Kgbeast

Edit: I should have put this in Gear Sighting thread. Sorry.

60% is pretty generous and hardly worth frustration.... I was selling a set of wheels once for $450 and got an offer of $150. Obviously a short "no" was the answer, but I guess "you can't blame a girl for trying".

... from what I read, JetSpeed FT1 is not made of CF... But nevertheless, it is the same construction as SuperTacks or Mako with one piece quarter/outsole + added toebox. If it is not CF, I am wondering what is it. I never thought that CF is an optimal skate base material. Of course one CF is different from another, but I always thought nylons based materials are more suitable for hockey related abuse.

Check this thread about the holders. Keep in mind that VH has been acquired by True Hockey and perhaps communications are not as used to.Try True Hockey and inquire about your skates from them. This also means that the joint venture between Step and VH with holders may or may not have been cut short, you should contact Stepsteel about the holders and runners availability.

According to CCM, the forward pitch of sb+4 holder itself is the same as tuuk. If you to believe that, switching sb+4 to Edge holders on SuperTacks should produce no change in feel. JR, please confirm above as you are SuperTacks with Edge holder, assuming you ever tried the skates with SBs. Other than that, boot cut forward lean is the factor. I do not know how FT1 and SuperTacks are cut, but Graf boots are similar if not the same as JetSpeed forward lean. Perhaps FT1 will replace your Graf+Edge combo nicely.

According to CCM, SB+4 is the same forward pitch as Tuuk holders. The CCM boots however are angled forward more than bauer boots (especially RibCor) creating the feel of more aggressive forward pitch. I am pretty sure that VH can make the boot with the pitch of Tacks or say Nexus. You'd just need to mention this during the ordering process I guess. Therefore, you can get whichever holder you prefer. On additional note, I believe that Bauer instead of making their holders 4mm taller to match SB4+, went with idea of making taller steel (LS4 which is 3mm taller) giving the choice to the skater to have taller skate or not. So I am not sure what you want here. VH also can put Step holders, but you need to keep in mind that it would be only the less available Step steel from there on for you which may or may not be a desired thing. I am sure once you start your communications with VH many of these concerns will be cleared up for you.

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Graf goalie skates do not look like this, but these do share color scheme with peakspeed players. Does the description suggests that it is foe carbonfiber? It is pretty lame if it does. Why make it look like carbonfiber if it is not?

Yes, wheel plays quite a bit into sparks. Pink is a figure skating stone which is probably designed for high carbon steels.

The surface speed of full-size machine is about 25% faster, so it removes more material faster... probably doubles the spark output.

Happy New Year!

FBV was a thing in NHL back about 8 years ago. Half of the league was trying this on. It looks like it was a club decision not individual players. I think at the end, they forego on it and went back to ROH. NHLers have their blades sharpened every time before they step on ice. At that rate it is probably prety tideous to keep track of spinners and stones. EQMs have their hands full as os. Perhaps also the benefits of FBV vs ROH was not enough to continue. Other things like getting used to skating on that could have been obstacle as well.

If that did not work, next time try heating the skates up the same way and use large c-lamp or a large squeeze-clamp. You'd do that with your foot in the skate so you can feel how much to clamp and where. You probably would want over-clamp a little as the boot most likely will come back a little.

Can you use Graf screws and nuts. I have seeing them for sale somewhere on hockey gear websites. They do not have lugs like that, but just 2 wings to grab the outsole. Obviously, I am not sure what you are doing, 3/8 nuts and bolts are pretty huge...

If it is a metal ring coated with a thin diamond dust layer, it can do a couple of hundred passes before the diamond layer looses its cutting ability. You can buy convex diamond coated grinding wheels that can fit in an ordinary grinder. They are typically intended for cnc grinders that make things like chain sprockets.

You can email to support@grafskates.ch. They answer emails pretty fast. Also, since Graf has a distribution/manufacturing/rnd agreement with Vaughn Hockey, try mvaughn@vaughnhockey.com. He is responding to his emails pretty good as well. Vaughn, probably can make the skates already as they have all Graf machines and were working on putting them on-line for a couple of month now.

