broken skate blade

[cause4alarm 7]

The steel on my 8090s broke the other day and it cost me $35 to replace the single blade. I was concerned that the new blade was going to be uneven with the old one, which has been through 1.5 years of sharpening. The pro shop guys assured me that they were going to grind down the new blade to make it even with the old, but when I got my skates back, the blades still looked quite different from one another and they said they'd have another go at trying to even them up again. A teammate of mine (who's spent his fair share of time working at rinks and pro shops) recommended that I simply replace both blades. Should I go with the pro shop guys assurances or go with my teammate's advice?

To put things into perspective, if it costs me $70 to replace both blades, that's over 1/3 the cost of ordering a brand new pair of 8090s online. Plus, I have a pair of brand new CCM 1052s which I managed to buy on clearance for $75 that I haven't worn yet.

[mew1838 0]

erh wear the tacks? :P

[biff44 0]

If it were me, I would have done both blades UNLESS the remaining good blade was pretty new. Those jamokes probably ruined the temper of the replacement blade with all their grinding, and what were they grinding too--an worn down pattern with probably the wrong radius?

[duch 0]

Wear the Tacks. Do both blades on the 8090's later because there is no urgency to do them if you're not using them. Besides you may find you like the Tacks better and may not want to go back to Bauers.( the same a I did )

[jimmy 194]

Blades can be off up to 1/32 of an inch and you'll be OK. Any difference over that and you will have problems. The only way they can be matched is to remove both from the skates and overlay them on top of each other, then grind the high one down. If the old steel is not ground too much from sharpenings, this is the cheapest way out.

I usually replace both blades unless the skates were fairly new. This was more often the case with Lightspeed steel, which usually broke in the first few months

[cause4alarm 7]

Where did you get the 1/32" figure from--personal experience, read it somewhere, is there a reading on the sharpener, etc.?

That seems like a really tiny amount. I'm looking at a ruler and it only goes to 16ths. Is it possible that even a handful of sloppy sharpenings might produce a difference of 1/32" anyway?

[repus 0]

There is always some level of variance between the blades but I would always replace both at the same time. BTW - they are charging a ton for the steel.

-dave

[jimmy 194]

Where did you get the 1/32" figure from--personal experience, read it somewhere, is there a reading on the sharpener, etc.?

That seems like a really tiny amount. I'm looking at a ruler and it only goes to 16ths. Is it possible that even a handful of sloppy sharpenings might produce a difference of 1/32" anyway?

I got that from a briefing given to NHL equipment managers. It doesn't seem like much, I would agree. If you think about it, some folks grind the front of a blade down 1/32 as a method to achieve pitch. It doesn't take much to mismatch the blades.

[#28 0]

Whenever I have broken a blade I replaced both. Also, $35 per blade is really steep. If you have any other shops in your area, try and find a better price. When I had my steel replaced I was charged $40 for two blades and installation.

[cause4alarm 7]

I left my skates at the shop on Monday and when I went to pick them up on Thursday, the new blade didn't look anywhere near the same size as the old one, so I asked them to look at it again and I left it at the shop. Then today I went back to pick them up, with the intention of bringing them over to the other skate shop in town. (While I was picking them up, my jackass teammate blurted out "So where are you taking them now? The other pro shop?" while I was standing right next to the employees who then gave me an earful on how inferior the other shop's services were.)

So then I brought them over to the other shop where the guy there told me what a lousy job the other guys did. His solution was to profile both blades, which cost me $48.77 (about $15-17 less than what he would have charged to replace both blades again).

Now the total work on these skates is $38.02 + 48.77 = $86.79 (over 40% of what it would cost just to buy a new pair of 8090s online).

[ctaz 0]

and that is why when you have a fairly used blade break your replace both blades, that way you aren't paying for a new blade and having the LHS cut of 40% of the new one to match the old one, which might not even be remotely close.

[Gongshow11 1]

why wouldnt you get both in the first place? the fact that they have to estimate the amount to sharpen down to is pretty bush. terrible call on not both being replaced