Blackstone Flat-Bottom V Thread

[Ahriman 1]

Simple fix for that. Get some of the special brown anti-rust paper they wrap car parts/etc with. Wrap around the bottom of the blades and then put the soakers on to hold the paper in place. No more rust.

If the three times a year pond skaters are too lazy to dry off blades after skating, no way they will do that.

I was going to say, that would require customers doing something useful to protect their equipment.

Honestly no matter what kind of condition the blades are in, I still take it personally when someone hands me a wet pair of skates.

[GKC 0]

So a little update.....

We have had our new Blackstone triple head machine, with the spinner, since the end of February. I couldn't be happier with the machine. It has brought us a TON of new business, and it works beautifully. I myself have been sharpening for over 20 years, and compared with our previous equipment, this machine is absolutely a joy to use. Steve at Blackstone has been wonderful to deal with, and when the time comes for a second machine for our other location, it will be a Blackstone.

Business aside, I have also been skating on FBV since we got the machine. It truly is like nothing I've used before. I'm currently on the 100/50, and I feel fast...real fast. The other slugs I play with, that can get past their "ways" and try it, also tell me that they feel faster and more agile than they have in years. Also have a bunch of ref's and a few senior OHL players on it. They all agree it's really like nothing else out there.

I also have had the pleasure to do a little experimenting with my son's novice team this year. After switching them to FBV, I can honestly say that there was a definate improvement in their play this year. They just seemed to be winning races, and skating better. Maybe it's just a fathers eyes, or their improvement as the year went on, but man...they seemed better.

I do have a few questions for the seasoned sharpeners out there...

Why no cross grinding? If done properly, with a light touch, would you not remove less material than repeated grinding on your finish wheel? Especially going from standard ROH to FBV? I can see not using the cross wheel when re-sharpening with the same cut, but when changing for the first time..... If your good at what you do, you should never be altering the profile of the blade.

Anyone tried combo grinding FBV for goalie skates?

Do you use any kind of stink/mold killer on the skates while they are in your store? I gotta say their were times this season when that corner of the store was brutal...

What profiling systems are you using?

That's all I have for now. Thanks all for a great thread.

-G

[Ngo_35 1]

Simple fix for that. Get some of the special brown anti-rust paper they wrap car parts/etc with. Wrap around the bottom of the blades and then put the soakers on to hold the paper in place. No more rust.

If the three times a year pond skaters are too lazy to dry off blades after skating, no way they will do that.

I was going to say, that would require customers doing something useful to protect their equipment.

Honestly no matter what kind of condition the blades are in, I still take it personally when someone hands me a wet pair of skates.

Ahmen to that brother. It don't take a whole lot to dry your damn blades as a courtesy to the sharpener. I just feel like throwing the skates back at the customer, but of course that will never happen.

[JR Boucicaut 3793]

I do have a few questions for the seasoned sharpeners out there...

Why no cross grinding? If done properly, with a light touch, would you not remove less material than repeated grinding on your finish wheel? Especially going from standard ROH to FBV? I can see not using the cross wheel when re-sharpening with the same cut, but when changing for the first time..... If your good at what you do, you should never be altering the profile of the blade.

On a new pair, I actually end up doing the same amount of passes as I would with sharpening a skate that has an existing hollow on it. It's not that I hate crossgrinding and am afraid of screwing up, it's just something that I've managed to only use unless absolutely necessary (profiling/rust)

[Ivan 1]

ouch. sounds like blademaster is totally boned on this one....

Blademaster has been the market leader for a long time. Now, Blackstone's FBV is a real break through within the past decades. Blademaster doesn't want to give in. So (IMO) they gotta try to come up with something in order not to continue losing their market share to Blackstone. And it may be very hard (to come up with something of their own). Hopefully, it all won't become nasty. Now Blackstone has the best competitive edge than ever (in addition to black color vs red :D , - the ceramic/teflon tabletop (Blademaster's responded with a granite tabletop (on their top end professional machinesonly), the Spinner, and then the FBV Spinner.

