colins

There is no adjustment labelled pressure. But since the ring deflects on the blade via a spring, the amount of deflection and force on the spring determines the pressure of the ring on the blade. So if you move the ring up to hit very high on the toe of the steel, the spring is forced to stretch more on the way down the radius of the toe and that creates more pressure (drag) on the steel down the length of the runner. If you adjust the ring too high, the amount of drag will actually cause the machine to cut off. There's a point where you aren't so high that it cuts out, but you're still too high in that a smooth continuous pass doesn't occur, instead the ring chatters and changes pitch (sound) along the length of the runner. Almost like it's skipping or dragging. You have two ways to influence the ring contact point on the toe of the runner and therefore the amount of spring deflection - move the runner/boot up vertically in the clamp (manually or via the risers), or adjust the ring up or down via the ring height adjustment. colins

The one thing I'd say about burrs and the finish - if you adjust the height for less pressure of the ring on the blade you get better results from the Sparx, based on my experience. If you try to start too high on the toe/heel it can end up riding the blade with too much pressure and dragging/struggling a little (you can tell by the pitch of the sound). Then you end up with more burrs and less clean of a finish. The machine won't cut out on you, and you'll still get an acceptable sharpen, just not as clean. colins

Yes he's in the OG Tacks, the really stiff original re-introduction of the line before the Super Tacks came out. He wore these a few years ago when they first came out before outgrowing them and moving to a Bauer Supreme 180. When he outgrew the 180's I found a pair of the Tacks on Clearance in his current size. One complaint he's always had is he finds them "boxy" whereas he says the Supreme and even Nexus is slimmer. He wore the Tacks last season without any issue, but this summer after being off the ice for a few weeks, his return during an intense camp where he was on the ice multiple times a day lead to a bad case of lace bite on the left foot for the first time ever since he started skating. We didn't try on the 9090 (yet). If it's as deep or deeper than the Supreme it would be worth a try. The Supreme 180 was great for him as well, I'm just a bit lost in not being able to find a boot that clearly passes the pencil test, but then again, how important is that if the Supreme and Nexus both seem to slightly graze his instep at the same point on his foot? I thought the Nexus would be too deep for him based on the scan, but the try-on test didn't prove that out. colins

So my son's wearing a pair of CCM Tacks and ran into some lace bite issues. I'm exploring deeper boot options as he fails the pencils test (just barely) on the Tacks. He's got a high instep. The lace bite is on his left foot. We got 3D scanned in the Bauer scanner tonight, it confirmed his high instep, with the left instep being above the half way point between "average" & the top of the scale and the right being about mid-way between "average" and the top of the scale. He's got a wide heel, and his forefoot height was near the top of the scale for both feet. The scanner fitted him in a Supreme. It showed him optimally fitting the depth of the Supreme boot. The Nexus on the display showed that it would be deeper than necessary for his instep height. It recommended an EE width. So he tried on the Supreme (S29 - they didn't have a 2S in his size) and the Nexus (2N) and: - Both very slightly fail the pencil test similar to his Tacks - at the curved part around eyelets 4/5 the pencil just grazes his instep. - Both felt very comfortable, but he found the Nexus slightly constricting on the forefoot area, whereas the Supreme was more comfortable there. I figure this must have been down to the tongue or something and not the depth of the boot? - Overall he preferred the Supreme slightly, they felt like he could skate in them right away even without a baking they were that comfortable. The obvious choice would be to get the Supremes, but with the recent lace bite experience I'm looking for a boot depth that won't cause that problem again. The Nexus is supposed to be deeper for the instep, the Scanning software and everything I've read said so, so I'm not getting how the pencil test said otherwise, and his comfort especially closer to the forefoot was less 'roomy' in the Nexus vs. the Supreme. Anyone have a similar experience using the scanner and comparing Supreme and Nexus boot depth with a high instep? I don't want to drop hundreds on a new pair of skates and end up with lace bite issues again like he ran into on the Tacks. colins

I imagine CCM is being conservative, because... they have to be. How many damaged/returned skates would they get otherwise when people over bake them and break down the materials? Unless you can measure the internal temperature of the boot to know exactly when they have reached the correct temp, they need to err on the side of caution.

