colins

You are well covered with that result kadayo. colins

I don't have a xgrind ring, but after about 7 or 8 passes it was pretty respectable: These were inexpensive skates just being used for some outdoor casual family skating. Still though, I don't know if you could trust turning or changing direction at all on those edges as they came out of the Canadian Tire sharpening. colins

Sharpened these blades last night. Worst I've seen so far. These were apparently done on a DupliSkate machine at a local Canadian Tire store. I don't blame the machine, obviously there must be some adjustments on it the kids who operate it aren't familiar with or just don't care about. Here's what they looked like when I got them. I also learned that the Sparx is compatible with Disney skates. Ground breaking... colins

Yes, and some higher quality steel like polished CCM Hyperglide and Speedblade Black will exhibit the same issue - sidewall inconsistencies in the steel/coating will throw off the Sparx edge checker (and any edge checker that relies on a good flat sidewall in order to establish a 90 degree angle between the sidewall and edges to measure against). I know they point this out in the manual/instructions for the edge checker, but who reads those?? :-) Great feeling though when you get those edges dialed in to measure bang-on the line heel to toe and toe to heel isn't it? Everyone who has a machine should have an edge checker of some type that they trust so you're not just relying on the calibration tool that comes with the Sparx to get it 'close enough'. colins

From an older post in another thread: Interesting that back in 2009/2010, 13 players (leaving out goalies) were on 1/2 or deeper. Fast forward to this year, and only 4 remain with that much bite or more. It's seems like the EQM default shifted from 1/2 to 5/8ths for the players that 'don't care'. What's the 'SS' mean on the current year chart after 'LS3' on Kunitz and Coles blades? Step Steel maybe? Or do they have a Stainless Steel coating on their LS3? colins

lol! I'll try the next best thing - let's see if the Oilers twitter account will reply if I ask them. I can't find any of their EQM's on twitter - Jeff Lang, Brad Harrison and Shane Olmstead. colins

At the retail level (I don't work retail, but I speak to a lot of hockey parents who take their kids skates to get sharpened ) I would suspect it's the opposite - lots of consumers have no idea there's even a choice, and they just want "sharp edges" which usually gets them 1/2" or 5/8" depending on the shop. I think McDavid would be an elite player on any ROH, with any flex stick and any curve. But I don't think any of the top of the top of the elite players in the league fit into the category you describe w.r.t not knowing what hollow they are staking on. Maybe 3rd & 4th line players in the AHL, but you don't become elite by not having attention to detail. McDavid likely has a preference for hollow, and the question is (and remains), what is it? colins

Yes, I agree with everything you said here. We're speaking crossover to stride ratio w.r.t speed in the context of the offensive side of the game of hockey - which as you point it is all about seeking/attacking open ice and pressuring defenders to change direction. Skaters that rely on deep knee bend wide extension (like Taylor Hall for example) have incredible straight away speed which works really well when they have clear open lanes. But that is rarely the situation for forwards in a 60 min game of pro level hockey. In the Robby Glantz breakdown video I think Eichel runs out of room once the defender Sekera closes the gap on him. If he takes another stride his skates are going to hit Sekera's skates and his rush will be over - so he spins to keep the play alive. McDavid usually can keep striding at very high speed even as the gap closes because his stride (especially during crossovers) is realtively short and he'll crossover in tight space to increase the gap without any hesitation (head, hands or feet). Grabner as you mention is another interesting case - I haven't watched him nearly enough to have a full understanding, but it seems to me his secret sauce is his stride frequency. He just seems to return his extended leg under his body quicker than most skaters can. McDavid's technique (and I think Bure was similar) allows them to maintain top speed while continually seeking/creating new space. For the game as it's played today, I would suggest this is the most useful type of speed/techique to have in your toolkit. Few can do it like McDavid can. Kids today should be learning this from an early age - a lot of traditional 'power skating' I've seen while my kids have grown up in the game don't have nearly enough emphasis in this area. Great discussion - all the best, colins colins

McDavid and Eichel are very different skaters at a technical level. They are both elite, but the manner in which they achieve their elite status is very different. There are many shades of gray in between. Coffey was a treat to watch and I still like looking at video of the way he skated. Robby Glantz does an excellent breakdown of Eichel and McDavid here: colins

