Katzenjammer

Exactly right. Yes, and one of the keys is to replace "it" with something else. One of the things that always amazed me is that I hated getting drunk - despised it, and yet there I was again. And then, the next afternoon I'd forget how much I hated drinking that much, and so I'd start again. For me at least, it was a kind of madness: doing over and over exactly what I disliked.

Do you do blade re-alignment AFTER you get the customs; or can you get the customs with the blades already aligned correctly? The former is what I've seen but then you have MORE holes, potentially compromising the footbed, no?

Brenden did mine there - excellent job. And a really great footbed.

Anyone here a barefoot skater? If so, which liner gives you the best grip?

....so far. Whether you do or don't get a particular job is rarely - if ever - a measurement of anything but the chemistry you had with the particular peeps you met during the process. Let it go and just keep moving. Just like in a game good sir.

I'm merely asking what others have experienced. That's usually the point of these forums.

If properly sharpened - any difference in how much ice-time a FBV lasts? I think I read somewhere that they get dull all of a sudden rather than gradually - is this true?

All this talk^^ sounds like "Batman speak" - "Holy edges, Batman, quick! Grab the Bat Gauge!" LOL! Ummmm, okay, so I just spent two hours on FBV sharpened steel - all I have to say is, I am never, ever going back to ROH. It took about 5 minutes for me and my blades to get to know one another - and once we did, love struck, and now we're skipping the dating the candles and all that and we're just going to get married straightaway. We're registered at TSR Hockey if you want to send wedding presents. '

Okay, thanks - so basically they take a stock boot from a standard last and then customize the fit to your exact needs/dimensions?

. I'm going to purchase a pair of T1s - interesting thread, i've always wondered about this. However, I thought the idea was that they made the skate exactly for your foot. What exactly is customizable about the size and how is it achieved? Otherwise, with custom skates we can choose different options - like stiffness, tongue material, cap shape, stuff like that? ,

Now yer talkin' sir. How much noise does it make - (EDIT: what I mean is, how does it compare to a regular sharpner?) How much space do you need?

Speaking of owning your own shapner (you, Rachel, and JR) - is it fairly easy to learn?

Great answer thanks! Are NHL/elite players too much creatures of habit or have they adopted the FBV in droves?

Thanks Rachael - I'm trying it out on Friday. Perhaps you might be able to address another question I have. One concern I have is that the edging won't be gradual, kind of either off or on, with no in between. A ROH has a nice, even rise - whcih allows for a gradual onset of bite - say, as the skate is increasingly angled (everything else being equal.) One practical result of this is that you can slightly engage the edges - for example, when entering a tight turn at high speed and slowing a bit by slightly engaging edges briefly (as if stopping), and then fully engaging them for the tight turn. There are countless other scenarios, as you know. I suppose I'm wondering if I'll give this ^^ up - simple farmer's logic tells me that the FVB edge is EITHER fully engaged - or NOT. Or am I wrong in this?

Any changes - positive or negative - that you see in edging and turning?