Switching back to steel...

[kornsined 0]

I'm just going to shut up from here on in, I just don't understand anyones logic anymore.

[DarkStar50 679]

Wear the Salmings to the wedding.

Its your last chance to wear the skates before you get married. You might as well sell your gear after the honeymoon! :lol:

[tsanga 0]

Wear the Salmings to the wedding.

Just don't wear them to bed. ;)

You have precious little time to go get any remaining gear you want. Good luck trying to spend money on "toys" later on....

[Larry54 243]

There's no reason why you can't be friends with the guy just because he doesn't sharpen your skates. If the only reason he's your friend is because he sharpens well, that's not much of a basis for a friendship. Oh, the drama of it all!

Did I say that he sharpened well in any of my previous posts? All I care about is that my runners get a 7/16ths radius.. quit putting words in my mouth.

I wasn't putting words in your mouth. In fact, what you quoted from me wasn't even a response to one of your posts but rather from a post by domileafs.

Here's the original post:

the t'blades may be great, but they take away the family/friends element. you get a good friend that knows exactly how you like your sharpening, and when you get t'blades you have hurt his feelings and insulted his friendship.

i agree with badkitty on this one.  it is more important to remain friends with "that guy" at the LHS than to have the latest technology.

There's no reason why you can't be friends with the guy just because he doesn't sharpen your skates. If the only reason he's your friend is because he sharpens well, that's not much of a basis for a friendship. Oh, the drama of it all!

[Jason Harris 31]

Wear the Salmings to the wedding.

Or you can accessorize your wedding party with them.... B)

[Cheesehead 0]

Wear the Salmings to the wedding.

Or you can accessorize your wedding party with them.... B)

or u could use tblades to cut the cake!

[mew1838 0]

Wear the Salmings to the wedding.

Or you can accessorize your wedding party with them.... B)

or u could use tblades to cut the cake!

Hell yeah !!!

[kornsined 0]

Wear the Salmings to the wedding.

Or you can accessorize your wedding party with them.... B)

or u could use tblades to cut the cake!

and you won't have to re-sharpen them, just throw them away. Good thing the t'blades didn't ruin the nice old tradition called a wedding.

[gavin 0]

I'm just going to shut up from here on in, I just don't understand anyones logic anymore.

My reasons for ditching my 2 pairs of t'blades were FAR from logical. THey were purely emotional reasons (and trust me, I get accused of being too logical and Vulcan, particularly by those of the opposite sex).

Ok so heres why: I bought CCM skates with them. I bought them from hockey monkey. CCM and hockeymonkey screwed me over (in my opinion). I am forever angry, will never buy t'blades again. End of story.

Back to the topic: badKitty, get some Pitch3 holders. They are awesome, good steel, won't break on you like POS t'blade holders broke on me

<<-- (That's me being emotional and not at all logical, if you weren't sure)

[Hoquyguy 0]

Golly, how this thread has wandered off course! I am another lover of the Salming skates but have never really gotten used to the T-blades. I'm lucky enough to have found a couple of very good sharpeners near me, so having to play LHS roulette with whoever is running the machine is no longer a problem. I bought the Salming skates for the simple reason that Puckmugger (on Epinions.com) said they were perfect for wide feet like mine. For those who don't know who he is, Puckmugger, or Scott Noble, is a prolific hockey equipment tester and a hilarious writer. In any case, I bought the skates based on his unbiased opinion and wore them exclusively for 3 months. At the end of that time, I tried on my old skates with Tuuk holders. All I can say is I went back to my old skates, purely because of the T-blades. I do think the T-blades are a good idea, and they have certain advantages, but I simply could not get used to them. On the plus side; they are very light, the steel IS much harder than standard blades and DOES last much longer before it gets dull, and they DO dig extremely well when using the proper technique. They have phenominal glide due to being cold rolled steel and make regular skates feel like you're skating on sand paper. However, the disadvantages are too great. The biggest drawback with the Salming skates and the T-blades is balance. I simply can not find my balance point on these skates. I can switch between my CCMs to Eastons to Bauers and there is about one minute of transition time. The Salmings took about a solid week, and even then I was falling more than normal. The second problem is the amount of lean it takes to get these skates to dig in. My muscle memory is used to leaning in a certain amount to get a certain amount of traction. With the T-blades, that amount of lean is a few degrees more. That means you have to really have an agressive knee bend in the turns to get the most out of these skates, and then the T-blades really, and loudly, shine. Being of "geezerdly" age, I simply don't bend in like I used to, at least without a lot of thought and effort. Finally, the "cheap" feeling somebody brought up. On a clean sheet of ice, the T-blades are fine. But when the ice gets really torn up, the T-blades have a tough time digging in. Being so light, they really do feel like you are just bouncing on top of the ruts instead of digging into the ice. In any case, the Salmings are now sitting in my basement while I wonder how I can keep those wonderful boots but loose the T-blades.

This now brings up the second part of my post. Simply switching out the T-blades with regular holders is not an easy thing. The problem is the placement of the holes in the outsole. The Salmings use a fiberglass outsole and the holes were drilled to fit the T-blade. I asked my local guru to replace the holders, and he found the holes simply don't line up, either with the Tuuk holders or the cheap Crow holders I had. Ever worse, the holes were TOO CLOSE to where he would have to drill new holes! He would either end up with elongated holes or so close together that the fiberglass would probably crack in between. Either of which would ruin the possibility of a secure mounting. I'm now down to experimenting with heel lifts and keeping the T-blades. I contacted JR about heel lifts and how to make them, and I'm hoping they'll solve the balance point problem. I can live with the other disadvantges if I can stay upright. If that fails, I've thought up some solutions to the pre-existing holes in the skate. If I can fill them with an epoxy or fiberglass, then I can drill new holes without worrying about cracking the outsole. My current idea is using an epoxy putty (found at any hardware store) to fill the holes. It sticks to plastic, dries very hard, and is drillable. My second option is a fiberglass filler used in auto body or surfboard repair. If anybody has any experience in either, I would be greatfull! Maybe we can get this thread back on topic and solve this problem!

