Jeff Azzolin Bladetech

The DLC is about a micron thick, it will not change the way the blade works, except for that it will hold the edges longer and you wont need to sharpen as much. We havent experienced a single issue of the DLC cracking on the steel, hope it stays that way 😄

yes 😄

The blades are laser or water cut from production, and that profile is already built into the CAD file. So the steel, when you grab it, look not sharpened. Just like how an OEM steel, looks not sharpening, but it is at their standard 10' foot or whatever Same deal for us, the profile is already built into the first production step 🙂

Hello - some of our retailers may or may not have that profile literature posted on their website. Always easiest and best to just check my website, I have copy and pasted below the typical profiles that we offer as STOCK when we produce any blade Bladetech Radius LIGHTSPEED EDGE (TRIGGER): 9'-10'-11' Triple Blend (size 254 and lower) LIGHTSPEED EDGE (TRIGGER): 9'-11'-13' Triple Blend (size 263 and higher) VERTEXX EDGE: 30' LIGHTSPEED 2: 9' SPEEDBLADE XS (QUICK RELEASE): 9'-10'-11' Triple Blend SPEEDBLADE +4.0: 9' GOALIE XS-G: 30' EPRO: 9' GRAF ULTRA/COBRA: 10' SHIFT: 9'-11'-13' Triple Blend Goalie Shift-Attack (Blue Quick Release): 30' VH / TRUE (NUT & BOLT): 9'-10'-11' Triple Blend Height: Player blades = 23mm; Goalie blades = 25mm

You might or might not hear an audible click noise when the blade flexes / bottoms out at the max amount of flex. If you are walking to and from the locker room, you might hear it then When on the ice, less likely that you will hear it The pitch / balance point, if you got them STOCK, then they are NEUTRAL pitch If you had them profiled, they could be pitched differently, depending on the profile you selected. Hope that helps! Cheers 🙂

Over time, steel can wear out the holder channel and become loose and create the boot sag when held at the sharpener clamp as you have noted. (In fact, this is why they also say not to stand on your skates when they are heat-formed/baked as you as easily stretch out the hot plastic too). With Bladetech steel, the flex is in the front 1/3 or so of the steel. Most of the time, the wear that you see is in the middle 1/2 section, where a lot of strong stopping forces are applied, and hence the tape trick adds the meat, as you suggested to do the trick. This same trick will work with our steel as well. yes there is motion on the front, but there is meant to be that motion and flex. Its that middle section and back that need to be tight and stiff. So I would say, use the same mechanics/fixes you currently do, and apply them to us as well. We do have plenty of players (rec to pro) who have been on our steel for years (on the same holders and boots) and havent had any issues. I think the root issue, or more common problem, is more when steel is slightly loose to begin with, and that travel room and gap is then made bigger and bigger over time, as the slop allows for play and stretching to develop more easily. Hope that helps. Cheers 🙂

On the XS-player yes, its the same blend, and the only other one with that blend is the True / VH (old nut and bolt version) as well. On the rest of the steel I am about to name, its the same as the OEM with minor toe and heel blend differences: Graf, Epro, LS2, SB4, Vertexx, XSGoalie.

Haha - I wish there was an easy way as well. It would be a logistical nightmare. Dont worry, put them on, give it an honest couple hours, youll love it and get used to it. If you give is a pessimistic 15 minutes sure, it might not go great, but thats the same if you tried changing from a P88 to a P92 stick curve and only fired 2 pucks as an evaluation, persay. Yes, we have a goalie option, which is at the same price as player steel (most other companies for some reason like to charge goalies more, not sure what they have against them... lol) and our goalie steel is quite taller than OEM to improve the attack angle. Flex ratings, I think somebody else asked this and I answered already, but yes, it is possible, its just means we have to go from carrying 100 SKUs in 2 finishes, to persay 200 or 300 SKUs as well as the different finishes and then capital inventory costs go up, order planning gets tougher, and hence product cost goes up, and not sure the extra cost would be worth the value, as regardless the spring stiffness, all customers are getting deflection/flex and benefits anyways. It would kinda of be like asking a stick OEM to offer 80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90... flex sticks, whereas they would likely say no, we will offer 80, 85, 90 only... kinda deal. Cheers!