Do I think Connor McDavid could skate the way he does on both a 1/2" OR a 1" ROH if we had two pairs of his skates and asked the EQM to swap them between shifts? Yes, I do. Do I think Connor McDavid cares what specific hollow he has on his skates when it's game day? Yes, I do. It is a big factor in that every player only has ultimate trust and confidence when they have things set the particular way they want them. That's true at the beer league level, and even more so at the pro level. So back to the original question - what's McDavid's preference w.r.t. skate hollow? We're still waiting for that answer. If you read stories on Coffey and what he used to ask Barry Stafford for, it's evident some of the greatest skaters in the history of the game were constantly looking for improvements to what we'd assume was an already perfect situation. Coffey, Bure, McDavid - they all share something in common with the way they moved their feet - they rarely took more than a couple strides before utilizing a crossover. Today's best skaters are the ones with a high crossover to stride ratio. Coffey did it on a 1" ROH http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/the-nhls-best-players-pushed-stafford-the-hardest-the-oilers-way-pt-4 colins

Pros skate a hundred different ways. I still find this analysis interesting. ROH is a factor - but just like stick flex and stick length, there's no single answer to the question of what's "best".

I don't know, and can't find it published anywhere, but I'm guessing he's on 1/2" or deeper. Reason being is that his speed is all driven by crossovers. I'm assuming to get the force he does on both inside and outside edges when crossing over he's more interested in bite than glide. colins

Awesome setup. Do you take it on the road, or just back and forth from home and the local rink? Are you using an edge checker, if so which one? colins

I have the Sparx edge checker. It's sturdy and works really well. On LS3 steel I get consistent readings tow to heel or heel to toe. It's allowed me to really dial in my alignment on my sharpener for measurably perfect edges. I also have the Edgechecker.com edge checker. I like the design but I find the magnet area on the back piece that attaches to the side of the blade is too tall, even with brand new LS3 steel, and this causes it to sit high up on the blade, making the level front piece read from the bottom two lines of dots. It's obviously a much cheaper piece of equipment, the 'dot printout' on the back piece itself seems a little low tech and mine doesn't appear to be stuck on perfectly level to begin with. But it gets the job done and is half the price of the Sparx unit. If I was going the cheaper route again and had my time back I'd try the Prosharp edge checker. Similar design as Edge Checker, but a higher tech version, and it appears the magnet on the back piece is nice and shallow which should sit well on any blade, even those that are well worn down. $65 in Canada, $49 in US. https://prosharp.ca/collections/accessories/products/test or https://prosharp.us.com/collections/accessories/products/test colins

I think it requires a certain aptitude to be done well. I don't know that everyone possesses the attention to detail required to do it well and do it well consistently. colins

I'm on my 2nd 1/2" ring and still have about two-thirds life left on a 5/8" ring. I picked up an edge checker about two weeks ago - now that I've edge checked all my steel and made a one or two click adjustment on my alignment to really dial in my edges to less that .001" difference in height, I can't say I'm lacking anything on my Sparx sharpenings vs. taking them to a pro shop now. It's damn near perfect. colins

I guess what you're asking for, and what we're all curious about, is a comparison of a brand new Sparx ring with a ring that has 300+ passes on it. It would be interesting to have measurements and high res images of the two for comparison purposes. The claim is that with the Sparx rings, you can get 320 passes before wear becomes an issue / the change in profile is significant enough to care about. colins

You can't. You get 320 passes from a ring then it's done. It's not a traditional ring, as per their FAQ. Whether the radius of hollow changes at all during the course of using it during it's 320 pass lifetime is a good question. Maybe the Sparx guys can chime in and show some measurements from a new vs. fully used ring to demonstrate how the ring wears over time. Why doesn't the Grinding Ring produce sparks? The most significant factor is the grinding ring used by Sparx. Our grinding ring is made with a completely different material than a traditional grinding wheel. We're using a synthetic diamond abrasive. This different abrasive material results in a cooler sharpening process and also a cooler swarf. How does the hollow stay consistent? The Grinding Ring construction is a steel base material that is precision machined to the specific profile (e.g. radius of hollow). The base material is then coated with an abrasive layer. Because the base layer is protected the abrasive, its shape is not altered during the sharpening process (i.e. the profile is perfect on the 1st and 500th pass)

That's not a fair comment. The skills required to operate a Sparx are certainly less than a traditional machine, which is a good thing. But you still have to know what you are doing. It doesn't matter how fool proof something is - there's got to be folks with Sparx machines that are not paying attention to alignment, ring height, skate positioning in the clamp, the required number of passes and honing technique and yes - they'd end up with imperfect edges. That's not a knock against the machine, it's a knock against human nature and folks who pay attention to detail vs. those who don't. I know of an 'expert' sharpener (guy's been at it for years, also does equipment repairs) who uses multiple Cag One machines in his shop. Easy to use, right? Just lay the skate on it. Well he doesn't bother to use an edge checker (slows down output, he's very busy), and when one of his machines goes out of alignment, a whole crew of folks go through there with uneven edges on one skate until someone calls it out. Again, the Sparx is just another machine. It makes the process simpler and lowers the cost to entry, but it's not 100% fool proof. But because it exists, a thousand new sharpeners are now active across North America, and I imagine a similar (or higher since the machine is easier to use) percentage of those new sharpeners are good at what they do vs. the ones that existed before Sparx. colins