Amazon, any sports store with gym gear, Walmart even... what you're looking for are 'resistance training bands' or 'resistance loop bands'. Good luck! The exercises really seemed to work miracles in our case. colins

I do have Blademaster eyelets but the ones I have are too long for this purpose. For the extenders I used eyelets (#0 I believe?) that came with the press I bought (https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07FSFWL67?ref=em_1p_1_im&ref_=pe_8564860_421518460), they are classified as grommets and come with washers and look like these: http://www.siska.com/grommets.html I think I found the source for long Blademaster eyelets as well - Industrial Eyelets from Siska seems to be the original source - the '64' and '65' etc lengths appear to come from this chart: http://www.siska.com/ind_eye.html Bad news is they only sell to companies, and the only resellers I have found other than Blademaster sell in batches of 1000 which is a bit pricey for the DIY folks. I'd love to find a small batch (couple hundred) source for various length stainless steel eyelets the same diameter as these, along with stainless washers. If anyone can provide a URL please do! I didn't try calling Siska to ask for suggestions but that might be another avenue to explore. colins

The CCM eyelets are thin aluminum - putting the visor hardware in them and cranking them down will definitely take some paint off them and maybe dent/deform them a little if you make it tight. I wouldn't worry about it too much - especially if your skates aren't CCM. colins

I find the CCM Super Tacks and 7092 run almost a full size smaller than the equivalent Bauer Nexus pants (for comparison). E.G. Someone who's comfortable in a Medium Nexus pant will probably need a Large in the CCM girdle. That's been my experience - I can comfortably wear the nexus Medium (I'm about a 32" waist) but the Medium in a SuperTacks girdle is a bit too snug around the waist, and despite the adjustments available, the girdle doesn't "close over" enough in the middle to provide proper protection. Move up to the Large in the girdle, and everything is fine. colins

After just a few days doing the exercises in the video posted a few posts back, my son's pain is gone. He can't believe it went from intense pain to feeling normal in such a short time. To be on the safe side, he's still off the ice for a couple of more days. So I went to work on verion 2.0 of the eyelet extenders. Going with Vet88's advice, this version uses belt leather (literally cut up an old belt to make these). And instead of using hardware, which was going to deform his eyelets, again to Vet88's instructions and I'm just tying them off with some skate laces. I cut up and used the thin wax laces that started us down this path in the first place. I think these are going to work great. They raise the lace pressure point by a few mm at least - he won't get the pressure across his tendon with this setup. Find out this week when he tests out the setup. colins

It's leather I cut from a purse my wife donated to the cause. It's doubled over to add thickness. When I pull on the eyelets it has a bit of stretch to it but it feels sturdy. My guess is it's going to be OK for testing, but I'll need some thicker material like Vet88 recommended - belt leather which is 4 or 5mm in thickness. The eyelets are grommets that came with the press I bought off Amazon for about $80 CDN. Very handy to be able to set your own eyelets. I also have Blademaster eyelets and washers but they have long barrels and wouldn't work for this thickness of material. Haven't tried them yet - he's staying off the ice until the problem is 100% healed. He started doing these exercises which another modsquad user posted before - has anyone else had success with this healing their lacebite soreness sooner? colins

Based on Vet88's advice and the comments on this thread, I mocked up some test eyelets extenders for my son's Tacks. Going to give them a try tomorrow. If they work I may get some thicker belt leather and make a more permanent solution. colins

If it's chippy and he plays that way too, I'd look for the calf coverage as being the biggest variance between the current offerings. You need to go try a bunch on, but look for which ones have good comfortable coverage across the majority of his calf. Some models leave that area pretty exposed, and a chop back there can ruin a good shift in a hurry when that happens. There's also a good bit of variance in how wide the different top end models are - he plays Centre, so unless he has tree trunk lower legs I'd stick with the narrower options for mobility reasons. Usually D men prefer the wider ones for blocking shots, but on a forward I think you want to keep things narrow to ensure mobility/crossovers aren't impeded by bulky shins. colins

That's all the pencil test is. And I think you've found the crux of your issue. Your boot is not deep enough for the height of your arches or volume of your foot. Lace extenders are a work around, if you really love how your skate fits (other than the depth issue) and they take the pressure off, you could consider them permanent. If you can't find a retail skate that solves the depth problem while still fitting your foot everywhere else, the next option is to go for a full custom, with extended facing if necessary to add the volume you need. Gets expensive! colins

I sharpen Step Blacksteel with 1/2" on my Sparx and there's zero issues. Also it measures the same both ways on my Sparx Edgechecker. I have regular Step Steel as well, and it's the same both ways. Polished CCM Hyperglide runners I found had an issue with uneven sidewalls, leading to different readings front to back than back to front. Sparx has a note about steel with treated sidewalls in their manual for the Edgechecker, so it's a not uncommon thing to run into. No experience with LS5 personally. colins

I don't think anyone should suggest that plates & screws (ORIF) is a bad way to approach repairing a fractured ankle. Getting the bones set and re-aligned for proper healing so you can get back a full range of motion post injury would be the critical part. It's awesome it worked out for you without needing it - but if the doctor's taking the x-rays say orif is recommended, I wouldn't advise anyone to try to avoid it. The plates & screws can be removed after the healing is completed - but in the majority of cases there's no reason to do so. I have a plate & screws in my collarbone I thought I would want removed, but that was 5 years ago and I never even think about it now. I also wanted to add - if you think about what happens and the forces involved to actually break the bone(s) in your ankle, there's probably close to zero chance that happens without accompanying damage to the ligaments in that area. Those take a long time to heal, the ligaments and tissue in that area won't be back to normal long after the bones fuse themselves back together. Aggressive physiotherapy sessions with a seasoned pro who had worked on many athletes in the past was critical to my son getting back to normal on his skates. I can't really say enough about that and how much it helped - otherwise the range of motion will be a long time returning. And still, all being said, his broken ankle still looks slightly larger than his other one, about 9 months later. colins