Vet88, to provide further education on metallurgy let me first start by outlining this. Hardness is a great factor to consider, but it is not the only factor. There are other mechanical properties such as toughness for a quick example which are critical in the making of a good steel. Hence if I simply told you my steel has a Rockwell of 55 and then you asked "OEM-B" who said that their product called "LS4" had the same Rockwell, you might be compelled to think both companies blades will hold the same for edge retention and durability. Which is far from the truth. It would be like saying plexiglass and wood have the same hardness value and hence are the same material and will behave the same way. Which, is far from the truth; if you try to bend both, snap both, or bang both against each other, very different things will be found. A prime example is the breakage rates on LS4s which were snapping like candy sticks and had high volume warranty issues. Our steel holds its edge much longer not only due to our hardness, but also the other mechanical properties and our processing techniques. By using a high carbon stainless, and having a good ratio of Fe, C, Mn, Si, P, S, Cr, Mo, Ni...etc...etc. alloying elements we make a great steel. We used to publish extensively what we used and our processing techniques, but really now, not even 1% of people would comprehend or appreciate the subject matter, so it doesnt make sense to communicate it in depth and in fact it only harms us by allowing new entrants (who are all copy-cats anyways) a quicker advantage to follow our recipe. Sorry to not be of more help, but hope that gets your head into the brief underworld of metallurgy. Onto some facts now, I can say our warranty is 1 year (go beat that) and even with that time, Im very proud to say we've had an extremely low number of issues and most issues were more in our early days when we were still tweaking and refining our process. On the edge side, one fun example is an NHL EM we work extensively with ran a player for 3 games (+ the practices in between) on a single sharpening (yes he checked thoroughly after every session, he is a pro, but the steel didnt need a tune). And yes, we find many beer leaguers / all players are able to cut sharpening down in frequency, or in keeping the same frequency, the edges only need a slight tune-up, it might be a 3-pass sharpen, instead of a cross grind and 8 pass re-hollow for example. We formed our company to serve the strict needs and demand of the NHL and other high calibre pro leagues. We want to not only be effective for its players (speed, performance, health benefits), but to make the life of the EM's more efficient and hopefully save them valuable time too. Again, tried to shed the light I can, hope it helps. Cheers 🙂

We do profile yes. Only for Pros usually or sometimes customers who email/call and ask for it. We dont have it as a typical website adder right now, but we are considering adding it for the masses as another dropdown menu, but everything takes time/resources so we are more focused on providing premium steel than a profiling service that the customers local shop could easily be doing. The customer is eventually going to need to find a shop to sharpen at several times throughout the year, so we just let their shop do that work for the most part. Also gets away from any confusion on how the toes are blended/rounded...etc..etc which can cause extra emails/calls which again, takes time. On a second note, our profile is triple blended already on the Edge (most common steel) with a 9-11-13 on senior sizes and 9-10-11 on junior sizes (254 and down), so the customer is already getting something that on average, works very well for the masses.

