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Lester8

First skate profiling

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My runners have worn thin after years of inconsistent sharpenings (really smooth arcing in the heels). They're Tuuks (288) and they were not profiled orginally. I tried new runners, but there was way too much flat and my heels were catching on pivots. Even though my old runners are ugly, I'm used to them. It looked to me that the heels of the old runners were thinner than at the toes. So in Mission pitch-terms, it looked like a -1. I want to have a similar feel for the ice but have a proper amount of steel and a controlled radius. After talking to the guy at the shop, he wrote "forward" on the ticket and I left my skates over the weekend. So I'm wondering what's involved with a "forward" profile and if that's the correct approach. They're overloaded, so there's time if I need to change my order. Any insight appreciated.

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It all depends on the shop. The one other place around here used to just nip off the toe and grind away the front a little and called it a "forward profile."

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He wasn't able to describe it clearly. He assesed that my old runners were way forward, meaning the flat or balance point. So it could go either way: grind the front and let the toe drop (pitch change?); or grind the back to lift the heel off the ice. I wish the guy that did the profiling was ever in.

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Going to a 7 ft radius may provide the best results if the toe and heel were both arc'd on your old skates.

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I thought about an 8, but the fronts still had plenty of corner. I asked to stick with 9 so I could change the radius later if needed. Costs more to profile it twice, plus I don't know which to try first, so it's an expensive mystery.

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I thought about an 8, but the fronts still had plenty of corner. I asked to stick with 9 so I could change the radius later if needed. Costs more to profile it twice, plus I don't know which to try first, so it's an expensive mystery.

What size skates are they? Radius is based on length of blade.

Keep in mind also that some shops "forward" does not mean forward pitch, it may just be forward radius (e.g, 9', instead of a defenseman 11" for example). I'd call them and ask them if they will be pitching the skates too.

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with the smaller profiles you may feel abit more forward since you have less blade contacting the ice. im skating on a 13ft neutral profile on my grafs blade size 254. i love it. if you find yourself catching try a 7 and the place you go shouldnt charge you for another profiling if your just adjusting it. but id suggest a 7ft neutral because you want to be as balanced as you can and when you profile it 1/32nd forward lean your not keeping the same balance because you will be more on the tips of your toes.

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These are 9.5 Bauers. Now I'm thinking that the ski feeling with new runners is only a radius problem. My old runners were like a 7 in the back and a 8/9 in front. Would a negative pitch, 9 ft radius achieve a similar affect as a the combo radius?

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These are 9.5 Bauers. Now I'm thinking that the ski feeling with new runners is only a radius problem. My old runners were like a 7 in the back and a 8/9 in front. Would a negative pitch, 9 ft radius achieve a similar affect as a the combo radius?

no,you never want a negative pitch on your skates. if you go to a place that does maximum edge they should be able to do a 8.5/9.5 profile. i skates on a 9/10 and it was good. then i went right too a 13ft and ive loved it ever since

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These are 9.5 Bauers.  Now I'm thinking that the ski feeling with new runners is only a radius problem.  My old runners were like a 7 in the back and a 8/9 in front.  Would a negative pitch, 9 ft radius achieve a similar affect as a the combo radius?

no,you never want a negative pitch on your skates. if you go to a place that does maximum edge they should be able to do a 8.5/9.5 profile. i skates on a 9/10 and it was good. then i went right too a 13ft and ive loved it ever since

I know serveral people who use a negative pitch on their skates. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean that it can't or shouldn't be used.

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These are 9.5 Bauers. Now I'm thinking that the ski feeling with new runners is only a radius problem. My old runners were like a 7 in the back and a 8/9 in front. Would a negative pitch, 9 ft radius achieve a similar affect as a the combo radius?

For a 9.5 skate, I'd recommend a 10' radius for a good balance of turning ablity and speed. Unless you have tremendous leg strength, anything smaller than that just makes you work too hard. I'd also pitch it fwd about 1 degree.

Keep in mind, most hate new the steel feel because likely the old blades were so banana shaped from poor sharpenings. You got use to the smaller radius that was created, very slowly, a little at each sharpening. So when you get new blades, the radius is put back on in one swoop. It just takes a while to get use to the correct radius.

I would not recommend a negative pitch.

