jimmy

I have done a couple of thousand 7/13' radius, most skaters really like it. Works best for aggressive hot-dog type skaters.

Try a 18-20mm and a medium channel. Wider channel is more grip. I suggest keep the channel the same and adjust the hollow.

Most of my customers who were on FBV and tried ZC like the FBV better, but those who like the ZC really like it, it's a good option and worth a try to experiment. I have been doing ZC since before it came out in early 2010. I just bought a new machine and it has a different dressing system than my 2 older machines. A skate sharpened on the new machine sharpened on the exact same setting as the old machines was WAY sharper to customers and I had to make a big adjustment to make it feel the same.

While the ZC does use a hollow, it certainly can be made to not grab the ice, just like can be done with hollows. When I was the first shop to do ZCs in North America, I first followed the directions from Sweden, which they always recommend the shallowest hollows. My test customers were slipping all over. Swedish type sharpenings don't usually work for North American type skaters, so I made my own adjustments to give more bite. Perhaps the place you went was inexperienced in ZCs because it's not that difficult to do.

The mako stock radius is 9', going to a step with a 9' is still going for feel like small contact amount, similar to what you have now. What is your symptom while skating?

You wouldnt believe how many team force their players to wear the same brand/model helmet. Apparently popularity and looks is more important than fit and protection.

It's nice to see people on this forum all excited about semi-automatic sharpeners, especially if you go back thru a decade of posts on this forum where nearly everyone (except me) were doing nothing but badmouthing them, and those were machines with much more perfomance than the Sparx. The Sparx will find it's niche, just like the Prosharp Skatepal which has been on the market for about 8 yrs or so.

I have no problem with home sharpeners, I do with tax evasion and would report one who is not doing so to the IRS in a heartbeat. I pay 30 plus percent of each sharpening $$$ to the irs and also some to the state, I expect others to follow the rules. If one wants to do friends for free, that's great but once you start charging or accept $$ for "supplies", you are then a business. I have no problem with home sharpeners, I do with tax evasion and would report one who is not doing so to the IRS in a heartbeat. I pay 30 plus percent of each sharpening $$$ to the irs and also some to the state, I expect others to follow the rules. If one wants to do friends for free, that's great but once you start charging or accept $$ for "supplies", you are then a business.

Actually more of a copy of a cag and prosharp skatepal. Not different at all. Very close to a Skatepal so I'm wondering if there will be patent issues. I beleive these guys visited my store a coulple of years ago, saying they were college students doing an engineering project. Then they wanted to come back and have me show them every detail of the CAG and prosharps that I have. I didn't have the time. One caution to those with dreams of making side cash sharpening friends and teammates, be sure you get the appropriate business licences, town, state and federal, and also pay proper federal and state taxes on your 'profits".

I'm the same way. sounds like the skate size is too big. When sized correctly these skates fit like a glove and you barely need to tighten the laces.

A good quality stainless runner loses about 25% of its edge for every hour of skating and that is effected by the quality of the ice and off ice conditions at the rinks you play at, and type of hockey you are playing (junior practices vs Old mens league for example). If you were getting 4-6 hrs of skating that's about average. Of course you can skate longer than that, but the edges will be dull and offer no performance. The Blacksteel edges of course will last much, much longer. Another factor effecting how long edges last is the quality of your sharpener, those who overheat the blades when sharpening can change the hardness tempering qualities of the metal, weaken the metal to a point where they dull after 1 game, chip or break.

I don't think you'll notice anything fit or stiffness wise with the M8. As with sticks, all fiberglass ones are heavier and break easier. With the M8 I suspose a hard shot could crack the fiberglass, but this same hard shot would also damage other brands and model skaets as well. I wouldnt dwell on it, the M8 is a great skate. I havent seen any damage on the ones we have sold, so, so far so good is all I can say.

Mako Steel is great quality steel, Step is not better quality than Makos. Chattering is a symptom of too aggressive a hollow be it skater ability, weight or from ice condition. (Although a blade like Blacksteel and blackedge has a crisper finer point so it can grab better but no so much it would cause chatter) Simply shallowing the hollow should correct your problem. Try a 9/16 and see if that does the trick. I don't recommend shaving as it reduces performance. Let your body mechanics adjust to the new shape. Be sure to profile the radius and pitch to the same as the Makos, Step is neutral, mako is not.

STEP steel has never been the same shape as stock steel, regardless of the manufacturer and model. As for rotating 2 different "shapes", it can be done very easily and many do it without any problems. The key is not to stay on one set or the other too long as to allow your body mechanics to adjust only to that set. We have many customers who even rotate between different brands of skates with no issues, for example Grafs while reffing, and Bauers for their games.

Depends how many Swedes and Finns and European players are on a team. Rare for one of them to be deeper than 3/4. I had a list from Detroit's last Cup winning team, very long radius's, very shallow hollows.

The A trap works very well. If you are a goalie who likes inside edges with a lot of bite and outside edges with lees bite, then the A-trap is for you. In the past us sharpeners who know how to do it, sharpened the skates purposly out of level so they had higher inside edges. This gave the goalies great inside edges but no outside edge. Great in the crease, lowsy for skating. The A-trap edges however are level so you can also skate well on it, plus added benefit of the flat for more speed if you are a roaming goalie.

Take everything Blackstone says with a grain of salt. Too many spinners with very little difference between them. I did blind tests and most couldn't tell any difference. When I first got my machine years ago, they had two spinners, one they said covered 3/8-1/2", and the other 1/2 to 5/8. Marketing to sell more spinners is amazing.

No, the template is not 2 of them, one template with a seamless blend of the 2 radius.

No edge checker is going to be perfect, we are talking about a cheap mechanical measure made out of aluminum. I have 4 different brands, they are all about the same in regards to accuracy. I agree with Blackstone, within 1 line is fine. You'll have an aneurism trying to get those things to be perfectly level. So, just lay a quarter on the blade. If it looks square, the skate will perform fine, if the quarter is tilted, the skater will likely have issues. The quarter is as accurate as any of the edge checkers out there. Cheaper too.

We have 238 and 246mm in stock in Blacksteel.

Not sure about BE's coating service or prices but why not just get a pair of STEP Mako Blacksteel which is already available?

First, the ROH comparisons are not accurate, nor can be used as a direct crossovered to a specific FBV. The 100/50 is somewhere in the range of a 1/2 -9/16. We also did blind tests with the 90/1 and no one could tell any significant difference between that and the 100/50 or the 95/75. The 95/1 and 90/75 were however distinguishable in testing. I think Blackstone has put out too many spinners for the sake of just making spinners.

The steel on the Makos is same as the MakoIIs, no difference.

Yes, we've had them in stock for quite some time. Their website needs updating for sure.

Yes, STEP makes regular, velocity and Blacksteel for those.