None taken - Im just casually saying that perhaps taking a view from a different lens and looking at some facts may yield different thoughts. 1 - We dont have NHL players out of fluke, they choose to use because they love it, so the product most be good enough for them to use. 2 - Most people, rec or pro, who give it a solid try (a few hours) do fall in love with it. Yes, sure, absolutely, it is different. But different is not always bad, or a gimmick. And sometimes different needs a chance to prove itself. Look at carbon fiber and the hesitancy to adopt it in sticks... and now look 10 years down the road... 3 - The marketing is not far-fetched, we are outlining 5% improvements based on the same science/physics/principles successfully implemented in adjacent industries that have proven to break records and recorded large improvements for decades now. 4 - We chose to sit at a price delta of +20% ish or +20 bucks ish for the added value, not a bad proposition (subjective - haha). 5 - We started a company by inventing something, then we got USPTO and CIPO issued patents, then we performed lab testing and iterations, and yes, now have NHL players using it and winning Stanley Cups with it. Not many other companies have taken this technical and innovative path. And certainly, no other steel company took anything close to this path. So with this in mind and finally getting to my point now, when for example, you said "need numbers" or others insinuate that test results can be made up by anybody...etc, I would be tempted to say, there are quite a few numbers and processes listed on our site, and if one took the time to read the site in its entirety, they might very well be impressed with the level of information presented and the path we took. Perhaps sure, we need to invest more time or thought into the website and/or make things more clear, but we can never satisfy everyone, our resources are limited, so we try and outline what we feel is an acceptable amount of information. If really tempted, I could go a step further and note that the big OEMs don't tend to publish much/any of their ''numbers'' or test results; they usually just launch a new product, make commercials with paid athletes, and the masses just blindly accept. So perhaps what Bladetech has done is levels ahead and pound-for-pound we are punching well above our weight for a company that is a fraction's-fraction's-fraction of the OEMs we are compared to. Or maybe Im totally out of it. Not sure. Hahah. But either way, its great to connect with you and the others here and answer what I can to help educate. At the end of the day, we are shooting the shit on hockey, there are much worse things I can think of. 😉 Cheers!

Hey 218, appreciate the feedback. Some questions/comments would be: What constitutes prohibitive? 100 for blades? 200 for helmets? 250 for sticks? 750 for skates? I am not sure the answer because every customer will have their own "line". I think the more important question is "bang for the buck", not just "what does it cost". Look at the cost, and then look at the value in the product you are getting. Usually in life, you get what you pay for, and a Ferrari costs more than Toyota. Sure, whether or not you need to have a Ferrari and pay the delta in price for the delta in quality/performance is subjective no doubt to each customer, but they are kind of like totally different products and comparing them isnt really doing either product justice. On one hand they are both cars. On the other hand, they are very different cars.

Only a very long time ago when initially starting up and analyzing things and doing proof of concept yes, we did multiple tests with all kinds of spring ratings and deflection limits/amounts. But now the processes are kind of set in to what we found was a great combination for most skaters. Yes, some players might flex the blade 1mm, some 0.75mm, some 1.25mm, and it is defendant on their weight AND their acceleration, but all are benefiting, and not at a crazy price in comparison to OEM priced steel. It would be a large cost to have various different spring ratings on the same model/size, as we already have 100+ SKUs now. Perhaps down the road it can be re-visited and may prove beneficial, but for now, its not in the near-future plans (next 12months). But yes we did it a long time ago, yes its buried in the archives and sometimes is considered and comes up, but it wont be implemented for a while - Cheers!

Again, everyone has their own opinions. There's those who try/test something and form an educated opinion and then there are those who visualize/guess/assume and form an opinion. If you havent tried it, I can certainly assure you one thing, you are lacking data points and experiences that very well might change your opinion. So hard to put down or raise up any product/technology without actually having used it. A major pet peeve is people who barely try anything but seem to have an opinion of everything.. its the internet age of things I guess. So what I can say is a few things. If the clap skate had such a huge impact on the sport, and if Bladetech uses the exact same physics and principles, along with other physics and principles more related to spring technology, and if you see golf clubs, balls, shafts, running shoes, tennis rackets, and so many sports incorporating flex points, spring points, and that type of similar technology and physics, than clearly all of us are either right, or all of us are wrong. You can't really make an argument picking and choosing when physics applies and when it doesnt. Our product is geared more to the acceleration/agility regime, not so much top top speed. Clap skate is built around the linear impulse of momentum equation and maximizing time and surface area to maximize power transfer and becomes helpful at all speeds, although we operate on that too, we also operate on spring loaded mechanics. And when the strides are the most short and choppy, or "punching the ice" is where the most energy is wasted in the knees, and where our spring-technology benefits the most. And fortunately, this is where the game of hockey is played, in short starts and stops. Food for thought, no clap skate maker, no shoe maker, no golf club maker is going backwards in time and removing these "springs", they are in fact constantly improving and re-tuning them. Hope that helps!

