8EE one100, I tried on the RBZ 80's since my store got a few sizes in and I felt like I could drop down to a 7.5 possibly, but we haven't had that size shipped to us yet.

Typically the senior holder will work with 90% of skates out there. Some of the really small skates, like a 10y may require a junior jig. Most junior skates will work fine with the senior jig.

I like the look of the new logo. I need to pick up some new steel for my skates pretty soon, I am fairly certain I will pick up a pair of step steel. While I haven't used it before, reviews have been great. It's also my favourite steel to sharpen, just feels so smooth.

Well he does have a portable black stone machine in the one picture. He could be using that for FBV. There was a video posted a while back with the Pen's equipment manager and I am pretty sure I saw some spinners in the back ground. I would assume their must be some members on the penguins that use FBV. Last I heard, Crosby was using a 1/2 ROH.

Warrior Dynasty Grip Flex: 75 Curve: Kovalev Height: 6' Weight: 175 Postition: Forward Time-frame of use: Approx 3 months Aesthetics: In the past few years Warrior has toned down their loud designs. I really like that they are taking this route. Overall this stick looks alright, not bad at all, but nothing special. 7/10 Weight and Balance: The Dynasty is slightly blade heavy, not as much as my one95, but not as nice as my DT1 either. Weight is about average compared to sticks that are one line below the top end. 8/10 Blade: The blade didn't seem too hard or too soft. I did have some durability problems that I will discuss later. 8/10 Shaft/Flex: The stick has a nice mid flex to it. Seems to load fairly easily. I only got to use the stick for a short while, but I didn't notice it going soft at all in that time. 9/10 Stickhandling and Passing: My stickhandling and passing were half decent with this stick. It could have had a better feeling blade, and maybe be a little bit lighter blade. With that said however, I paid about 2/3 the amount of a high end stick. 9/10 Shooting: My wrist and snap shots were nothing special with this stick. I primarily attribute that to being a mid kick. Slap Shots were pretty good, and my one timers were great. The stick loaded effortlessly for them. Each shot would come off nice and hard. My favorite stick in that regard. 8/10 Durability: My only real problem with this stick. It broke down fairly quickly for me. A small hole/crack developed just around the bottom/hosel of the blade. I rarely break sticks so I was surprised it went so quickly for me. I maybe used it 8 times during mens rec games. My one95 on the other hand I have used around 30 times and is still going strong. My DT1 I have used about a dozen times and still looks great. 3/10 Conclusion: I got this stick on a small sale for about $150 CDN. For that price the performance was great. It is too bad the durability wasn't fantastic with the stick. If the next line of Dynasty sticks have the same durability my DT1 has shown, I will consider picking one up for when I play D this summer. 7/10

Warrior Covert DT1 Flex: 75 Curve: Kovalev Height: 6' Weight: 175 Postition: Forward Time-frame of use: Approx 2 months Aesthetics: I really like what Warrior has done in the past few years graphic wise. They no longer have dragons all down the shaft, or a skull in the middle. Their graphics are much cleaner now. Overall the stick has a fairly simple look. I like it, but wouldn't mind if their was a little bit of colour in it. 9/10 Weight and Balance: My last two sticks have been a Warrior Dynasty and Bauer one95. Coming from those two the weight is pretty good. The balance is also good. Overall it does not feel as nice weight/balance wise as the x60 I used, but it is right up there. 9/10 Blade: One of the biggest things I noticed with this blade is how stiff it is. It doesn't seem to want to flex at all. I personally have been liking it. 10/10 Shaft/Flex: This stick is very different flex wise. It took a little while to get use to. You can really feel the bottom part of the stick flex and follow through like it is catapulting the puck. On slap shots I found I had to lower my bottom had more than usual for a more consistent shot. The geometry of the shaft feels good in my hands. I do like the diamond grip they use. So far has lasted really well, no signs of peeling like some other grips do. 9/10 Stickhandling and Passing: It is probably just coincidence but my stick handling has seemed to improved after buying the stick. I can feel the puck pretty well on it. The balance of the stick also helps out. The feel is not the same at all as my one95, but I like it. Catching passes haven't been a problem. The blade doesn't seem to absorb the passes, it seems to hit it then just stop. 9/10 Shooting: My wrist shots have been great with this stick. Probably the best I have ever used in that aspect. It seems like I need to put a little bit more weight into my slap shots when using this stick. With my one95 and Dynasty, they stick seemed to load easier in that regard. I am sure this is due to the dagger taper. While my slapshots aren't as effortless, when I do catch the puck right they just fly off the blade. I think this will only improve as I get more used to the stick. Long story short, wrist shots have been amazing, slap shots are still good but not great. 9/10 Durability: This has been my single biggest problem with Warrior sticks. They seems to break fairly quickly for me, especially around the blade. I was thrilled to hear they tried to address this problem. So far my stick has been holding up great. A few scratches, couple of minor chips, but nothing alarming at all. I've been very happy. 9/10 Conclusion: Overall this is my favorite stick. If your looking for a stick mainly for wrist/snap shots, and you like or don't mind a hard blade then look at this for sure. However if your a person who likes mid kick sticks or can't stand really hard blades then maybe look at something else. 9.5/10

Yes turn the front two knobs. When you use your level/gauge measure on a straight area of the blade, once closer to the heel, and once closer to the toe. Then you can adjust the corresponding knob. It is possible for a skate to be out more on one end than the other, that is why you have two knobs. I use about 3 clicks for each line I am out on my gauge by, yours may be different depending on the equipment you use.

You shouldn't need a cross grinder. Just adjust your holder by how much you are off by and sharpen the skate again, then see if you are closer. Rinse and repeat.

I was talking about the online portion of training, it is fairly informative. They still do some training where company reps go store to store to talk about their product and how to fit it properly, this seems to be mainly for snowboard/skiing though. I do agree that sending a single manager out to learn everything and teach the store can be pretty bad. I work at a sportchek and I was there when a bunch of store managers were recapping what they learned at the hockey PK and yeah their memories must suck. I had to correct them when they were talking about how the U+ CL stick was so light because it has eight holes in the shaft. I suppose I may be somewhat bias since I know that my store has some players that play up to university level hockey coupled with a genuine care for helping the customer, so I honestly think our store can rival many LHS for quality of service. I do realize that my store is the exception to the rule here though.

Believe it or not their training program is fairly good. The problem is that many of sportcheks employee's are high school kids that could really care less about having a part time job.