Hollows, Sharpenings, Radius, profiling etc.

[oviefan887 0]

So I have been playing hockey for a while now, and I have read all about skates and the different modifications you can make to help you get the most of of your skates. Whenever I get my skates sharpened I just say regular so there must be a standard for what people do, since I've said this to different people at different shops. Basically I'm asking about a couple of different things.

1. Hollows- I know what they are, but what effect do they play on the skates.

2. Sharpening- I have heard of different sharpenings like 3/8 and 7/16 but what are the other one's and what are the pros and cons of each sharpening.

3. Radius- Now, this I have no idea about.

4. Profiling- What does this do.

The thing is right now I have XXX's coming up on two years. The edges seem to be bad because my left outside edge seems to be hard to make sharp turns on. Whether it isn't digging into the ice enough or what, I don't know.

So all in all I am asking 2 things. One, the things I listed above, what role do they play in skate performance. Like what can I modify towards my game. (Forward about 5'8" or 5'9", 170). Two, any solutions on my problems with the XXX's.

[chippa13 1844]

*cough*search*cough*

[LkptTiger 1]

There is plenty of information on the subject throughout this forum, but I'll try to give you the crash-course...

1) The "hollow" is the concave "U" shape you see at the bottom of your skate blade. Deeper hollows (for example, 3/8") offer better better bite than shallower cuts (7/8"), but don't allow for much glide by comparison.

2) Same as #1.

3) Changing the radius of the skate has an effect on how much steel is on the ice at any given time. Longer radii (11') give a you bit more speed, but the shorter (9') usually facilitate a bit more agility.

4) Profiling can go hand-in-hand with #3. Profiling can change the amount of steel under your foot on any part of the holder. This makes it possible to change the pitch of your skates without the use of lifts. For example, if you want a more "aggressive" pitch to your skates, the "skate technician" would take more steel off of the front of the skate - giving you what is known as a "toe-down" profile. You could also have the opposite done (steel ground from heel) if you want a more "negative" pitch.

I wouldn't take my skates to just any schmuck to have anything done to them...but I'd really make sure that, if you end up tinkering with the profile of your steel, you take them to someone who knows what they're doing.

As for your little problem: check your steel. Lightspeed steel doesn't hold an edge very well to begin with, but if the issue is becoming more and more pronounced, I'd say there is a good possibility that your sharpener overheated your steel at some point. If you see some darker areas on the blade, it's probably time to think about getting yourself some new steel, 'cause you're never really going to get an edge to last very long again (and then there is the "breakage" thing).

There's also the possibility that your sharpener was feeling particularly lazy one day and neglected to check the level on the blades. You might be skating on uneven edges, which, while not impossible, isn't quite as easy as skating on square ones. Take your skates to someone good and let him know about the problem.

[elevation 1]

Go to Blade_Tek and click on Library...some good stuff to read, too.