How to Sharpen Skates?

[Neo5370 132]

I posted some time ago that I was toying with the idea of opening my own LHS.

How the heck do I learn to sharpen skates?

I asked in my old post but of the handful of places in my state that does sharpen skates, I doubt any of them is going to want to take on a new employee and teach me how to sharpen skates.

So do I just go by the instructional video that comes w/ a skate sharpening machine or what?

[Jason Harris 31]

Is there a rink nearby that rents skates for public session? If so, perhaps you could ask them to let you practice.

[Sticks of Fury 0]

If you want to go cheap and just try it out....

Check this item out.

The skate mate.

http://www.skatemate.com

[Neo5370 132]

Is there a rink nearby that rents skates for public session? If so, perhaps you could ask them to let you practice.

Yeah there is Salming. I didn't think of that, thanks for the idea :)

[Fire0nIce228 1]

I wouldnt open the shop till you are very proficient at skate sharpening. In my experience, and when I think back about it, alot of times I judge a LHS and whether I'll go back or not based alot on how they sharpen skates. I drive 40 minutes one way to a shop that does my skates. Lets face it, how many times have you needed to go to get a few rolls of tape and said to yourself "what the hell lets get the skates sharpened" ? Or anytime your going to a hockey shop, I know I almost always get my skates done. So if I'm going out, I'd go to a place that has the equipment I need but can also do my skates at the same time. Unfortunetly, its 40 minutes away for me. But, I hope this makes sense. You could easily provide equipment and such that your very knowledgable about, but if your sharpening skills are subpar, they might go elsewhere just so they can get equipment plus skates done at the same place and time, for convinence. I hope that makes sense, and maybe thats not how most people think. They might go to a shop with great selection for gear then drive across town to a shop with no selection but a great sharpener. Anyways, maybe you could get a rental pair and take home with you to sharpen on yuor machine, or ask to learn on their machine for a small nominal fee, since you would be using their stuff.

[QandA 0]

If you can, or your lucky, hire someone with previous sharpening experience.

[Chadd 916]

Drive down and spend a weekend working with me. You may not be an expert when you leave but you'll be damn good.

Look and see if there are nicks or chunks missing from the steel

Check to see if the edges are level

Once those issues are fixed

Center the steel on the wheel

Make a couple passes

Check your work

Make a couple more passes

DONE

Please note; The mastery of sharpening is in how you do the things above, not just the act of doing it.

[DarkStar50 679]

Practice, practice, practice. Then sharpen your own skates. Try your skates that you have just sharpened and all your questions will be answered if you can sharpen skates.

[Langenbrunner15 0]

Thats the scary thing................trying your own work for the first time....yikes

[DarkStar50 679]

Thats the scary thing................trying your own work for the first time....yikes

That is the rule I lived by when I was learning a long time ago. Once I could do mine, then I would do yours. Seems only fair, right?

[Langenbrunner15 0]

Its the ebst to do,im just saying,hope your not horrible........

I still the the Sports Section in Cedar Grove, NJ is the BEST place ever.......theres this guy eric eho works there and hes cool to talk too. Dave is an amazing sharpener and also orlando. THose two do it the most and have never let me down after about 4-5 years of going there.

[QandA 0]

Thats the scary thing................trying your own work for the first time....yikes

That is the rule I lived by when I was learning a long time ago. Once I could do mine, then I would do yours. Seems only fair, right?

Yeah, I'm a youngster and sharpen skates, and sometimes the client will ask, 'are you any good,' and I'll say, well I do mine!

[Chadd 916]

Thats the scary thing................trying your own work for the first time....yikes

That is the rule I lived by when I was learning a long time ago. Once I could do mine, then I would do yours. Seems only fair, right?

Yeah, I'm a youngster and sharpen skates, and sometimes the client will ask, 'are you any good,' and I'll say, well I do mine!

We hired a woman who plays at our rink and one of the first things she said was that she didn't want people to look in the shop and pass up a sharpening because she was working. That's exactly the attitude you have to have, no matter how long you've done it.

[dix0r 0]

i have to admit, i get pretty tempted to mess up skates when guys come in 5 minutes before their game. i like taking my time and i feel like i don't do as good of a job when i'm rushed. not to mention i hate when they look over my shoulder. go get dressed or something and come back!

it's also tempting to screw up when jerks you play against come in, but i find they're usually pretty nice off the ice.

[biff44 0]

From an amateur's point of view, here is how I learned to sharpen skates. I bought a Wissota grinder and watched the video tape that came with it. I then thought I was an expert. But I would get varying results. Sometimes the skates would turn out great, sometimes my kid complained after one skate.

I then realized that it is pretty important to get the two blade edges parallel. If they are out of parallel more than 0.002", it was noticeable in losing an edge on the ice, or not being able to stop correctly, etc.

