As far as the sharpening goes as a customer you know you are in trouble when you give the person your skates, tell them you want a 1/2" hollow, and they look at you like you just spoke alien. Then they go ask the other guy something and then he comes up to you and says " When you say 1/2", what exactly does that mean?" Oy vay!! Or even better, another shop said they couldn't sharpen skates because the stone wasn't the right size for my hollow. They had the diamond tip sitting right there and had no idea that was used to re-shape the stone with. True stories both of them.