Never get your skates sharpened by a HS kid at the rink

[epstud74 24]

I knew I was in trouble when he was looking at his cheat sheet the whole time

[furlanitalia 1]

Wow, that is almost impressive at how terrible it is.

[epstud74 24]

Yeah, I had a tough time skating last night and ended up with a bad cramp on my inner quad and almost careened out of control into the wall a couple times on a rush.

[Havok19 0]

Man i need a "thing" like that where i can get one?

[chippa13 1844]

A quarter will give you the same result.

[Havok19 0]

Thx chip

[epstud74 24]

Not quite..

[DarkStar50 680]

That little tool costs over $150 but is worth every penny to a sharpener. Now that travel hockey is starting I'll check every skate I don't recognize before starting to sharpen with that pro square. I've seen many out of town skates look like yours.

[shotty 7]

reminds me of the dudes who work the shop at ubc... i was there the other day, some guy walks up, asks if he can get his skates sharpened and the dude says: ".....i guess so".

[Chadd 916]

That little tool costs over $150 but is worth every penny to a sharpener. Now that travel hockey is starting I'll check every skate I don't recognize before starting to sharpen with that pro square. I've seen many out of town skates look like yours.

People from out of town used to come in the shop and ask if I knew how to sharpen skates. I'd put one of those on the steel, usually with similar results, and tell them that I couldn't do any worse than what they already had. I would then put it back on when I was done, just to show them that the edges were fixed. I ended up with more than a few customers driving an hour or two in order to get their skates sharpened by doing that.

[epstud74 24]

Yea, I brought it in early this afternoon to SportsWorld USA and the guy was like, "jesus you're skates were butchered!" I usually get my skates sharpened there, but I was running late due to work and family stuff..ugh

[cptjeff 0]

That's very impressive. You should be able to see if you're that off the first time you touch the skate to the wheel.

I honestly don't know how the hell you give a skate to a customer like that. I take the time to make sure the edges are square on RENTAL skates.

[epstud74 24]

Yeah..I didnt even look at the edges. The soakers were on them, but I knew I was in for a long night when I took them off and stepped out onto the ice...

[VakarLajos 5]

one of the sharpeners in our area insists that every skate must be able to stand up on it's own. If it doesn't it's not done correctly. This might work if the table is completely level, the boot itself is completely balanced, and the steel is perfectly situated in the holder. Rarely do you get all of the variables together.

I've seen skates come to me with edges worse than seen in the pic here. But sure enough, they stand up.

[shotty 7]

one of the sharpeners in our area insists that every skate must be able to stand up on it's own. If it doesn't it's not done correctly. This might work if the table is completely level, the boot itself is completely balanced, and the steel is perfectly situated in the holder. Rarely do you get all of the variables together.

I've seen skates come to me with edges worse than seen in the pic here. But sure enough, they stand up.

...and if its not, then the sharpener compensates for those issues by throwing the edges off to make it stand.

i had that discussion with a tech once (who was trying to teach me), and he didnt get where i was coming from.

[Krev 86]

Wow. That is impressive how horrible those were done. I could never imagine giving a customer skates back with edges like that. Yikes.

[DarkStar50 680]

When I see them done that badly I like to first ask where they were sharpened last(knowing 99% it can't be our shop. I'll leave the 1% out there) to find out who is doing work like this and then, like Chadd said, show them what they are handing me and then show them finished product. Also, when I get skates like that sorry, but its over to the cross grinder first. On a busy week-end I don't have time to waste by not cross grinding and starting fresh. It's ok to disagree but understand I literally have to get back to square one to get them level again. No point in making the mess harder for myself. Finally, I always wonder, just how the hell did you manage to skate on that sharpening anyway? What took the guy, not epstud, but the guy in my shop with the crappy sharpening, so long to get them corrected.

It is mind boggling to me after sharpening for 30 years that anyone could hand over skates like in that picture.

[VakarLajos 5]

one of the sharpeners in our area insists that every skate must be able to stand up on it's own. If it doesn't it's not done correctly. This might work if the table is completely level, the boot itself is completely balanced, and the steel is perfectly situated in the holder. Rarely do you get all of the variables together.

