lpgbackups

sick deal

i use both 100/50 and 95/75 and i think they're pretty similar and pretty great....im not even sure which one is supposed to have a more aggressive bite. i love them both... i tried 90/75 and it slides way too much for me.

huge difference.......90/75 slides as hell......95/75 is much more aggressive

Thanks :-) wasnt so sure ^_^

This side up ? or this side up?

i see an enormous difference between 90/75 and 95/75

thats a damn nice thing to have under the tree even if you had to put it there yourself.

you got yourself an X02 for christmas?

decent one , but i think there was a more comprehensive list

okay...i wont be holding the boot of my skate when sharpening...especially since JR liked the post that corrected me! im about to purchase a few spinners for christmas, im interested in the 100/50 and 95/75 range, .and i know they added new spinners that previously didnt existed...does anyone know where i can find the guide that ranks the spinners in terms of bite? .i remember it was posted somewhere but i cant find it easily in this thread or on blackstone's site. thanks guys Merry hockey playing

i noticed something on sharpening videos..most people hold the tri-holder while sharpening.....am i the only one who actually holds the boot of my skate ?

yeah, thanks for the precision about their prices.. and yeah, thanks for loving my X02 review that i made a while ago...i dont recall ever having been so emotional about a product before or since lol, ...... if you pull the trigger on an X02 you wont regret it thats for sure...if you're a huge hockey fanatic like me i suggest you buy it.. you'll love it..... if you're not a fanatic like me, i guess an X01 would be fine. people on this forum have reviewed it too i think. either way, you can't go wrong... Blackstone are nice people and they make solid stuff and everything is really easy to use.... the only thing i hate about them is how painfully expensive they charge for shipping.....so im forced to make $150 + orders every time i buy something to get free shipping lol... ..anyways ...cant wait for this winter. Enjoy! Everyday is a Great Day for Hockey

I have been owning a X02 since 2010 and its dope. Best purchase i ever made. But the xo1 is probably fine too. Anyways, they charge usd's to Americans and Cad's to canadians? Same nominal value? You sure about that? It shows usd's when i browse their site and im in canada. Im about to buy a bunch of new spinners and wheels so i'd like to know.

damn.........they changed their prices to USD's now? not cool ....the canadian looney lost value compared to it...

Blackstone has videos on their website showing us how to sharpen.....pretty damn easy.

i got used to my X02 within a week... pretty darn easy... and im far from a technical guy. best investment i ever made.

i wonder if those sticks are really better than say...5 years ago... if the V9 series definitely better than the S19/SE16? is the total one nxg really better than the one95 or the original T1? i see reebok and ccm as being the ones who made the biggest improvements in sticks over the last 5 years, but thats mostly due to the fact that they were behind so they had more room for improvement than Bauer or Easton.

cool............also...i absolutely love my 100/50, everything is fantastic....but i wouldnt mind trying another set of spinner just for the sake of it....i could handle even more bite as im a very aggressive skater... how many options do i have if i want to go beyond 100/50 in terms of bite? i believe 95/75 is the next step....and then 100/75 is the final destination in terms of bite.. correct me if im wrong. anyone tried those last 2 spinners? any thoughts?

Hi, ive seen that some guys prefer the Ruby wheels for their X Series..........what are the advantages of going Ruby over the orange wheels?

little updates; Skates: Bauer APX2 size 8.5D, LS3 Steel Sticks: main twig right now; Easton SE16 Prostock , Grip, 100 Flex, Sakic Curve and 10 more. All prostock, mostly Easton, some bauers, and one RBZ. All Sakics. Mostly 100 FLex, some 85. Gloves; Prostock Reebok 4-Roll, Sty4, Black, 14 Inches, Chicago Helmet: Black Bauer 5000 Large with Oakley visor Shoulders; Old School Bauer impact SP300, XL Elbows; Old School Cooper EK3 from the 80's...maybe 70's Pants: Reebok 3K Senior Medium Black (among the top 3 lightest-weights on the market, these were the best looking) higher end too is way too heavy Shins: Reebok 6k 15 inches (best retail shin guards on the market, higher-end is too bulky) Jock: Blue 3 in 1 Jock Strap Sharpening : Blackstone X-02 with FBV @ 100/50 Orange wheels, thinking of going to 95/75 with Ruby wheel for more grip.