Yes - please send me the details. I saw the greatsaves one, only thing I noted was that they seem to be made to use at the top 3 eyelets, and if I was making my own I think I'd want to go one lower and use a curved or 'L' shaped design so that they can be used on eyelets 3/4/5. My son never laces eyelet 1 and I don't think there's any issue with bite up at eyelet 2, the pressure is around eyelets 4 and 5 on his Tacks. colins

Anyone have a list of the best sources for option 6, Eyelet extenders? colins

How's the pencil test look on the boot you are in now? I imagine the power skating with Laura had you in positions you were not used to during your previous times on the ice. The amount of time where you had your knees out over your toes putting pressure on that position of your foot likely triggered the tendon stress/damage. The usual advice is ice it, use pads, lace outside in, don't use waxed laces, wide soft laces (Howie's are great) to disperse the pressure. But if you're failing the pencil test - your arch is probably too high in the boot you're wearing, and the best advice might be to find a pair of skates that gets your foot deeper to avoid the pressure you're running into when lacing that area. colins

Sorry to hear - those types of injuries can be scary and frustrating. What do you mean by screw heads? Was it the usual ORIF type surgery where they attached a plate with screws to stabilize a broken bone? Are the screw heads you are talking about under the skin holding the plate in place? My son broke his ankle and had this done on the outside of his right foot last season, after about 6-8 weeks he gradually started back and after 3 months was skating normally again in the same skates (CCM Jetspeed) he had before the break. His ankle with the surgery was still noticeably swollen and larger than the other ankle 6-9 months later, but it didn't cause a problem in his skates, at most we would have just re-baked them. colins

My youngest started skating when he was 3 in a pair of CCM Intruder 55 skates. They were very flexible. At 17 years old now he's one of the better skaters you'd see on the ice at that age. Ankle range of mobility is a huge deal at the end of the day for skating, and anything that would restrict developing ankle strength and range of motion would be something I'd personally look to avoid. So I'd agree with your take on staying in a softer boot at that age. I can't say with certainty that one model over the other is better or worse, but if I had to do it all over again I wouldn't have changed a thing and I would have kept him in those CCM Intruders. When he outgrew them he used a a pair of MIssion (Warp I think?) and they were at least as soft/flexible a boot or maybe even more so. He didn't move into a pair of Supremes with some more stiffness until he'd already been skating for 3 or 4 years. Regarding your upgrades - I'd stick with the stock insoles unless he has discomfort. As long as they cover the rivets effectively then unless your son has issues with his feet you're trying to correct - why mess with that? In particular - if you do go with Superfeet, I'd first have a look at the pencil test and make sure if he's got high arches that putting in a thicker footbed doesn't raise his foot too high in the boot and cause lace bite or other issues. My son has very high arches (borderline fails the pencil test on a pair of Tacks) so this is something I'm always careful about. And yes you're crazy... but we all are that's why we're here talking about hockey equipment in July. 😉 colins

Update - July offseason and my son just participated in an intense 5 day camp that had multiple on ice sessions per day. One of the replacement Blademaster eyelets failed - but luckily, the front washer broke loose, but the barrel and inside washer held up. So it did not pull through the facing to cause a rip. I inspected the eyelets - corrosion of the brass Blademaster eyelets has set in pretty good and I'm going to do a complete replacement. So from a timeline POV - the replacements lasted from January 3rd 2019 until July 10th. 7 months vs. the 3 months that the stock CCM eyelets lasted. And in those 7 months he was on the ice about twice the frequency of the original 3 months when the CCM eyelets failed. Based on my experience then, I would say that the Blademaster brass eyelets hold up about 3X longer under the same use conditions compared to the stamped CCM eyelets. I think he's a good candidate for injected eyelets! But he fits in CCM better than Bauer, so that's a problem until CCM releases a skate that uses injected eyelets like Bauer's. colins

Super Tacks was a ... unique disaster of a stick. One of the worst blades in the history of composite sticks w.r.t durability. Taping absolutely helps extend blade life. Especially for Centers - if you take lots of face-offs a full heel to toe tape job helps reduce the amount of nicks and chips you get from the contact that happens when taking lots of draws. In general, taping the full blade heel to toe will help preserve and extend the life of your blade. colins

Where are you skating? Have you factored in whether any change in temperature has caused the ice you're skating on to be noticeably softer this time of year than when you last skated? If the ice could be softer than before, try going up to 9/16 or 5/8 and see how it feels. colins