mnpucker

If referring to me, your ramblings are just fine....it is all good info. I just started to get a headache while reading it. My opinion of FBV is developed purely from feel. I skate over 7 hours per week. I let my feet do the talking when it comes to reviewing FBV and determining what feels best. You like to go deeper and that is just fine, I was just being sarcastic.

Ummm HOLY CRAP! I just want my skates sharpened!! I am dizzy now. When you guys are done let me know what you come up with.....you are making me feel really stupid. hahaha

I am guessing it is white tape. Not a bad Idea it woudl help deflect/catch finer particles but also protect against bumping the cover with the skate blade when the wheel diameter gets small.

I was told probably not at Expo in St paul. Hope you are right

Need some help. I have been sharpening skates for my Niece with my X02. Recently she was chosen to play for Team USA U18 World Championship team. THey play in Northridge, Illinois. Is anyone familiar with a local LHS that is experienced with FBV? She skates on 100/75. Thnaks

Regarding x series wheels, he said that the softer grit was more for figure skates and some think the softer will polish better. There will be 2 addl. grits softer (must = finer) and more coarse. Existing will be right in the middle. I was there again today and Steve was rocking in the booth, tons of people.

Picked up the 100/50 last night at the Hockey Expo in St Paul. Previously had skated on 100/75 and kids were on 90/75. Well, after watching one of the greatest high school games ever (4 overtime thriller Minnetonka over Hill Murray - get this, 4 ot's final 2-1 final ZERO penalties!) I ended up sharpening the skates at 1 am and skated at 8 am this morning. My review will probably be similar to all the others. 100/50 does feel to have more glide than 100/75 but still very nice bite, a bit more than 90/75 in fact. I believe everyone should start at 90/75 but also think most will eventually migrate to 100/50 as the best overall FBV. This seems to be a cut that both my boys and I will use a very nice compromise between glide and bite.

Nice, thanks Karvy

Anyone know if Blackstone will be represented at the Let's Play Hockey Expo this weekend at the Mn State High School Hockey tourney.....They were last year.

Try slowing your final pass down a bit. I had this happening too and slowing down helped me more than anything.

Smallest has been jr 4 - 5.5 for me but I can do you a favor and try to sharpen some of the small skates I have laying around the house and report back. One thing I can report is that the X12 requires less vertical adjustment between skates and the hold is rock steady. A very nice improvement over the original holder. I primarily sharpen One 95's X60's and XXXX's from Junior to adult sizes.

Off topic for current posts but I wanted to report on my FBV/X02 ownership experience. I have owned my X02 for just over a year now, I believe I may have had one of the early releases of the X02. Upon reading posts from the very begining of this thread I was sold on the concept and decided that I would wait to try the FBV and X02 in particular instead of buying the Wissota or E-z sharp. I had never sharpened skates previously and had the same concerns people have when considering making the purchase. Upon receiving the X02 i was greeted with great customer service. Being a newby I appreciated the companies willingness to be patient with me, answering every question and concern I had. When I called with questions I never once felt pressured for time they were great to deal with and never made me feel like an idiot. Sharpening became easy and enjoyable with their help. Awhile back I reported that I went a period of time without hearing back from soemone at Blackstone. I contacted them with concerns about my original holder. I since learned that I was sending my request to a bad email address. Once I got my question to an the customer service people my problem was dealt with swiftly. Why am I chiming in today? because I am over a year into ownership of the X02 and I realized today just how much I appreciate owning a skate sharpener moreover owning a Blackstone X02. I have spent a lot of money on my sharpening station (a lot for me). I am the kind of guy that can look back on big ticket purchases and have buyers remorse. Not in this case. The convenience of sharpening at home is as valuable as the quality of the product or the perfromance of the FBV. But when you add the customer service I have experienced I feel I made the right decision. Believe it or not my wife actually appreciates it as well. It keeps me out of the LHS saving us money! Sorry LHS' I still spend my share trust me. I hope this helps those of you considering your options. I want to say I am just a hockey dad that coaches a lot. I play 1 or 2 times a week but coach 5-6 days a week 365 days a year. I have 2 boys that also play year round. I am pretty certain I am already on the down hill side of the value debate. I have no link to any retailer or manufacturer. I do not sharpen for income. I just really appreciate the product and the people of Blackstone.