yeah.......Blackstone X series are so good......once you own it, i dont see any reason why you would sell it. i did see a used blackstone x02 fully loaded for about $1500 on ebay last month... but its rare. get a new X01

picked up 2 pairs of these. Lovely. Chi-Town Representing.

Serious skills, you should work for Blackstone.....or start your own company. Props. Proper Respect

Unlike most Blackstone X-Series owners out there, i must say that i am not a dad in his 40's or his 50's who, with 3 or 4 kids, ended up having no choice but to buy his own machine. I bought the machine for myself. Not for my kids, which i don't have, and not for my friends, which i have and which i generously help, free of cost, when they ask me. I bought my X-02 primarily for myself only. For my own enjoyment. While im still in my 20's, in the peak of my physical prime. I had wanted to own my own skate sharpener since i was about 11 years old when i first started playing organized hockey. Every game i would ask my dad for a fresh sharpening because every time i had a fresh sharpening, i would feel 100% confident. I would control the ice. Dominate the game. Never fearing to lose my edges. I was a monster. Problem was, after one or 2 games...you feel like the perfection is fading away. After 3 games, it gets frustrating. You play with a handicap. And even when the handicap is not really there, you still have a mental handicap. Just the thought of going on the ice with non-perfectly-sharpened skates would kill me. You always need a new, fresh sharpening. Always, every game. i dont buy into 10 hours of ice thingy. For me, even as an 11 year-old 100 lbs kid, its every game. But the problem was, my dad would not always say yes. He'd say yes only about 1 time every 4 times i asked him. And who can blame him? Paying $3.50, as it was in Montreal the 1990's, for a sharpening was getting annoying for my dad who made the huge sacrifice in time and money to let his son play the game he loved. One night, i went to bed dreaming and thinking how amazing it would be to have my own freaking machine in my basement, that i could use whenever i had a game. I thought I would feel like a king. Still, I lived most of my teenage years and my early twenties, running and chasing after proshops and their rare opening hours. Many times i would drive my bike, and later my car, to an arena, and bump into a closed proshop. Many times i would bump into a line of 74 people all wanting a sharpening. Many times i said screw that, im not waiting in line. Many times i'd call a proshop to find out if they were open because i had a game in a few hours, and they told me the guy doing the sharpening was sick or not there, or not scheduled on that day. Many days i raged. Many kilometers i wasted. Many times, i had a guy doing my skates who ended screwing up his sharpening. Many times i raged when i stepped onto the ice. Many times i prayed to God to ensure the guy doing the sharpening knew what he was doing. Call me a freak, thats how i am. Can't change it. One day i got a tax refund to the tune of 2 Grand from the generous government of Canada, and without a millisecond of hesitation i pulled the trigger on an X-02 and its new FBV technology which i had read about online a few months prior. It was like my childhood dream finally come true after a decade. I bought the stuff, received it 3 days later, feared that i lacked the technical know-how to actually operate it efficiently, but still did not waste a second into assembling my new toy thinking that i would eventually figure it all out and become a respected skate sharpener in my own right. My rationale for dropping $2000 hard earned and hard taxed Canadian dollars on this Canadian-made bad boy were; 1- Fulfilling a lifelong dream. 2- Having the joy of having a fresh sharpening every single time i stepped onto the ice. 3- Having the freedom to choose the kind of sharpening i desired every single time i stepped onto the ice by sharpening my own skates MYSELF. 