Chadd

I love people that have to make sure you know how cool their gear is. Just in case you thought they just found somewhere that got an early shipment, telling everyone that it is unreleased just shows how utterly cool he really is.

If you're simply going across the top of the edge you aren't going to feel as much as you would with a 1/2" hollow. One of the guys on my team doubted the sharpening when I did his skates last week, until he got on the ice. As for losing grip, are you talking about during a game or over the lifetime of the sharpening? I have found that the 100/75 needs to be refreshed more frequently that a "standard" sharpening. I believe it's because it's on a razor-thin line trying to give grip and glide in one sharpening. Make sure you are getting the blade centered on the wheel and just live with having to do the skates a bit more often. It's not a big price to pay for the performance.

I'm telling you what the law says, I really don't care if you obey it or not. It's important that advice given here is correct and accurate, especially regarding the law. If you are charging people, it is a business.

I went with X02 just thinking that I would have more and more people wanting the FBV, and thus I would prefer the heavier duty of the 2 portables. I wasn't worried about breakeven or profitability. I do not charge people to try out the FBV, but if they like it, I'll charge $3-5 to sharpen depending on how much I like them. I knew how to sharpen skates, and since moving here I haven't been able to find a place I trust to do a good job. So I wanted to just do them myself for my family of 4 and some of the kids I coach. If sharpening other people's skates makes me enough money to pay for wheels and spinners, then it's all good. My experience so far, if you can do a good job sharpening, word spreads fast. Make sure if you are charging people that you have the proper city, state and federal business licenses, and report your profits to the IRS and your state. If you charge, you are no longer a home sharpener, you are a business. You don't want to get caught doing it under the table or without licenses. As soon as your LHS finds out you are, they'll drop a dime to the IRS, etc. You definitely don't want that. You're LHS is also run by the mob? Seriously yes these are possibly consequences but seriously I think that kind of caution is overkill. In that respect the dude who brings in cases of soda to work and asks a quarter a can is also running a business but I don't think the IRS is ever gonna ask for all the recipes for the transactions, even if someone did call them. If you're running a business, do it legally. He also left out potential zoning issues in some areas.

FBV really has nothing to do with agility.

When I started out in net a few years back, I had the 6.2 series of goalie equipment (Thanks Chadd!). I liked the pads and blocker a lot. For the price point at that time, it was a lot better than the competition. I hated the trapper though. That 6.2 stuff was a great value at regular prices, let alone what you paid. ;)

I'm better than anyone else in the area and I needed a machine as I'm not running a shop anymore. I do skates for people I know and like. I haven't been charging anyone that I've talked into trying the FBV. Don't buy one hoping to get good enough to make money on it. There are way too many hacks out there doing skates and doing it simply for money is the wrong reason to buy a sharpener. Very few people who are only in it for the money are very good at sharpening skates.

Played the other day and there was one guy with great hands that was showboating the whole time. Every time he touched the puck he was looking for someone to show up. The end result? Half a dozen guys who spent just as much money as he did skated off the ice vowing that they wouldn't be back for a while.

I put two guys on it for our playoff game tonight and two more asked me to do their skates for next week.

If you can bend over and tie your skates without any problems, you are NOT old! Perhaps the FBV will extend your career another 10-20yrs. :-) Lol... I was away from the game for 34 years, ouch. Played up until high school as we didn't have a high school program back then... unless you wanted to move to the Catholic high school which did have a team. A couple pals did... I couldn't bring myself to do that though. I wanted to enjoy high school, ha ha. As to my age... this is just plain frightening... I'll turn 49 in May. Last fall our little one (now 9 1/2) asked me to take her ice skating... she took right to it... and the bug that I'd been fighting off for the last few years took over and it didn't take me long to remember why I liked hockey... even though the equipment isn't priced like it used to be. Again... you folks there at No Icing have been nothing short of spectacular to work with. I have a guy on my team that's 62 and he still skates better than half of us.

Why can't you do it back? Isn't it drop-in? No referee. And, he's obviously trying to break your sticks. He continues to do it because you allow it to happen. There's no reason in the world to put up with that shit. I don't care how big the guy is...you have a stick, too. Give him some of his own medicine. First time is a warning, second is a chop right back at him.

Finally found my FBV spinners, Blackstone had my old address on file and I had to track them to my old townhouse complex. The box was just sitting on the floor in the office. The best part was getting an edge back on my skates again just in time for a playoff game. I had been going without a sharpening since the Michigan game. I almost forgot how magical the glide really is on fresh edges.

That's an article you will never see in the US. Good balance but it's a shame the writer wasn't able to offer his impressions of the FBV.

Post links to articles.

FYI: For the two of you that keep posting place that is taking "pre-orders", you can stop. Every dealer will have the stuff.

What hollow did you use before? 7/16" So you've gone from 7/16 to something with the bite roughly equivalent to 5/8 and the edges are still sticky? Something sounds odd here, did you have them profiled at the same time?

What hollow did you use before?

The Blues have a ton of young players, someone is going to get lost in the mix along the way. If Murray is the coach for the next three years, it wouldn't surprise me if David if David does get moved.

It's a very big toe with rounded edges, not fully square but larger than something like a Lindros.

X01 and X02 are both very good value for the money and selling very well, don't expect any discounts for a while. It would probably be cheaper to buy a second set of steel and always carry a backup to tournaments and road games. That seems much easier and more logical to me.

But they are available on the bigger Blackstone machines, correct?? Asked my LHS today and the guy said they weren't released yet, but I'm thinking they just haven't ordered it... Jimmy has one so I'm guessing they are available. Your shop might not be aware of their release.

fair enough - but at least was my line of though correct? I'm just not sure how 100/50 would actually offer more bite then let's say 90/75 - sure edges would a have a bit sharper angle, but they'd by 33% less deep?! It's not like you should be wearing them down to the point of being flat, it shouldn't be a big factor. Depth and bite don't have the same correlation as they used to with something like an FBV

Chadd, Do you know if there are plans to do so? Thanks. Bob I would expect them to be available eventually.

The /50 spinners aren't available on the mini so there is less experience with them.

Coaches don't get crosschecked, slashed, hacked or punched. I said the same thing when I was coaching. :D