I sent you a pm.

Quick update on the new and improved Tri Lie Holder for the X series. I received my new holder on Friday just 5 days after ordering it from Blackstone. As previous reviews indicate, the new holder is rock solid. The new Tri lie has far greater ability to lock the blade and allows for no noticeable flex once clamped in the holder. I am not an engineer but it is obvious why this holder is better and slightly more expensive than the original X 12 holder. Thus far I have tried skates from sizes 3 jr to 11 senior and all fit in the holder without contact between the holder knobs and boot. I am very impressed with the holder and happy to say Blackstone really went out of their way to make sure the previous holder problems I experienced were solved. If considering a Z series sharpener I highly suggest upgrading to the Tri Lie Holder.

I agree Chadd. I would not expect all to be bad or at least flawed. I have pictures and have supplied them to Blackstone months ago, I never heard back from them. I did receive help from people on MSH and I appreciate their assistance but I really do not think I should have to rebuild the holder. That is my issue, like I said the FBV is great.

Just to clarify: They offered you a big discount on an upgrade and you chose to complain about it? Most people would have accepted or declined the offer and moved on. Chadd why not sell a good product to begin with? In my opinion your response is ridiculous and reeks of favoritism towards the mfg. Do you think we are making this up? I have learned to be a good sharpener I really enjoy doing it. I have remodeled a room specifically for it in my basement. I have spent far more than the purchase price of the sharpener and yet it takes me 10 + minutes to adjust the holder for my skate and an additional 10 to adjust for the other skate and an additional 10 to get it back for my sons skates. I am growing tired of it. If the standard holder is flawed why not discontinue it and increase the price $100+? Recall possibly? is bad pub worth it? I would have gladly paid for it. As it is I have a holder I have been told needs to be RE-MACHINED in order to work properly? The size spread of the skates I am sharpening is not that great and I do not think the sizes are terribly outside the norm. Pay $1500 for a product and then have the MFG not reply when you report the problem and then get told that yes the holder has issues and you need to re-machine it in order to work. In my opinion Blackstone should at least offer existing owners an opportunity to upgrade at a reduced price. Ideally a recall should be considered. If they do not they are potentially risking legal issues. NOT BY ME mind you. I've used mine and two others, they have all worked perfectly fine. I don't care how screwed up the holder is, if it takes ten minutes, then the holder isn't the only problem. Once again the finger points AWAY from Blackstone.....The X series are great sharpeners that is fact. The holder is not. I have taken mine to very reputable LHS so they can get a look. Hard to argue that the ankle portion of the boot rests on the adjustment knob. I am guessing you have the magical super sharpeners touch that would levitate the boot off of the knob? Pictures have been sent, you have NO ARGUMENT that the boot does not rest on the knob. Plain and simple. Now blame me for dropping my holder or bending it myself, I am sure you can come up with something to point the finger back at me. I am a huge fan of the FBV and XO2 but the holder does not measure up to that same standard of quality. Not in my case and in others in this forum that too had to shim the screws or re-machine it. I do commend them on realizing the problem and developing a New holder, reason enough to believe that the old holder was problematic for them. They should do what is right and offer up replacement to those of us that bought into the technology early, supplied good information to this thread some 80-90 pages ago and are now being punished. I guess the message is buyer beware, you buy into new tech too early and you are simply a guinea pig. Question m y ability to sharpen skates? I did too for about 7 months, then I realized it was NOT me. Thanks for the support.

