Skate Sharpening 101

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

CCM's holder is offset - try sharpening the left skate from heel to toe and report back.

[xspecbx 0]

Need some help from some more experienced sharpeners. I recently bought a sharpener and I'm getting even edges on most of the blade, but on the leading and back portion of the blade where it turns in I'm getting a noticeable uneven cut (wheels is grinding high). I have read thast this is caused by the weight of the boot. Is this true? Is there anyway to fix this? I'm using an E-Z Sharp skate sharpener by the way. I'm going to call the company this week and see what they say, but wanteds to know if anyone here had any thoughts/advice.

[raganblink 82]

Adjust your vise.

[xspecbx 0]

Adjust your vise.

I don't think you understand what I was asking. The blade is even for pretty much all of the middle section of the blade where it contacts the clamp. Its at the toe portion and the furthest back portion of the blade where they become uneven. Like I said before, I have read that this can be from the weight of the boot. Just want to know if this is true and if there is anyway to correct this problem

[raganblink 82]

Not sure what vise you have but on mine I can adjust the toe and heel. Figured you could do the same

[xspecbx 0]

Not sure what vise you have but on mine I can adjust the toe and heel. Figured you could do the same

Unfortunately I can't, but even if I could that wouldnt fix the problem. The clamp itself is level and 95% of the blade is coming out nice and even. Its the front and back tip of the runner that is uneven. That is why I feel like the weight of the boot is causing the blade to bow a bit and make the wheel grind high at each end.

[raganblink 82]

How are you sharpening? Any pressure on skate (upward or downward) as your sharpening it? Or just letting it do its own thing?

[xspecbx 0]

How are you sharpening? Any pressure on skate (upward or downward) as your sharpening it? Or just letting it do its own thing?

I feel like I'm applying pretty even pressure the whole time and letting it do its own thing. Before I even start sharpening, if I put the blade up to the wheel it is visibily not centered on the stone at each tip of the runner. The rest of the runner appears to be centered on the wheel and goes back to my whole feeling that the blade is bowing.

[rachael7 1]

I feel like I'm applying pretty even pressure the whole time and letting it do its own thing. Before I even start sharpening, if I put the blade up to the wheel it is visibily not centered on the stone at each tip of the runner. The rest of the runner appears to be centered on the wheel and goes back to my whole feeling that the blade is bowing.

Are you grabbing/pushing the boot or only the holder? If you touch the skate anywher with your hand during the run, that could do it. Aso, near the ends, part of the holder is usually off the table and it can tip pretty easy, so make sure you press the holder down to the table at the end near the wheel.

[ktang 34]

Maybe your blades are curved / bent?

[xspecbx 0]

I'm not touching the boot when I sharpen. Just the clamp. I don't believe the clamp is being moved off the table and I would expect that to cause it to be uneven on the lower side of the blade because the clamp would tip upwards at the blade.

I looked at my blades and they don't seem bent. I have done different skates and I get the same problem

[sonsplayhockey 0]

Question. I just got the Blackstone X01

I have the batwing gauge. How close should I be trying to get the edges. I just did 3 skates and without making any adjustments to the holder, I'm getting within +/- 1 mark on the gauge for all the skates.

Also, should I dress the wheel for EVERY pair or EVERY skate or other?

thx

[aarondevera 0]

Definitely not every skate OR every other. I don't use any honing oil, so I probably dress every five pairs, give or take.

As for your Bat Gauge, you should be trying to get your edges dead even (but be sure the black part of the gauge is even when not on a skate). If you're using the Tri-lie jig, it's about four clicks up/down per gauge line.

[aarondevera 0]

I'm not touching the boot when I sharpen. Just the clamp. I don't believe the clamp is being moved off the table and I would expect that to cause it to be uneven on the lower side of the blade because the clamp would tip upwards at the blade.

I looked at my blades and they don't seem bent. I have done different skates and I get the same problem

What kind of jig do you have? You might be overtightening the clamp and bending the blade slightly when pressure's applied. It wouldn't be enough pressure to bend the blade permanently, but definitely during the sharpening.

[Chadd 916]

Maybe your blades are curved / bent?

That was my first thought.

What kind of jig do you have? You might be overtightening the clamp and bending the blade slightly when pressure's applied. It wouldn't be enough pressure to bend the blade permanently, but definitely during the sharpening.

That makes sense as well.

The only other potential issue I can imagine would be that the edges aren't even and you're only making partial contact in certain areas because of that.

[sonsplayhockey 0]

Definitely not every skate OR every other. I don't use any honing oil, so I probably dress every five pairs, give or take.

As for your Bat Gauge, you should be trying to get your edges dead even (but be sure the black part of the gauge is even when not on a skate). If you're using the Tri-lie jig, it's about four clicks up/down per gauge line.

Thx. I think I have the hang of measuring with the bat gauge. One thing I was having trouble with was consistancy of measurement. The Bat gauge was not consistant. But flicking the wings a litle after inserting it on "unsticks" it when it gets stuck. I went back and measured 2 pair of kids skates that were sharpened by the rink and both were off by 2 marks. Taking the extra time to get it straight is not so bad for a home user like me. Gonna go back and practice some more on some spare skates (I have lots of them).

[aarondevera 0]

Good luck! I find pulling the gauge slightly to the right, ensuring it sits flush with the blade, helps it read more accurately. I've also taken to flicking the wings to make sure they're sitting on the blade and not caught on anything.

[sonsplayhockey 0]

On the X01, when changing the spinner, how do I know I've taken enough stone off for the different radius/FBV cut?