I then realized that my eyesight was not good enough to notice the difference in edge heights, even when balancing a penny or steel ruler on the 2 edges. I then bought a HDI edge checker from these guys:

http://www.pro-filer.com/html/hdi.htm

I then empiracally learned the finer points of skate sharpening by doing the grind, checking the edges, and doing it over if they were weird. I learned that how you put the blades into the holder can make a big difference in repeatability (especially for those *$%$**# perforated vapor xxx blades). I learned that if the blade is put into the holder properly and the edges are still not good I should check to see if the blade is bent, and rebend it flat before continuing. I was then able to get the two edges to withing 0.0005" typically.

Then one day I had to replace the steels with new ones, and noticed I had reground the contour of the skate blade a lot--especially taking off more metal on the toe and heel than the middle. I then watched how I was grinding and putting pressure on the blade more at the start and finish and less in the middle of the blade, and changed my ways there.

I learned other things along the way, like the wheel can get out of balance as you use up material and cause the sharpening to have a scalloped edge (skipping). New stone, or making a final pass at very slow speed fixed that.

I learned that if the blade is pretty chewed up, you have to stone the flat sides before grinding, then stone again, then repeat as necessary. I learned that if you are doing a lot of stoning on a chewed up blade, adding a little water to the stone makes the job go faster.

I learned that sometimes you have to take so much steel off to fix a deep gouge that it is better to just live with the gouge for a while until it naturally got sharpened out.

I learned that if you try to take off too much steel at a time, to remove a gouge, you can overheat the steel and screw up the blade temper. You sometimes have to let the blade cool down for a minute or two before continuing.

I found out that after sharpening, sometimes there was a small spot, maybe 1" long, that still did not have an edge on it. I learned that if I hold the skate edges up to the light and squint at the blade, you can see if there is a uniform edge all the way along the blade, or if you need to make another two passes.

And I learned NOT to run my finger along the edges to check them (steel splinters).

So it is all about paying attention to the nuances.

[Berger 0]

if i was opening a LHS i would go to an existing one and ask them to teach me a thing or two.

[dix0r 0]

i think it's hard to explain without showing somebody and this thread might not help much, but biff had some good advice. those are things you're likely to have problems with at first.

people can explain to you what to do or even show you how, but you won't be good for a while, even if you do exactly what they say. you'll start off doing skates exactly how you were taught, and then you'll realize things that you have problems with, and you'll find your own way to sharpen them so you do a good job. at first, i would do my own skates after every skate or two for practice.

i don't know how i compare to people that have been doing it for a long time but i seem to get a lot of compliments and people asking for me. i don't have any tricks or anything, i just try to do the best job i can.

lastly, i think its too long a process to explain in great detail, so if you kind of know what to do, here's a brief run down and the things i found i had (or have) problems with. sorry if its kinda weak...

• stone the skates if they're really nicked up.
  
• brush off the table and the felt on the bottom of the sled.
  
• mount the skate in the sled. assuming the sled is facing the wheel, like if you were about to sharpen a skate, i'll tighten the handscrew down lightly, so i can still move the skate around. i'll try to get it so the blade isn't sticking out much further than the bottom of the clamp (as opposed to some people trying to rest the clamp against the holder where it meets the blade), and so its even from left to right. if the blades are really curved from bad sharpenings, you'll have to make sure that the blade still protrudes beyond the clamp at the toe and heel, or else when you're making a pass on the wheel you'll grind the sled and not the runner. also make sure from this position that the outsole of the skate isn't touching anything. the clamp should be the only part of the sled touching anything on the skate, and it should only be touching the steel. then tighten the level so the skate doesn't move much. don't crank on it too much.
  
• dress the wheel. there's a little bit of play depending on if you pull back on the diamond or not. i used to try to pull back on it but i found it was too hard to smoothly dress the wheel while pulling back. now i just barely guide the diamond up and down with one or two fingers. its easier to make a smooth motion when your arm is relaxed. if the wheel was set at something else first, it will either just grind the center or the outsides of the wheel. so make a pass, crank the arm toward the wheel ever so slightly, and continue to grind it till everything grinds down evenly. then make a very smooth and even pass. i usually feel how smooth it is at this point to make sure its ok, but i have no skin on my thumb because of this. sometimes i'll go up and down very lightly (without cranking the arm toward the wheel) until the diamond no longer touches the wheel anywhere. then lightly feel it and make sure its smooth, which it usually is at this point. otherwise gotta adjust the arm and try again.
  
• clean off the table again.
  