[Chadd 916]

I bought the Salming skates for the simple reason that Puckmugger (on Epinions.com) said they were perfect for wide feet like mine. For those who don't know who he is, Puckmugger, or Scott Noble, is a prolific hockey equipment tester and a hilarious writer.

Read more carefully, a lot of his tests aren't anything more than looking at a product or more in depth than reading the feature list. It's easier to say you're an expert than to actually be one.

[kornsined 0]

my transition with the salmings from my XX's was great, really short. I even had heel lifts on my tuuks.

[Hoquyguy 0]

I bought the Salming skates for the simple reason that Puckmugger (on Epinions.com) said they were perfect for wide feet like mine.  For those who don't know who he is, Puckmugger, or Scott Noble, is a prolific hockey equipment tester and a hilarious writer.

Read more carefully, a lot of his tests aren't anything more than looking at a product or more in depth than reading the feature list. It's easier to say you're an expert than to actually be one.

FWIW, Scott has these skates as well. He uses T-blades and loves them. He also hates most of the Vapor skate line as being overpriced and prone to fall apart within a very short time. He works at a LHS just like Jr and sees all the warantee returns. I trust his opinion as much as anyone, at least enough to try something out myself. I'm surprised he's not a member of MSH!

[Chadd 916]

I bought the Salming skates for the simple reason that Puckmugger (on Epinions.com) said they were perfect for wide feet like mine.  For those who don't know who he is, Puckmugger, or Scott Noble, is a prolific hockey equipment tester and a hilarious writer.

Read more carefully, a lot of his tests aren't anything more than looking at a product or more in depth than reading the feature list. It's easier to say you're an expert than to actually be one.

FWIW, Scott has these skates as well. He uses T-blades and loves them. He also hates most of the Vapor skate line as being overpriced and prone to fall apart within a very short time. He works at a LHS just like Jr and sees all the warantee returns. I trust his opinion as much as anyone, at least enough to try something out myself. I'm surprised he's not a member of MSH!

He is a member but rarely posts. His biases prevent him from being fair a lot of the time and he's factually incorrect in more than half of the review that I've read.

[pantherfan 0]

Yep he has a serious grudge against NBH

[Jason Harris 31]

I bought the Salming skates for the simple reason that Puckmugger (on Epinions.com) said they were perfect for wide feet like mine.  For those who don't know who he is, Puckmugger, or Scott Noble, is a prolific hockey equipment tester and a hilarious writer.

Read more carefully, a lot of his tests aren't anything more than looking at a product or more in depth than reading the feature list. It's easier to say you're an expert than to actually be one.

FWIW, Scott has these skates as well. He uses T-blades and loves them. He also hates most of the Vapor skate line as being overpriced and prone to fall apart within a very short time. He works at a LHS just like Jr and sees all the warantee returns. I trust his opinion as much as anyone, at least enough to try something out myself. I'm surprised he's not a member of MSH!

He is a member but rarely posts. His biases prevent him from being fair a lot of the time and he's factually incorrect in more than half of the review that I've read.

I chat with Scott about every three to four months (including this past Saturday), kinda catching up on what each other has planned. He has an interesting idea that he's going to introduce in Denver, but it's probably premature to say what it is.

When he has the opportunity to test a product on the ice, he states that; and when he only has the chance to wear a pair of gloves, then he'll state that was the basis of his opinion. I realize you prefer people to use a product for thirty days, but I don't believe it's unfair of him to say, "I tried them on for ten minutes, and these are my likes/dislikes." He's just presenting his opinions, after all.

All I can tell you is he's sincere.

[Chadd 916]

I chat with Scott about every three to four months (including this past Saturday), kinda catching up on what each other has planned. He has an interesting idea that he's going to introduce in Denver, but it's probably premature to say what it is.

When he has the opportunity to test a product on the ice, he states that; and when he only has the chance to wear a pair of gloves, then he'll state that was the basis of his opinion. I realize you prefer people to use a product for thirty days, but I don't believe it's unfair of him to say, "I tried them on for ten minutes, and these are my likes/dislikes." He's just presenting his opinions, after all.

All I can tell you is he's sincere.

My problem is that he wants to offer a definitive opinion on everything. I realize that my opinion shouldn't be that important. I have likes and dislikes just like any other player and I'm happy to offer those opinions to anyone but when I don't know something I readily admit it. I don't make up things to make myself sound more informed than I really am.

[hockeymom 2]

Yep he has a serious grudge against NBH

Although this thread has kind of moved off topic again, I don't think it is accurate to say puckmugger has a bias against NBH. From what I've read, and I don't know the man, he had a major issue with XX skates. ummm...durability perhaps?????

[Chadd 916]

Yep he has a serious grudge against NBH

Although this thread has kind of moved off topic again, I don't think it is accurate to say puckmugger has a bias against NBH. From what I've read, and I don't know the man, he had a major issue with XX skates. ummm...durability perhaps?????

That happens on every topic that lasts more than a page or two. NBH has had some issues with skates, the biggest one to me is the fact that the Tuuks were mounted offline as often as not.

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

I don't think Scott works in a store anymore...I think he's been out of the proshop game for a few years now.

[Jason Harris 31]

No, he became involved again about 6-9 months ago.

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

Hmm. Same store?

[Jason Harris 31]

No, I believe he's been at the Promenade, which is the three-rink complex about ten miles northwest of Denver. However, he told me Saturday about a really neat idea he's going to try that's in a similar vein.