tomdonbo

Quick question on grinding wheels. I've already pretty much used up one wheel. Hopefully this is just due to be being new at this... Which wheel do folks prefer? Orange, pink etc. Anyone know what the difference is? Which ones are finer/coarser? Which last longer? Also noticed the shipping cost to Ottawa is brutal. Anyone ever find a local source? Thanks, Don

Thanks for the feedback, I will get in touch with blackstone about the wheel being off. What I've noticed when sharpening is that going 3-4 clicks either way on the holder doesn't make a difference on the batgage. I am still using it to make sure I'm not way off, but my thought is that with FBV it isn't as useful. Don

Hey Folks, After much research on this board, I finally picked up an X01 a couple of weeks ago (3 kids in hockey, plus myself). I thought I would post a couple of comments/questions to the board based on my experience so far. All parts for the sharpener arrived fine, and shipped quickly. I put everything together following the instructions. A couple of things that I found that don't seem quite right, the wheel rubs on the bottom of the opening in the housing unless it is placed just right. As the wheel shrinks I think this will be unavoidable. The good news is that the wheel grinds its own opening, but this doesn't seem right. Also, the wheel does not spin perfectly level, it is off by about 1/16 of an inch from highest to lowest. Because the spinner does not dress the blade in the same place as where the skate is sharpened, this means that the shape will be distorted. Wondering if anyone else has seen either of these issues. Took me a while to get skates sharpened to something usable. A couple of issues I ran into with the FBV and the X01: - Adjusting the skate up and down in the holder is not straightforward. For FBV, the bat gage will show a level sharpening for a wide range of heights. I think this is because the 'fangs' on FBV are so small that when one is missing or too small, the gage is still within one mark. - Best way to tell if you are on track is to use the gage for a gross alignment, and just feeling the blade with your thumb in each direction to make sure there is a good sharp edge that feels the same (still working on getting this right) - I am constantly dressing the wheel, at least once per skate. This is probably right, but more than I thought would be necessary. Overall, I am disappointed with the build quality of the machine, and I'm also thinking that starting with a ROH may be best for a beginner. As for the skates themselves, they don't feel like they have quite the same bit as a 1'2" ROH, but the glide is good (I have a 100/50 FBV). Don