Edited June 3, 2009 by Ivan

[Ivan 1]

I had four customers for the FBV sharpening this evening. Three of them drove from a city over 800 kilometers away from me and one for about a 1000 kilometers. The first three ones were not going to buy anything. Just sharpening. The fourth bought a jersey on top of sharpening. This is insane. I didn't have the heart to charge them for sharpening though.

Of course I'm in Ukraine now...

[thehockeybowler 0]

East West Hockey has opened up a skate repair shop, which includes FBV sharpening across the street from Sharks Ice at San Jose. That makes two locations in the SF Bay Area with FBV services.

[JR Boucicaut 3793]

And Blackstone has taken it a step further...

FBV for the masses...

http://www.blackstonesport.com/product_det...?product_id=186

Standalone Spinner dresser that will work on any standard machine.

Magnetic base for steel tables, if using an aluminum or granite top table, you might have to hold it in place.

[thugnation00 0]

Will the stand-alone dressers work on a Blademaster machine or is the height different?

[JR Boucicaut 3793]

Yes, it will work on a BM machine as the wheel heights are the same.

[Griff 2]

Dear god they're going to make a fortune on that little piece of equipment.

[thugnation00 0]

I'm going to have to convince the boss to invest in some of these.

[JR Boucicaut 3793]

I'm going to have to convince the boss to invest in some of these.

You only need one per machine.

[Ivan 1]

And Blackstone has taken it a step further...

FBV for the masses...

http://www.blackstonesport.com/product_det...?product_id=186

Standalone Spinner dresser that will work on any standard machine.

Magnetic base for steel tables, if using an aluminum or granite top table, you might have to hold it in place.

Great idea!

I'm sure at least all these folks are gonna get pretty upset now

[JR Boucicaut 3793]

Why would they? They can use it on their BM.

[Ivan 1]

Why would they? They can use it on their BM.

Probably because they would want to be the ones who came up with the idea. Otherwise, yes :D

Only that would be reminding me Graf using TUUK holders on their skates in the past.

[thugnation00 0]

I'm going to have to convince the boss to invest in some of these.

You only need one per machine.

Different locations.

[chiefs17 2]

Dear god they're going to make a fortune on that little piece of equipment.

Yes, they certainly are going to make a fortune selling those at $1700! I wonder if a shop would be better off buying an X02 to use as a dedicated FBV machine.

[Jordan 13]

It will be very interesting to see the BM guys suddenly offering FBV...after so much bashing of it.

[Ivan 1]

Dear god they're going to make a fortune on that little piece of equipment.

Yes, they certainly are going to make a fortune selling those at $1700! I wonder if a shop would be better off buying an X02 to use as a dedicated FBV machine.

Not really in the long run. You can use the convertable Spinner system on machines with a bigger diameter grinding wheel than the X0-2 has. Translates into MANY more skates sharpened per grinding wheel either if you go with a regular spinner or the FBV.

Edited June 9, 2009 by Ivan

[Ivan 1]

My guess may be wrong but it probably won't work on ProSharp sharpeners

[squashguy 0]

nice idea, not sure about the price tag though

Edited June 12, 2009 by squashguy

[aal 3]

Anyone know if there's anyplace in Los Angeles / Orange County area that has flat /v sharpening available?

[jagged 0]

Check this out, it came from the link below, post #20

looks like someone came up with a nice idea, looks like it'll cost not much more than the spinners and can be used with any tabletop holder.

check out link #20

"The spinner holder is clamped in the skate holder and has the same thickness as a skate blade. Can hold up to 7 spinners and the spinner centers are exactly (or within a couple thousandths) of the skate blade center, so all you have to do is touch the spinner to the wheel, remove, insert skate, and sharpen. Nice thing is it will work with any existing tabletop system, any height holder, maybe even a dupliskate. Has worked fine."

Edited June 13, 2009 by jagged

[Ivan 1]

IMO, It'd sure be interesting to find out about the actual results. Looks like it may work. From a quick look, in this case you loose the advantage of the three-lie holder though.

Then I'm not sure how ethical this would be as far as Blackstone Sports is concerned.