Just to clarify: They offered you a big discount on an upgrade and you chose to complain about it? Most people would have accepted or declined the offer and moved on. Chadd why not sell a good product to begin with? In my opinion your response is ridiculous and reeks of favoritism towards the mfg. Do you think we are making this up? I have learned to be a good sharpener I really enjoy doing it. I have remodeled a room specifically for it in my basement. I have spent far more than the purchase price of the sharpener and yet it takes me 10 + minutes to adjust the holder for my skate and an additional 10 to adjust for the other skate and an additional 10 to get it back for my sons skates. I am growing tired of it. If the standard holder is flawed why not discontinue it and increase the price $100+? Recall possibly? is bad pub worth it? I would have gladly paid for it. As it is I have a holder I have been told needs to be RE-MACHINED in order to work properly? The size spread of the skates I am sharpening is not that great and I do not think the sizes are terribly outside the norm. Pay $1500 for a product and then have the MFG not reply when you report the problem and then get told that yes the holder has issues and you need to re-machine it in order to work. In my opinion Blackstone should at least offer existing owners an opportunity to upgrade at a reduced price. Ideally a recall should be considered. If they do not they are potentially risking legal issues. NOT BY ME mind you.

The original holder is flawed, well mine is. I have been given solutions but I do not think I should be responsible for re-machining a product I paid $1500+ for. Mine takes drastic adjustments in order to sharpen my 8ee one 95's then switch and then switch to my sons 5's. So much so that I feel like the knob is nearly coming off the threads. Even then the boot rests on the holder adjustment knob and I have to put a shim under my boot between the knob. It is pretty frustrating given the price paid for the sharpener. Ultimately, it takes me forever to set up the holder which means there is no way I can jump on and give the skate a quick sharpen prior to practice. That being said I am a huge fan of the sharpener and FBV. Holder and bat gauge? not so much.

That is correct JR.

Switch It Skates Wha a joke. Is it an ice skate or a roller blade? Neither it sucks. Going WAAAAAYYYY back, a stick by Northland called The Bump. This was back in the day of woodies when Northland was king (at least in Minnesota). They decided the stick needed to grow a Heel. The stick literally had what mimics the human heel protruding off blade. Yes I had one, it was junk you could not stick handle at all, you had to handle the puck so the lie was perfectly flat, it would force you to. Last think it broke off all the time. Anyone consider the Pro-tec helmet a bust. I know a guy that still wears one but that is because he is a cheap ass. Last one I got, The plastic holder CCM had, I cannot remember what they called it though. It had 3 posts and was the competition to the Tuuk when steel posts went extinct. Probably less of a bust but more in line of VHS and Beta or to the younger crowd HD vs Blue ray....someone always loses.

Jr you try this one, http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=19445 Might find one of these will work too. http://www.nosawdust.com/adaptors.htm

probably DAVES Sports Shop. They have 3 locations I know for sure the Fridley and Blaine locations have FBV. Lettermens in Blaine is expecting their soon. Of course there is always my basement :P but I am a bit further away than Dave's....Playing in a tourney? Caribou Cup perhaps?

IF you would like a Bat Gage let me know. I have one I would sell.

My X02 has been great. I cannot say a bad thing about it other than I am not sold onthe bat gauge. During the winter I sharpened roughly 100 times. I am now down to 3 pair every 2 weeks. I think I am a better sharpener now so the quality of the edge is better and thus fewer sharpenings. I also know 2 other guys locally that purchased the X01 and they too say good things.

A few weeks I sent in a review of 100/50. My conclusion was that the added edge woudl make this the perfect winter (hard ice) edge for me. Last week I was happy to find some good solid winter ice in the spring. I was coaching on one of the original 4 rinks at Schwans Super Rink. The ice was hard adn 100/50 felt great. Since I have coached on the 4 new rinks and the ice is noticeably softer, not unsafe but soft nonethless. I am beginning to think that anyone that tries to evaluate the effectiveness of FBV in the off season (when Ice is not quite at its hardest) will likely not appreciate it as much as those that pick the right FBV the first time in the winter. I have concluded that I will sharpen 90/75 summer and 100/50 winter. Ahh but I own a XO2 so I can do that.