z71

Does anyone have any experience with the Pink wheel?

I'm looking forward to hearing an answer to Muddy's question as well. I know I was told that the Ruby stone is more aggressive than the orange stone and was even told by Blackstone that they normally won't sell Ruby stones to newbies because they can remove too much steel too quickly. Regarding the difference between the Orange and the pink - I have no idea. As far as how often you need to replace the wheels - it's a direct correlation with how often you shape the wheel and how much pressure you apply when shaping. I've heard some say that you only need to dress the stone every 4 - 6 pairs of skates, but that's assuming you are putting the same cut on all those skates. I've almost gone through my first two wheels (one orange, one ruby) pretty quickly and was surprised by how fast I was going through them. I'm now not shaping the wheel as often and I'm being more careful to not remove so much material when shaping. I got this idea from someone else but I'll typically mark the wheel with a black sharpie when changing the shape so I know when I've removed just enough material. I also take a black sharpie to the bottom of the steel before sharpening so I can see when I've removed all of the old steel. It does provide a great visual reference. Hopefully the experts like JR can chime in because I'm still a rookie at all this!

Thanks for the help JR and everyone else. I have another question - how do you approach the wheel with the heel of the blade? I know it's mainly an issue of having the "touch", but I'm having some issues in this area. It's a difficult place to start while moving smoothly so that I don't flat spot the heel. I know it's going to be difficult to explain in writing, but is there anything I can do to improve on this area (besides practice, practice, practice?).

Quick question - does the grinding wheel nut install with the circular ridge up (visible) or down (toward the wheel)? I just took mine apart to clean under it and noticed the circular ridge in the nut. I'm thinking the ridge goes down based on the way I think I took it off, but I honestly don't know. Not sure it matters, but I thought I should ask. I'm thinking the ridge is there to keep the nut off the label. Thanks,

My edges were much better and felt more consistent last night. I took extra time and care while sharpening to keep consistent speed and light pressure. I think I'm starting to get the basic hang of it but I can now clearly see why it takes so long to really get good at it.

Thanks Muddy! I skated last night for the first time on my own sharpening. I played an entire game without issue. I felt like the skates weren't perfect but I don't know what it was. I've been getting a 100/50 from No Icing and last night I sharpened with a 95/75. I expected slightly more grip but didn't notice it. I also felt like I had good edges in places on my blades and poor edges in others. I resharpened them this morning, taking extra time and care, and will be back on the ice this evening. One question - with the spinner and the wheel being smaller on the XO machines, has anyone ever noticed that a 100/50 on a large machine doesn't always perfectly equal a 100/50 on an XO? Is there any reason for this to be true? Are the XO machines more difficult to sharpen on than a large machine? Seabird - I can't answer your question as I use "Fine Shine" from Blackstone. You can always order directly from them, especially if you need any other new accessories for your machine.

Holder adjustments were about the same for my personal skates. With the adjustments I was able to get even edges so I guess it is what it is. I just didn't expect to have to make such a major adjustment. Maybe it's just because I was so attentive after reading all these posts. I assume a lot of people probably just adjust until they get even edges and sharpen away. I don't know what to say. Any other thoughts? Do you think I'm on the right track?

Sounds good! I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Those are the ones. I mic'ed the blade at 1.20. I zeroed the holder and mounted my personal skates and it's still definitely low. I won't know exactly how low until I start sharpening. Based on all this, should I raise the pitch knob as i raise the other two knobs or should I completely leave it alone?

They're a pair of jr Riedell's. I don't think there is a problem with the blades because it was consistent with both skates. It was also consistent that that toe was lower than the heel. I even tried mounting the skates more fore and aft to see if I could get a different outcome but everything was consistent. I have a spare set of my blades for my personal skates that I can try later today for comparison sake. When the holder was factory set, the bottom of the blade lined up with almost the bottom of the wheel. It was definitely off the center of the wheel by a substantial amount. So I'm assuming you didn't have to make such a major initial adjustment? I'll check everything out again. Do you know the measurement for zeroing out the holder? When I measured with a micrometer I came up with .520". Thanks for your help. I've read many of your posts and always appreciate your insight!

Hey guys - I joined this forum specifically for this thread and am embarrassed to say that I've read or skimmed all 94 pages. I finally purchased an X02 and I've been practicing on an old pair of rentals the nice lady at the rink gave me. I feel like things are going okay for my first couple of time sharpening but I do have some questions I was hoping I could get answered here. - When I first mounted the skate in the holder and put it up against the wheel, it was obvious that the blade was hitting very low on the grinding wheel. I went ahead and made a few passes and measured with the bat gauge and it was obvious that my top edge was significantly lower than my bottom edge. I've been adjusting the holder and keeping track of the number of clicks it's taken to get the edges level and I'm wondering if this sounds normal - I've raised the left knob 22 clicks and the right knob 30 clicks. With those adjustments, I've been able to get within 1 bar on the bat gauge. Does this seem within the range of 'normal'? - Also, since I needed to raise the entire blade as compared with the wheel, should I or should I not raise the pitch gauge as well? I know they say not to touch it, but it makes sense that if you want to raise the entire skate blade evenly, you would need to adjust all 3 knobs. - Last night I sharpened without touching the pitch knob and was able to get within 1 - 2 thousands of level. Today I raised the pitch knob (keeping track of clicks and measuring with a mic so I could get it back to 'normal'). And again was able to get within 1 to 2 thousands. Based on those results, I suppose the pitch knob doesn't matter. So anyways, I'm just wondering if all of this is within the range of 'normal'. I guess I just wasn't expecting having to make that large of an adjustment to the holder since it supposedly came from the factor "set up for hockey skates". Everything else seems to be going well. I'm very impressed with the machine and am looking forward to trying out my own sharpening next week on the ice - during a practice of course! Thanks!