[Chadd 916]

On the X01, when changing the spinner, how do I know I've taken enough stone off for the different radius/FBV cut?

If you use something like fine shine on your final pass the wheel will get "dirty". When dressing the wheel, that will go away.

[Shark#81 0]

Had a friend buy a blademaster machine 5 years ago. Started up a business "Custom Edge" out of his single car garage and is doing really well. Runs regular hours, has card program,. a mini- stick/skate sale or swap thing going, wax, tape, etc. Also added equipment sanitizing and blade contour this year.

The contouring is really good. I got new LS2 blades - didn't like them we went to a 13 foot 1/2" forward pitch this year and it's money. So I can trust him to do smooth consistent work. Other shops I've been to are all over the place (eg ask for 5/8" hollow and get something completely different)

Now for the post delete!

[ponder 0]

Need some help from some more experienced sharpeners. I recently bought a sharpener and I'm getting even edges on most of the blade, but on the leading and back portion of the blade where it turns in I'm getting a noticeable uneven cut (wheels is grinding high). I have read thast this is caused by the weight of the boot. Is this true? Is there anyway to fix this? I'm using an E-Z Sharp skate sharpener by the way. I'm going to call the company this week and see what they say, but wanteds to know if anyone here had any thoughts/advice.

I don't sharpen my own skates, but just thinking about this logically, this is exactly what would happen if the skate blade was on an angle instead of perfectly parallel to the table. I'm not talking about an angle from the toe to the heel, but from the side that you sharpen to the side of the blade that faces into the holder. Basically, sounds like your vice isn't holding the skate perfectly parallel, and as you said is letting the weight of the boot pull it off level.

My crudely drawn, highly exaggerated, MS paint pic of what I think the problem might be:

[Chadd 916]

I don't sharpen my own skates, but just thinking about this logically, this is exactly what would happen if the skate blade was on an angle instead of perfectly parallel to the table. I'm not talking about an angle from the toe to the heel, but from the side that you sharpen to the side of the blade that faces into the holder. Basically, sounds like your vice isn't holding the skate perfectly parallel, and as you said is letting the weight of the boot pull it off level.

My crudely drawn, highly exaggerated, MS paint pic of what I think the problem might be:

If the edges aren't level when you start, then you need to do something to fix that. Simply sharpening uneven edges is going to give you sharp, uneven edges.

[AfftonDad 88]

I don't sharpen my own skates, but just thinking about this logically, this is exactly what would happen if the skate blade was on an angle instead of perfectly parallel to the table. I'm not talking about an angle from the toe to the heel, but from the side that you sharpen to the side of the blade that faces into the holder. Basically, sounds like your vice isn't holding the skate perfectly parallel, and as you said is letting the weight of the boot pull it off level.

My crudely drawn, highly exaggerated, MS paint pic of what I think the problem might be:

Just brainstorming here but what if the pitch (rear) knob were at a significantly wrong height. Presumably the person sharpening would make the edges "even" by adjusting the two front knobs and presumably he would use the flat (middle section) of the blade to make edge measurements. The holder would then be adjusted such that edges of the same height were achieved in the plane where the middle section of the blade is. However, the toe and heel are in a different plane and their edges would not be even. This would also happen if there were "droop" from the weight of the boot as you mentioned. See the exaggerated for emphasis drawing below to see what I mean (EDIT: I drew this for the FBV case... I forgot this isn't an FBV thread... the same would be true for ROH):

[sonsplayhockey 0]

AfftonDad,

I was thinking about the same thing the other day and wondering why I would not want to raise/lower the middle dial on my Tri Lie if I had to raise/lower the right/left the same amount. On a ROH cut, this is not a problem. On FBV, screwing it as you show alters the cut on each edge different. Gee, I wish there was a way to inspect blades with a magnifying glass, but I tried that and with the shiny surface, you can't really see contours well. It may be that unless the angle was way off, it would not matter as significantly as much as the edges not being even.

BTW, the other week, a kid on my bench had the back end of his skates edges way off. So much that when I put a coin on it after the game, the coin was very visibly off center. His outside edge was higher than his inside edge. Every time he started a backwards cross over from standing still, he wiped out. Cost us a break away in the game that resulted in a goal. I bet the sharpener did not check and did not have the skate in right and the boot sagged the back end of the skate.

[AfftonDad 88]

AfftonDad,

I was thinking about the same thing the other day and wondering why I would not want to raise/lower the middle dial on my Tri Lie if I had to raise/lower the right/left the same amount. On a ROH cut, this is not a problem. On FBV, screwing it as you show alters the cut on each edge different. Gee, I wish there was a way to inspect blades with a magnifying glass, but I tried that and with the shiny surface, you can't really see contours well. It may be that unless the angle was way off, it would not matter as significantly as much as the edges not being even.

I'm pretty sure the issue would exist for ROH as well. Even though the rule of thumb is to leave the pitch knob alone (once it is at the "nominal" height), i think this only works because it is a small enough error to not make a significant difference (not worth it to try to adjust it). That is why I was asking if this rule of thumb still applies for the thicker bladed goalie skates in the FBV thread a couple of days ago. There is a guy on this board (I can't recall his name) that sharpens skates professionally that actually takes cross-sectional castings of his sharpening jobs and examines them under magnification at the end of each day as a quality check!

EDIT: I just went back and see that I was confusing you (sonsplayhockey) with the original poster (xspecbx). He already said he can't adjust pitch on his holder so that isn't his issue (although as previously stated by a couple of people it could still be some sort of canting issue)