Hollow for big guy in california?

[skyscrape 5]

I'm a big guy. 6'7 300 lbs. I have can move well on the ice, but our home rink is very soft. Most of the times my first step feels completely wasted. As in I push and don't get maximum power to the ice. I am currently skatin on 9/16ths and when I skate on hard ice this hollow feels pretty good but in hard full speed turns will come close to washing out. I have read a lot of the info on here about hollow and bad ice, but I feel like if I go to a shallower hollow that I will get even less power down. Or is the issue that i have too much bite and that is causing me to shave right through the soft ice? Can anybody explain this to me?

[interpathway 9]

For the record, I saw the thread title and said to myself, "These are the type of questions JR loves to answer". Moving on,

Safe bet your chewing through the ice. Soft ice in warm climate, 300lbs, with the same ROH I used at 150lbs in Washington, DC, generally hard(ish) ice? Seems crazy. How about a large radius? 1 inch? Someone can offer agreement or a similarly larger cut. I have great edge control when I use 9/16ths, but I believe it's far more bite than you need. Do you feel your legs excessively tired after shifts?, using too much muscle fighting the bite rather than utilizing the glide, perhaps.

[jimmy 194]

Something is not right. At 300lbs, a 9/16 shouldn't "wash out". In fact at your weight a 9/16 would probably feel too sharp on hard ice and extremely sharp on soft ice. If anything you should be on a shallower hollow, or FBV. First make sure 9/16 is what you are getting, and that it's done correctly and the edges are level. Test it on a fresh a sharpening, not on say a 3rd or 4th skate where you may be blaming the hollow but it just could be dull blades. Then, try a 5/8 and see if symptom improved or got worse. Better yet, see if you can get a FBV90/75.

[Tondog 12]

Hey Skyscrape...I'm the same size almost exactly and recently ran some experiments on our summer ice which has had puddles on it in the worst of the heat. I started with a pretty mild FBV sharpening and the contour that works for me and was noticing that the glide was still "decent" and I've never really had any problem with the edges holding me hard to the surface...or even allowing me to do that sideways slide trick that seems to work only on FBV sharpenings. I've used the FBV sharpening since probably January and am just used to it now.

My LHS isn't yet set up to support FBV sharpening and he's not convinced that it's not just a fad yet so we tested it. I started off with a 1/2" hollow which felt terribly sharp on that soft ice but is what I've used in the winter in the past. We then tried a 5/8" and finally a 7/8" hollow which I feel most closely approximates my FBV sharpenings. I'm stuck on the 7/8" for now and it will allow me to pull more "G's" on the ice than my knees will want to support. You might give 5/8" a whack to try it out. Much more than that you'll lose a ton of glide on the sticky surface.

[skyscrape 5]

Something is not right. At 300lbs, a 9/16 shouldn't "wash out". In fact at your weight a 9/16 would probably feel too sharp on hard ice and extremely sharp on soft ice. If anything you should be on a shallower hollow, or FBV. First make sure 9/16 is what you are getting, and that it's done correctly and the edges are level. Test it on a fresh a sharpening, not on say a 3rd or 4th skate where you may be blaming the hollow but it just could be dull blades. Then, try a 5/8 and see if symptom improved or got worse. Better yet, see if you can get a FBV90/75.

I have used 90/75 and it has always been good. My problem is I have to ship to get it. Second problem is I have one set of Fusion steel on my skates and at the moment I do not have the money to buy two sets of matching step steel. On a fresh sharpening they feel good. When I say washing out I think I am using the wrong term. If I make a full speed hard turn I will put some serious grooves in the ice and towards the end of the turn I will start to wash out. I am at a pretty serious lean at this point.

My legs are not feeling fatigued at all at 9/16ths. My only real complaint is that when I push off it almost feels like Im pushing off on wet tile. More importantly the inconsistency in our ice conditions makes it tough. The ice we skate on gets chewed up something fierce and then they never really let it freeze after a cut. I will get them done with 3/4 and see if that changes things for the better.

I appreciate the help.

Hey Skyscrape...I'm the same size almost exactly and recently ran some experiments on our summer ice which has had puddles on it in the worst of the heat. I started with a pretty mild FBV sharpening and the contour that works for me and was noticing that the glide was still "decent" and I've never really had any problem with the edges holding me hard to the surface...or even allowing me to do that sideways slide trick that seems to work only on FBV sharpenings. I've used the FBV sharpening since probably January and am just used to it now.

My LHS isn't yet set up to support FBV sharpening and he's not convinced that it's not just a fad yet so we tested it. I started off with a 1/2" hollow which felt terribly sharp on that soft ice but is what I've used in the winter in the past. We then tried a 5/8" and finally a 7/8" hollow which I feel most closely approximates my FBV sharpenings. I'm stuck on the 7/8" for now and it will allow me to pull more "G's" on the ice than my knees will want to support. You might give 5/8" a whack to try it out. Much more than that you'll lose a ton of glide on the sticky surface.

Thanks. I think I will try 3/4ths and see how that goes. Seems to be the consensus that I need a shallower hollow.

[goaliemanshark 6]

250 pound guy here from n. California. I skate on 90/75. I have noticed that on some of the better harder rinks I have less bite. When I was in NJ for SJ I could have used a sharper hollow, the ice was much better than I'm used to. But 90/75 seems to be the best combination of bite vs. Glide on all ice conditions.

[Andoy 5]

My legs are not feeling fatigued at all at 9/16ths. My only real complaint is that when I push off it almost feels like Im pushing off on wet tile.

My gut recommendation would be to go to 5/8s since you're a big guy and skating on soft ice. But if it feels you're pushing off on wet tile then maybe it's because you're not getting enough bite? In that case I would actually advise go to deeper hollow...but you're a big guy so you should be digging in on the softer ice with your current hollow. Strange

[skyscrape 5]

My gut recommendation would be to go to 5/8s since you're a big guy and skating on soft ice. But if it feels you're pushing off on wet tile then maybe it's because you're not getting enough bite? In that case I would actually advise go to deeper hollow...but you're a big guy so you should be digging in on the softer ice with your current hollow. Strange

I have come to the conclusion that I am using too much and it is causing me to cut through the soft ice. So I will try 3/4ths and if it is worse I will work back to what is right.

[skyscrape 5]

Not sure what part of California you are located, but, being a larger guy (down 44 for 2011 as of this morning), I have skated on 1" since 2000. The ice here in SoCal is very soft and I found myself skating in place quite a bit.

Do you still have the problem of skating in place with 1 inch? Or did that fix the problem. I am in Sacramento.

[skyscrape 5]

Yes I am skating at roseville mainly. I will give 3/4ths a try today.

I go all over from San Jose to Tahoe for pick up though. SO WHen I get to a rink like fremont that has good hard ice it makes it tough to come back to Roseville and skate on the slush!

[skyscrape 5]

Situation resolved! It was like I had hollow dyslexia! I did find out that on hard ice I skate my best on 9/16ths. On soft ice I am at 3/4 at the moment and it is night and day better! Like you guys said no more skating in place! Faster, more explosive power, turns are better! I may go up next time to see if it gets better. A couple guys that are under 200lbs at the rink skate at 1 inch.

Thanks for the help. I was able ot skate a drop in tonight with only five on our side. Legs never wore out!