• start your taps. it depends on how big the skates are but i'll start about even with the bolts on the front of the sled, or sometimes further outside on big skates. on very small skates the bolts might be even with the toe and heel and you'll have to start farther in, so the bolts are just a guideline i guess. anyways, make your taps as lightly as possible. i usually get the blade close and then just barely nudge it against the wheel with one hand. if the skates are being sharpened at the same depth they were last time, you should get little [] shaped marks exactly perpindicular to the edge of the steel when its aligned. if it only makes a mark at the bottom of the steel (toward the floor), or it makes a mark like ^ across the steel, push the lever on that side of the sled down. then make another tap and check it. still low? push again. repeat till its aligned. if the tap is on the top or it makes an inverted triangle, push the lever up. if the skates are being sharpened at a different depth, you'll get different shapes that i'm too lazy to explain, depending on if the depth you're sharpening to is deeper or shallower. but the object is to align the steel with the wheel. after you align one side, do the other. after that, i'll go back to the first side and make sure its still straight. i'm not sure if i'm on crack or not, but i think if one side is way off, by the time you align it, the other will be moved from the first side. either way, it doesn't hurt to double check.
  
• cross grind, if you're going to. if you do, make it as smooth as possible and don't push hard - you just want to barely remove the last sharpening.
  
• if you cross grinded, re-align the steel (tap again - this time it will make little ovals or circles, depending on what depth you're sharpening at). you want to make small taps and make sure they're dead center. for some reason, i find one skate will be aligned perfectly after cross grinding, while the other will be way off. if its way off i'll usually align it, then cross grind once more, than align it one last time (which is usually dead on immediately). not sure why i have to do this but it seems like i get better results this way.
  
• since you're all lined up you can make the first pass. i'll do it really lightly and make sure it looks even. lots of blades are slightly bent and you'll realize that at this point. some are even really bent. to be totally honest, i don't always fix them because i wasn't taught how and i'm not 100% confident with the bender. plus, i figure the guy has probably been skating on it for a little while and is used to it anyways. if its real bad or i have time, i'll fix it, or have a coworker who knows how do it. assuming its hardly bent or straight, make sure the line you made is right across the center of the steel. towards the heel and toe it will probably come off to the side, but thats ok. if its barely off in the center, i'll adjust the sled very slightly, and make another couple passes. if its now center, keep making passes. i'll check periodically to make sure the unsharpened or cross grinded part of the blade is disappearing evenly. depending on the depth, it can be difficult (deep cuts are harder), but when you are almost done, you want a little gray mark on each side to disappear at the exact same time. keep making some passes till its smooth and sharp. if the steel is really bent and you have to sharpen it then, just make sure the part of the skate they're going to be on most is centered. ie, if the toe was very bent, it wouldn't matter much cause you don't use that part of the blade much.
  
• make a very smooth, slow finishing pass. i use the gusto glide but i don't know if its necessary
  
• stone em
  

other stuff:

sometimes if you bump the wheel too hard, you'll have to re-dress it.

one time, the wheel was cutting very jagged edges into the steel and i couldn't figure out what was wrong. i felt like the wheel was dressed smoothly. eventually i figured out whoever changed the wheel before me hadn't tightened it down enough and it was moving up and down slightly because it was loose. after fixing that i was good to go again.

some people like taking a black marker and coloring the bottom edge of the steel (assuming you were skating, what would be touching the ice) to help them see the taps. not necessary but personal preference i guess.

unlike biff, i do run my finger over the steel when i'm done. at first i didn't finish the skates very smoothly and the steel would just barely cut my skin (no blood or anything, just little lines you could see). i never got any splinters either...? anyways, now that i finish them smoother i never cut myself.

i usually won't cross grind unless they ask, or the skates are terribly nicked up, or for some reason i can't align the steel while tapping. if i do cross grind, i just do the flat part of the blade - not the heel and toe.

also, i go toe to the left.

since i haven't been doing it for that long i'm not sure if there's stuff in there i said thats wrong. that's just how i do it anyways. there's probably also problems i haven't experienced yet that i wouldn't know how to take care of. or on other machines i wouldn't know what to do if its significantly different.

[Neo5370 132]

Wow, thanks for all the great replies! :)

Once again Chadd you may regret such an offer as I may take you up on it.

I emailed you in regards to my old post but didn't get a response. Perhaps it didn't reach you? Anyhow, I'll PM you shortly.

[roadkill34 0]

i have to admit, i get pretty tempted to mess up skates when guys come in 5 minutes before their game. i like taking my time and i feel like i don't do as good of a job when i'm rushed. not to mention i hate when they look over my shoulder. go get dressed or something and come back!

it's also tempting to screw up when jerks you play against come in, but i find they're usually pretty nice off the ice.

i hear that, but i still say the worst is the people that come in 5 minutes after they got off the ice and the skates are wet and smell like something died in them. I swear there should be a major price increase for me having to touch your sweaty disgusting skates.

[this guy 0]

I'm waiting for the King Himself to chime in...