notquitedeadyet

1/2" -20 UNF Left hand thread.

How old was your X8?

Vast improvement? Tell me how. I don't understand. It's not a better dress. It's not faster. Even if it was, we're only talking seconds to do either anyway. It doesn't save on wheel, its way easier to see the diamond dress the wheel than a spinner. Only now it costs $50+ for every roh you want to sharpen & you have to change a spinner for each. And you can't do any hollow in between. What am I missing here? For me, just because its new, doesn't make it better.

I commented earlier in this thread my feelings about the X01 vs the full sized portables. Suffice to say the others are much more robust. And nobody is ever going to convince me that a spinner is a better way to dress for roh. So what you save in roh spinners will quickly pay for that universal dresser for fbv. I'm also not a fan of those 4" wheels. I currently have an X02 in my posession, & it is a much better machine, but at that price point, I feel there are better options. Unless your biggest concern is portability. I believe its a pretty expensive option to get a 3 dial skate holder with that Blademaster machine, where as I think the new Wissota's come standard with one. Levers suck compared to dials.

I have much experience both machines, & I can promise you hands down that the Wissota is by far the better choice. I'd bet that universal dresser would work with the Blademaster too, but the deal breaker would probably be the skate holder.

That's a huge no-no. There's no chance that you hold the boot completely level thru each pass. And it's especially critical with fb sharpening.

I have experience will all 3 (and others) & I will confirm that the Blademaster & Wissota are much more substantial machines.

Half size down from your shoe size does not sound right at all

What would have been the downside of trying it?

I'm not convinced Skatemate is confused, I find it hard to believe they got the design all the way to production without someone realizing the mistake. Instead, I think it's marketing double-talk to hide the truth about their product: its nothing more than a glorified hand hone that stones both sides of the blade at once, & does effectivly nothing inside the hollow. I wonder if they found out early in the design that if they tried to match the radius of the hollow, it often did more harm than good. Either because it was too complicated to design something that tightly kept it perfectly centered for the slightly different thickness blades, or maybe it wiped out the high side edge in un-evenly sharpened blades. Not to mention what would happen if someone had a deeper hollow than they thought. So they took the easy way out & designed something that would seem to work as advertised, but actually never really gets close to the edges within the hollow. So nobody ends up with a worse edge than they started with. Then when someone caught on & questioned it, they let the marketing department handle the answer. Or maybe your right & I'm just giving them too much credit.

Wrangler is absolutely correct*, & I am totally amazed that they would get that wrong. I hope that wasn't written by the person that engineered their products... *edit: except that a AA battery is actually about 9/16", so the radius is still only 9/32, or slightly more than 1/4"

Marketing. There's no way any liquid/paste/wax/oil/ointment remains on the bottom of your blade after your first shift. I would argue that its probably gone by the time you skate your first lap in warm ups.

X8 would be a good place to start.

& centerline indicator to aid in profiling

I noticed that too after they came off back-order. Seems like a good idea.