bunnyman666

Thank you. I am just bitter enough that I will have to keep fighting! I am in a LOT of pain right now.

Just had my possibly last surgery for closing my loop illeostomy. This is supposed to be the easiest one. Needless to say this had been rough. Bleeding out my bum, pain meds barely touching the pain, puking after having an ice lolly and getting a straight catheter every few hours has been less that fun. Ugh.

Sorry to read that. I hope for the best possible outcome for you.

If you think about it, the full 9 mm difference is pushed forward. 9mm is half an inch-ish. Think of the difference between the feel of goal skates and player skates. It is a totally different feel on ice. 4.5 mm each way forward and aft gets into the “hardly feeling it” territory. 280mm is a LOT of runner on a small skate like a size 7.5, getting into goalie skate territory. But my untrained mind would say that 280 gives one more to play with as far as getting blades profiled. But then again- we’re talking pro stock and mainly pro return at that- could be an experiment that failed for the skater in question.

Confirmed what I had originally thought. That is lazy.

Just what I suspected on using the rear holes. That is LAZY. @JR Boucicaut I can’t see any shoppe worth their salt taking on that job for the reasons stated. I have, unfortunately, had a few barbarians drill unnecessary holes in my boots, too, in one of those operations I had described! Just because a place has “pro skate repair” on their shingle, that shingle does not make anyone in the shoppe an expert! Knowing that many of the good repair guys are gone from the “good” hockey stores, I know I would be sending my stuff to you. @Nicholas G I hope your friend can get satisfaction from the shoppe in question. I have had both 272mm and 263mm holders installed on 7.5 boots in a few brands. The 272mm were usually on higher end skates, but not always. Sometimes, I think they throw on whatever they have in the bin, to be blunt with you. If they are out of 272’s, they will throw on 263’s.

@Nicholas GNot any of the three named, but the install looks pretty hinky to me. I would not be leaving the shoppe without giving the manager an ear full! I may not an expert on skate repair, but I know when the rivets were cranked too hard! I have seen a few skates in my shoppe that had cracked holders in spots that had over-cranked rivets. I have that exact installation done (272mm holder on a size 7.5 boot) on all of my player skates and eyeballing those pix, I would expect to be pitched too far forward with the placement. From my untrained eye, it looks like they mounted using the existing holes from the old holders on the heel of the boot. I may be wrong here, but that’s what it looks like from the pix.

For me, the Sparx is worth its weight in gold @bflohcky. You are a great candidate for the machine. You are actually the profile for whom they built this machine. I am obsessed with perfect edges and was spending a king’s ransom on that pursuit. This has already paid off for me. You will see literal cost savings.

Unfortunately too much truth in that statement...

Nope, nor without even or consistent pressure. But if the choices are crummy or no sharpening and this devise, this sounds like a better option than going without, and certainty better than some edge refreshing methods. Some hand sharpeners don’t get a good, level and consistent edge, either. I am not a hater and there have been times where a slam into the post made me wish I had a tool like this on the bench.

What does this devise do to the sides of the runner? Is it safe for polished or coated steel? It won’t round off steel like I have seen some edge fresheners do, will it?

Funny, ‘cos mine are easy on and off, and my heel lock is slightly less. I can even wear a thin sock with mine now. Never used a shoe horn with the exception of the first few times wearing them. Mine were transition era VH/True (VH branding).

One more session of drop in. Kick saves, a few stinker goals and finally got into a rhythm. Then it was time to go home.

Last Sunday was another Drop in played. Only a few more weeks before getting chopped on for hopefully the last time.

As soon as I get my health back, I want to stock your runners in my little skate shoppe! Can’t wait for the new CCM trigger holders to come out so I can stock runners for them.

@STEP_Official love love love your runners!!!! I am just a Step fanboy!!!! Steel stays nice and sharp, does not take lots of runs to freshen up edges, and is in general better than the rest! Just had to get that out there!

Yes. That is definitely the intent I wanted to put out there. Scott was not a shoe maker, therefore how he approached the method of building is VASTLY different. They are not far off from some custom composite cycling shoes that were built a few years back. The actual method of building them would have to change to purty them up. I have not reverse engineered my VH/Trues to the point of cutting them apart, but the build process they use and what Bauer and CCM would use are vastly different. I could probably build these after a few tries. I do have experience in composites, so I do NOT want to denigrade what the VH/True skate is. This is NOT some DIY project that would take the weekend to do and all of your supplies would be at your local Lowe’s. You would need a well-rounded composites background. Though a goalie mask maker with expanded composite building experience could pull off a True skate.

It is overlooked to a degree because of the methods used in manufacture. This is a one-at-a-time method; now made several in a day most likely. You can “purty up” hand-laid and multi-piece composites; it just takes a LOT longer, and would weigh more. If there were moulds for every size and pieces were not interchangeable, the finish quality would be better. I suspect that there has been zero evolution in build method since buying the process. My power skating coach has a pair of speed skating boots built very similarly, and they are not what you would call beautiful, but speed skates are most likely covered by a skin made of lycra coated with some aerodynamic treatment. As far as the recent fit issues I have read about, this sounds like growing pains for trying to make a one at a time process into a semi-production process. And Scott used to offer resizing, which essentially was building a new boot. And it doesn’t sound like True has gotten around the possibility of needing to re-build the boot. Edit: yes- there is an example in this thread about a boot being built a few times. But it seems that there are growing pains, none the less. The stick building has little in common with skates except that carbon composite is used. True has had their stick factories for YEARS! Stick shafts are pretty well idiot-proof as far as how they are made and can be duplicated in infinitum.

For me, the most beautiful skates to me would be an old pair of leather Bauer Supreme or Graf, hands down. I think once the bigs’ custom becomes more accessible, VH/True will have to up their game on the aesthetics. I chose True for one reason: I could not get what I needed from the big manufacturers in fit, at least easily and from a relatively low cost. VH did it for me. Are they pretty? No. Do they fit well? YES.

I agree 100%! I certainly am forgiving of the looks as long as the voids are cosmetic, which I surmise they are!

Those pits in the finish are voids. It is most likely cosmetic, as it is in the outermost finish ply. But it also implies that the resin did not completely wet out; not a problem in the outer layer but is in the structural layers (most likely there are few voids underneath). Some fabric twill patterns wet out better than others.

Facepalm was for your partner, not you! Wow is all I can say...

Power skating lessons from a figure skater really helped me. I am actually thinking of learning honest to goodness figure skating.

The only thing in new gear that excites me is if it can still be made the old way. I am still excited over my Eagle goat skin player gloves, and I have had them for YEARS. NOS “pro fit” CCM HT2 helmets excite me, though I use a Kustom Composites player helmet. Goalie gear can excite me, but only if I do some sort of customisation. I just got a pair of Vaughn pads that require no strapping change for me to use them; the plus 2” thigh rise will need to be corrected. Guess what I will be addressing whilst out for my surgery? Lastly, vintage gear and restoring it REALLY excites me. The vintage gear I have collected is not pressed into service again, but making it suitable to be used makes me excited. There is something about the old stuff that stirs the imagination for me.

Another small victory: played goal at drop in today. New exercise regimen has paid off as I was nowhere nearly as winded as normal when playing. I let in a few muffins, but it’s not like I get to play all that regularly at this point.