4- The Opportunity Cost of saving time by not having to go to a remote location and especially not waiting in line. 5- The Opportunity Cost of saving money is 2 folds; Saving the actual $5 to sharpen, (and i heard FBV is actually $8 in Quebec, LoL!). And saving the money of transportation (Saving Gas or Saving Bus tickets) 6- Having a personal skate sharpening shop that is open 24/7/365, that never closes and not having to pray that Shop XYZ is open on game day. I read the manual from A to Z but It took me a while to get used to the machine. My very very very first sharpening i completely forgot (or actually did not know) to dress the grinding wheel. Needless to say i looked like a clown (Sean Avery?) when i got on the ice. The when i finally got it right, it felt like magic. Even if it was only on a regular 1/2" hollow, i felt amazing. Somehow, i felt a superior bite and a superior, much superior glide. As if the blackstone factor alone gave me supernatural powers without even needing FBV. i Quickly understood exactly how the machine operates, how to deal with wheels, spinners, grinder knobs etc...and honestly its very very easy to use, even for a guy who is terrible at manual or technical tasks such as myself. The only, only ONLY thing that bugs me, still to this day is the functioning of the bat gage. I have no idea how to use it properly. I emailed blackstone and spoke on the phone with them. They tried to help me but i still have no clue on how to use it. it's still a deep mystery for me. I never ever get the same value twice when i try to read it. I'm 100% sure its not defective at all but i still cant use it to save my life. But i understand the purpose of the batgage. its simply to ensure that the blade is well aligned with the center of the grinding wheel. you dont need to be a genius to figure that out. And so i went by trial and error, and since in my case the sharpening is for myself, it is i believe a superior method to the batgage. As a point of reference i use the trace left by the blade on the grinding wheel; Also, blackstone said not to touch the pitch (bottom wheel) since default is meant for hockey skates. So i had only the left and the right wheels of the skate holder to play with. And visually, i try to ensure that everything is in the center, both the toe and the heel of the skate boot All of this is meant to adjust the skate holder to ensure the ideal fit. i ended with varying positions for my skate holder. For instance, i got; and Now heres when the trial and error comes into play. I would try a specific position for my skate holder and then go the nearest ice to try it, which is 2 minutes away, luckily. If i felt that breaking on the left wasnt biting enough or vice-versa, i would go back home, adjust the holder, and then go back on the ice until i got the optimal value. i ended up with the position below and i think its the optimal for my specific skates (vapors) I think to get the optimal sharpening, two things need to be optimal. 1. The alignment of the blade with the center of the grinding wheel. 2. The right number of passes, and the right pressure applied on every pass. I found that its generally better to apply a good pressure on every pass. We have to be careful because too hard will make the grinding wheel stop cold, so i try to apply a very good pressure while keeping my limits in mind. it also makes more sense than my previous 2 configurations, i think, because as seen from the double half-pipes, both the left and the right wheels have the same value (and therefore the same height). it wouldnt make sense to have the toe or the heel higher than the other. Of course, when you're sharpening for others, you dont have the luxury of doing a trial and error, but for my own skates, i took the time i needed and im a 1000% spot on and i love it. Also; i dont use this little protective glass not because i think goggles are protective enough or because i was not able to install it properly, but because im a gangster. i try to use a vaccum cleaner as often as possible to remove the dirt; Some more accessories, always good to have; 8 Wheels, almost strictly for personal use, is that enough for you or what? Last thing, BUT NOT THE LEAST!, for me is to try the FBV spinner. I still havent tried it because i wanted to finish my last grinding wheel which still had some life to it. Now, in a week or two, i'll go full throttle on FBV with a new wheel baby. Needless to say i cant wait! At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, the X02 is bar none the best purchase i ever made in my life. If in another life Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Carlo Gambino and Vito Rizzuto would come to me and tell me they have an offer for me i can't refuse and tell me look; here's a brand new Bugatti Veyron, its yours for 2 Gees. I'd say no sorry, gotta get my X-02 first. The only negative thing i can find in this whole deal is the horrible French grammar and spelling mistakes found in their user manual. I give them A+ on their report card for physics and engineering but a big and sincere F for their French class.