I will try to get to everything, slowly but surely. Along with Facebook, twitter, instagram, 6 email accounts, 1 phone, + multiple other daily things to manage, I guess I can try adding this to a daily routine. Just dont feel bad if it takes me some time to reply is all I am saying, there's is lots on the go here. I would encourage people to familiarize themselves with the site first. If you ask any business owner, they always have 1000 things on the go and constantly burning the candle at both ends. Hence, educating yourself and reading the site and investing 10 minutes of your own time can usually answer a whack of your questions anyways and then save only the detailed questions for clarification. In terms of the skeptics, there are always those people and there always will be. I have many NHL / pro players loving our product and have been using it for years, so regardless what a skeptic or keyboard-warrior might say, I sleep easy every night and take a lot of comments with a grain of salt. Bug me when you need to - Cheers!

No sir!

I literally did reply... like right before you posted this.... Also, I am trying to answer everyone equally... sorry the threads get all a bit mixed up with the way the replies work. So no need to be offended. Secondly, looking back, some of your comments were related to inline skates, so perhaps those ones I didnt comment on, or if there is no specific question I just left it. As you can imagine, I am doing my best to spread some education and answer direct questions, but I also have plenty of daily meetings and tasks so I may not get to all questions/comments, or if/when I do get to them all, it may take some time. If I do miss something, feel free to politely remind me. In relation to your other comment, please take a look on our website, there is plenty of information there including some of the testing results and procedures from one of the 3rd parties we have used, under the Flex Force Advantage tab. It will show some info on the testing processes and results and is a small example of the things we do for validation. Enjoy!

Ok I get it, thanks for clarifying, that's easier to understand. Yes the steel will only deflect a certain distance. Over that travel length, only a certain amount of force can be stored. So some players might take full advantage, and others partial, correct, which is all linked back to their force output, which is related back to F=MA and their mass and acceleration. So 2 players both size 7 and 140 pounds could get different amounts of benefit if one is a higher skill level / calibre player and hence has the ability to accelerate faster and apply more force, but both are getting benefits, similar to running on grass, all runners are better off there than asphalt, but some people will enjoy the reduced joint stress more than others. Cheers!

Some food for thought... Visualize this.... Pretend (or actually do it - haha) you grabbed a 155 flex stick and fired 1000 pucks. Think of how your mechanics would be, how the body gets adjusted...etc..etc. Then think back to your typical flex, lets say 85 stick, and shoot 1000 pucks. Your mechanics, yes, may be slightly different with the different products. But in the end there are only 2 things firing that puck. 1) your muscles in your body, which are not changing, and 2) the whip of the stick, which is changing. Likely, the end result is a faster travelling puck with the 85 flex stick as it will benefit from the whip/lag action. This is not to say that 85 is better than 87 which is better than 89...etc..etc, but simply saying that one can definitely benefit from spring and whip technology. Millions of people already do. Whether its choosing hockey sticks, running shoes, golf clubs/shafts/balls... many sports... spring and flex is everywhere, and for good reason. Just something I thought might be of interest to help give examples.

Did you straighten it, and then re-check that player weeks/months/years after? Likely the steel could have been warped from the OEM and has always been that way. The blade is constrained in the holder and would require a huge deal of movement east west to the blade and also to the holder (ie if the blade moves, the holder must move) to generate enough force for plastic deformation like that. If i had to bet, it was from the OEM originally.

Google "linear impulse of momentum" equation. More area, more time = more power. Exactly like the clap skate. Then wikipedia all the shattered world records once clap skates came out and the typical margin records are broken in various years on "normal training" versus the "technology implementation" timing. We apply the same physics and principles as the clap skate, just to a different degree and to a different product 🙂

Contact is continuous for about 2/3 or 3/4 of the length, middle and heel. Front is free float. 🙂 Cheers!

Secured at the back, constrained in the middle, free float at the front 🙂

Exactly... want a job on the R&D team?

I guess time will tell 😉 JK haha. I would say that we are looking into it, amongst many other things, but no decisions or timelines have been made at this point. Sorry to not have full clarity yet for ya.