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These are 9.5 Bauers.  Now I'm thinking that the ski feeling with new runners is only a radius problem.  My old runners were like a 7 in the back and a 8/9 in front.  Would a negative pitch, 9 ft radius achieve a similar affect as a the combo radius?

no,you never want a negative pitch on your skates. if you go to a place that does maximum edge they should be able to do a 8.5/9.5 profile. i skates on a 9/10 and it was good. then i went right too a 13ft and ive loved it ever since

I know serveral people who use a negative pitch on their skates. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean that it can't or shouldn't be used.

reason a negative pitch isnt reccomended is because picture skating up hill. you make more of an effort where if your flat or leaning forward our making less of an effot. now are they using tuuks or a pitch holder cause i know a negative degree on that holder is neutral and neutral is a 1/64th and a +1 pitch on it is actually 1/32nd. found that out from bob allen at maximum edge

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reason a negative pitch isnt reccomended is because picture skating up hill. you make more of an effort where if your flat or leaning forward our making less of an effot. now are they using tuuks or a pitch holder cause i know a negative degree on that holder is neutral and neutral is a 1/64th and a +1 pitch on it is actually 1/32nd. found that out from bob allen at maximum edge

I never said I liked it or ever suggested it to anyone. I do know a couple of guys who play defense and spend a lot of time skating backwards who swear by it. The guys I'm talking about all have older skates with Tuuks on them. I even know a ref or two who do it. I only know of two people that use Pitches that use amnything other than neutral and they both use +1.

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The reason I'm leaning towards the negative pitch is because my heels were catching on neutral. Wouldn't my lazy heels catch more with a forward pitch?

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The reason I'm leaning towards the negative pitch is because my heels were catching on neutral. Wouldn't my lazy heels catch more with a forward pitch?

yes they would, but I think a shorter profile is still the best solution for you.

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The reason I'm leaning towards the negative pitch is because my heels were catching on neutral.  Wouldn't my lazy heels catch more with a forward pitch?

yes they would, but I think a shorter profile is still the best solution for you.

agreed like a 7ft would be good i think

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The reason I'm leaning towards the negative pitch is because my heels were catching on neutral.  Wouldn't my lazy heels catch more with a forward pitch?

yes they would, but I think a shorter profile is still the best solution for you.

Actually the way I was taught is they wouldn't. A forward pitch would put him more on his toes which would make it easier for him to pull up his heels. With a negative pitch, he will be on his heels, so there is less steel to get in the way, but overall he's going against his flow.

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The reason I'm leaning towards the negative pitch is because my heels were catching on neutral.  Wouldn't my lazy heels catch more with a forward pitch?

yes they would, but I think a shorter profile is still the best solution for you.

Actually the way I was taught is they wouldn't. A forward pitch would put him more on his toes which would make it easier for him to pull up his heels. With a negative pitch, he will be on his heels, so there is less steel to get in the way, but overall he's going against his flow.

But a forward pitch will still have more steel in the back, making it more likely to catch. Without a pic of the original steel it's hard to tell, but I stand by my suggestion from 24 hours ago.

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reason a negative pitch isnt reccomended is because picture skating up hill. you make more of an effort where if your flat or leaning forward our making less of an effot. now are they using tuuks or a pitch holder cause i know a negative degree on that holder is neutral and neutral is a 1/64th and a +1 pitch on it is actually 1/32nd. found that out from bob allen at maximum edge

I never said I liked it or ever suggested it to anyone. I do know a couple of guys who play defense and spend a lot of time skating backwards who swear by it. The guys I'm talking about all have older skates with Tuuks on them. I even know a ref or two who do it. I only know of two people that use Pitches that use amnything other than neutral and they both use +1.

Agree . For the defensive defenseman, it can help with backwards skating, just like a fwd pitch helps with forward skating. You just have to try it to see if you like it. The only drawback is it may take away from forward skating as sogaduch was trying to say. Again, how much you won't know till you try it. Too bad your guy charges you for each radius, expirementing could get costly.

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Even D generally only skate backwards roughly 20% of the game. It would definately help to see the skate, but from my experience (I know not as much as some other guys) the forward pitch will cause less of an "obstruction" factor than lopping off the steel at the back. Most of this comes from second hand knowledge, but the way it was explained seems to be logical.

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Even D generally only skate backwards roughly 20% of the game. It would definately help to see the skate, but from my experience (I know not as much as some other guys) the forward pitch will cause less of an "obstruction" factor than lopping off the steel at the back. Most of this comes from second hand knowledge, but the way it was explained seems to be logical.

Not my D, they are always skating forward (chasing) the guy that just blew by them. :lol:

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I picked up my skates before they could profile the new steel. I talked with the guy again about options and mentioned a 7ft radius. He said that was huge and offered to do a 3.4? I realized then we were speaking different languages, so I slowly backed out of the store.

I took pics to compare the runners, and posted them on my slow site here:

http://choiceight.tripod.com/arena/runners

If you guys have any more ideas about what alterations to ask for, I'll keep it in mind when I find a shop that does max edge.

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I'm pretty sure he means 3.4 meter radius bar, which would be just over 11 feet. The place I go to uses a radius bar that is called out in meters, and I recall one of the 3 options being equivalent to 11'3".

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I'm pretty sure he means 3.4 meter radius bar, which would be just over 11 feet. The place I go to uses a radius bar that is called out in meters, and I recall one of the 3 options being equivalent to 11'3".

3.4M is a 11' radius. A 7M WOULD BE A GOAL RADIUS.

1.85M = 6'

2.25M = 7

2.5M = 8'

2.75M = 9

3M = 10'

3.4M = 11'

3.7M = 12'

4M = 13'

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