Sparx has a cross cut ring (called the X-Grind) for taking down deep nicks. At the end of the day, the Sparx is just another machine - one that lowers the $$ entry point for quality sharpenings. A buddy of mine has a Blademaster 850 (great machine) in his garage, and I used to bring my skates to him. I consider him an expert level sharpener, simply because he knows his machine well and his attention to detail is very high. I don't consider him scum just because he sharpens skates for a fairly large group of his friends and charges a nominal fee for his time & materials. As I was debating between buying my own Blademaster 850 or a Blackstone I came across the Sparx Kickstarter, and the single biggest advantage to me was the ease of use and lack of mess. My buddy's garage door and ceiling is full of steel dust - you simply can't use a traditional machine like the Blademaster indoors without some type of dust collection setup. You should also wear a mask to avoid breathing the stuff in. My Sparx sits in my rec room and I can literally sharpen a pair of my sons' skates as they are packing up their gear to head to the rink for a game/practice with no fuss and no mess. I still pay attention to the condition of the blades, the number of passes, and my honing requirements. And I'm still learning - the Sparx doesn't have a whole lot of variables to mess with, but the ring height, position/direction of the skate in the clamp, and the number of passes are all in play to get that 'perfect mirror finish'. I've joked with the Sparx guys that I'm developing an ability to 'hear' a good final pass based on the pitch of the ring across the whole length of the blade, and based on the sound deciding whether or not I need 1 more pass to achieve perfection. This machine is a game changer. I don't intend to use my Sparx to steal business from any local shops. It's a funny thing though - once people find out you have the ability to sharpen skates and the quality is as good as it is, it's hard to prevent the skates from coming to you. My son keeps bringing his teammate's skates home in his bag after practice and the $5 he collects goes into a Sparx jar to pay for the next set of rings I have to order. colins

He's a goalie. They're all crazy, that explains it. :-) From google: http://goaliestore.com/board/forum/equipment/equipment-reviews/3261051-sparx-skate-sharpener-initial-impressions

Lol... thanks for non-judging, I feel like this is a very trusting environment to share in! Ok - so now I'm starting a spreadsheet for every question I ask that the answer to is: RTFM. To atone, I went back to the manual and read it cover to cover. Turns out it explains pretty much everything you'd need to know. Kudos on covering all the bases Sparx :) Colin

I'm tracking which skates I sharpen, how many passes and which ring I used in a spreadsheet (that's normal, right??) because I'm curious about the grinding ring use as well. From Russ' explanation, it seems pretty straight forward - the machine knows how many passes a grinding ring has made and by the 320th pass, the light is going to indicate the ring is worn out and you should get a new one. Now from a technical POV, that has me curious... is it the machine storing how many passes it's seen the ring for (that would be somewhat flawed but maybe cheaper to implement), or is the info about the number of passes stored on each ring itself and then transmitted to the machine when it starts up? This would be a better technical solution but I don't know enough about RFID to know if it's practical to put that capability in the RFID chip in the ring itself. The problem with the first approach is obviously when multiple machines are in play and rings get used between different machines, the tracking wouldn't be accurate. I had my first skate last night on my touched up edges (just 2 passes as I'd recently had them sharpened and there were no nicks), and my two boys (13 and 15) skated on full 4 pass sharpenings two nights ago. All I can say is we all agreed it's as good as any commercial sharpening we've had. For comparison, I normally will only bring my skates to a buddy (who's a bit of a perfectionist) that owns a Blademaster 850, or to a local shop which uses a CagOne. If Steve or Russ are checking in on the thread - one question I've got is regarding brand new steel. I know from experience that new steel can be a problem for the first sharpening as peaks and valleys in new blades can create dead spots, and if a shop doesn't take the extra passes necessary to level the blade off the first skate can be a real unpleasant experience (don't learn this for the first time during a big tournament when you break a blade folks!). How many passes of a regular grinding ring (on average) would you suggest for new steel (assume CCM speed blade hyperglide runners, if it matters?). I'm thinking the cross grinding ring is next on my wishlist, both for new steel prep and cases where a deep nick has to come out. Colin

Received my Sparx sharpener today. Here's an unboxing and first use video. Literally 15 minutes to unbox and begin sharpening, including time to read the instructions. So far - impressed. I havent skated on Sparx sharpened blades yet (not until next Thursday), but I will report back with my experience once I do. Colin