It is easy to mess things up with a heatgun. If you go that way, you can get an adjustable temperature heatgun from HomeDepot or Lowes for about $40. Look for Wagner HT3000 or HT3500. You also might need to get a digital thermometer such as "slow cooker probe thermometer" so you can confirm the temperature. All this can help you to get safer heating of the skates area. You can heat the arch area with a heatgun (set to correct temp) until the area of the skate feels soft. The bigger problem however is to find out why your arch hurts. This is not necessarily caused by high arch, it could be caused by you trying to curl your toes down. Not sure what is your skating level is, but this could be something that will improve once you get used to skates. Perhaps all you need to do is just take a brake once it hurts, then after it gets manageable, get back on it. 2 month is not telling how many ice hours it is. Try to estimate that.

Europe and Sweden was matched up pretty well. I think Sweden had a go at the win until, the way I see, Lundquist made a boo-boo by going behind the net and trying to fight for the puck. I do not think he made it back to be in position, before the game deciding puck was pocked in the net. I think if he had another half a second for the initial shot, he would have deflected the puck away from the goal.... But this is how the games are won and lost. Team Europe has definitely deserved the win here. Well played !

Lowes sells Smith 4in Arkansas Honing stone for $6. You can get the same from Amazon as well.

... one thing I will miss for sure is to see Bobrovsky in front of the net. After this tournament, to me, he is the #1 goalie today. In a way, I am glad that team Russia had zero defense, it let Bobrovsky shine. Sorry see you go Bob, will see you in October!

They came out today a different team. A day and night defensive effort and a much better offensive coordination. They had to win this game and they have their 3:0 road to the final spot in semifinals. Unfortunatelly, this means that young Team NA going to have to step down and hang it up this time around. For team Russia, their next game will be a face off with the toughest opponent in this tournament Team Canada. If Russia continue to play in the same way as today they will have a good shot at this Cup. We shall see, if anything, it should be pretty interesting.

I agree on Team NA. They are pretty awesome talented. Their speed and stick skills are some of the best and they definitely can do very well in the finals, but before that, in my opinion, they need to figure out how to control their emotions and pace the game. They get crushed by mishaps too fast. I saw it happened in game against Russia and again against Sweden. Once they grow to be more accepting that it will not always go their way, and that they need work hard the entire game not just 10 minutes in the first and 10 minutes in the last, they will be taking this Cup for sure (if Russia remains disorganized tonight as they were in all of the previous games).

I got no real impression from the USA vs Canada game last night. To me it was the game that was entertaining and borring all at the same time. After the initial exhibition game, I was expecting more and this was pretty underwhelming. It looked like USA team basically played a weak game and Canada stayed a couple of points better, but certainly did not go out of their way either. I would have much preferred if Canada wiped the ice with US team. As I believe NFL coach Wooden said once "You must play to the best of your abilities, not to the best abilities of your a opponent".

I guess, I have used this wording in a way that made you to believe that the dent was permanent or a QC problem.. This is not what I was trying to say, I was just trying to illustrate that once skates are heated to 160F, they are pliable enough to squeeze the heel with fingers. That said however, I am not saying that there are no unhappy customers. Quite obviously, there are. All I am saying is that you experience shows that majority of customers have coal face about these skates and in my experience shows majority are happy. This is all a personal experience and personal bias and opinion thing. I doubt you have conducted a world wide poll to determine the accurate statistics. In my opinion, poor marketing is why their skates are not at the top. And this is my opinion and yours is probably different. As far as customer support and QC goes, the Graf Canada is the sole perpetrator in lack of that and it is gone now and we all can move on. It is literally is a dead horse beating at this point.

... and how about that Bob? If you are goalie, you should go to the town he lives in and try some of that water he drinks :). Team Russia still in the game just because of him. It almost seems they gave up on defending their zone and just assuming that he will take care of it. Best goalie of the tournament this far. This also was the first game when Datsyuk brought back some good memories as well. Team NA had their first real stressful situation. I could see the frustration and the scatter. But they got back together towards the end. I do not think Matt Murray did bad job. 3 out of 4 goals were pretty tough, I doubt Gibson would have done better against those, but Murray got a bit unglued after the second pucks and, emotionally, was a hot mess after the 4th goal. it was a good call to get him replaced and give him a break. If it was an exhibition game, I would have left him in there to cook some more, but NA had a good chance to retake the game, so It was a good call. I was a bit surprised that NA could not capitalize in 6 on 4 shooting gallery at the end. I think the emotions and frustration got back to them after Bobrovsky shut down few good looking shots and the fact that they could see time slipping away. I strongly believe that after this experience, team NA will be better for it and we will see the next level of their game next time around.