I've seen skates come to me with edges worse than seen in the pic here. But sure enough, they stand up.

...and if its not, then the sharpener compensates for those issues by throwing the edges off to make it stand.

i had that discussion with a tech once (who was trying to teach me), and he didnt get where i was coming from.

i've had that argument a good many times. still to no avail.

[epstud74 24]

When I see them done that badly I like to first ask where they were sharpened last(knowing 99% it can't be our shop. I'll leave the 1% out there) to find out who is doing work like this and then, like Chadd said, show them what they are handing me and then show them finished product. Also, when I get skates like that sorry, but its over to the cross grinder first. On a busy week-end I don't have time to waste by not cross grinding and starting fresh. It's ok to disagree but understand I literally have to get back to square one to get them level again. No point in making the mess harder for myself. Finally, I always wonder, just how the hell did you manage to skate on that sharpening anyway? What took the guy, not epstud, but the guy in my shop with the crappy sharpening, so long to get them corrected.

It is mind boggling to me after sharpening for 30 years that anyone could hand over skates like in that picture.

Darkstar, I'm not sure how in the hell I skated for 90 minutes on edges like that, but I can tell you it was not easy and I felt a bit sluggish the whole time. I did mention that I about careened into the right corner after skating hard towards the goal. It probably explains the reason my quad kept cramping up since it had to overcompensate for such a bad edge. I'm more angry with myself for poor time management and having to resort to getting my skates sharpened there. Which is why I can go a month or longer w/o sharpening my blades.

[Gomer 1]

I knew I was in trouble when he was looking at his cheat sheet the whole time

Can anyone explain to a newb like me what it is I'm looking at in that picture and why it is awful? I understand that skates are to have two, parallel, level edges... but I don't understand how the flaw is being illustrated here.

[dsjunior1388 81]

I knew I was in trouble when he was looking at his cheat sheet the whole time

Can anyone explain to a newb like me what it is I'm looking at in that picture and why it is awful? I understand that skates are to have two, parallel, level edges... but I don't understand how the flaw is being illustrated here.

look at the device on the blade, in particular the black section with white lines on it.

[Krev 86]

I knew I was in trouble when he was looking at his cheat sheet the whole time

Can anyone explain to a newb like me what it is I'm looking at in that picture and why it is awful? I understand that skates are to have two, parallel, level edges... but I don't understand how the flaw is being illustrated here.

The measurement should be level, not tilted to one side.

[VakarLajos 5]

When I see them done that badly I like to first ask where they were sharpened last(knowing 99% it can't be our shop. I'll leave the 1% out there) to find out who is doing work like this and then, like Chadd said, show them what they are handing me and then show them finished product. Also, when I get skates like that sorry, but its over to the cross grinder first. On a busy week-end I don't have time to waste by not cross grinding and starting fresh. It's ok to disagree but understand I literally have to get back to square one to get them level again. No point in making the mess harder for myself. Finally, I always wonder, just how the hell did you manage to skate on that sharpening anyway? What took the guy, not epstud, but the guy in my shop with the crappy sharpening, so long to get them corrected.

It is mind boggling to me after sharpening for 30 years that anyone could hand over skates like in that picture.

The amount of steel used up by cross-grinding is forgiven by the customer whose skates you just brought back from the dead. lol

[AHF 1]

Can anyone explain to a newb like me what it is I'm looking at in that picture and why it is awful? I understand that skates are to have two, parallel, level edges... but I don't understand how the flaw is being illustrated here.

When done properly, the device will look like this :

[AHF 1]

When I see them done that badly I like to first ask where they were sharpened last(knowing 99% it can't be our shop. I'll leave the 1% out there) to find out who is doing work like this

I'm the same way with butcher jobs like that. While there's very small chance that the brutal was sharpening was done at our shop, I feel confident enough in our work to inquire about their previous sharpening. I'll usually ask them if they had any issues with the skates recently...with the usual answer being 'yeah, I don't know what it was, I couldn't skate out there!'. I'll then ask where they got 'em done, and it's always the same answers: Canadian Tire and SportChek.

Explaining to the customer exactly what the problem was, and telling him what you did to rectify the problem is a good idea. Showing that you know a thing or two about skate sharpening goes a long way.