Fusion Steel

[theberg16 0]

I was talking with a customer this morning, who happened to be a materials engineer, about skates. The Fusion steel came up in running through different skate models. I was explaining to him what Fusion steel was when he stopped me and said that would be a problem.

There is a Galvanic reation between stainless steel and aluminum.

Has anyone seen any issues with this in there Fusion steel? Has anyone heard of this or an argument of why this is NOT a problem.

[jimmy 194]

There are no problems due to Galvanic reation, none at all. The fusing is done well on these runners.

[danno25nh 3]

What's the electrolyte? Just putting the aluminum and stainless together won't cause appreciable reaction without an electrolyte. It would be further mitigated by the bonding agent.

[hockeymass 11]

The mere act of putting a piece of aluminum and a piece of steel next to each other isn't enough to cause galvanic corrosion. Like danno says, there needs to be an electrolyte. Tap water, like what is used to surface rinks, is an extremely weak electrolyte and won't cause significant galvanic corrosion, even if the aluminum and steel were directly touching each other (they aren't, they're bonded together with epoxy according to what I've read).

[Sofer 0]

ive had two pairs of fusion steel. my first pair broke. i feel like they dont keep their edges as well as other steel but they definatley are lighter. Also my firsat pair cracked towards the end of the season

[jimmy 194]

The advantage to the fusions is the lightness, that's a plus. The Chinese steel is not the best quality. The consequences of going with lighter runners can lead to breakage, although I haven't seen it in staggering numbers with the fusions. Stainless of any brand will break, but the lesser amount of steel allows the runner to flex which can accellerate breakage. This is why you see runners that have been sharpened many times and are lower, break quite easily.

[oldman 1]

When I questioned my sharpener about the fusion steel he immediately reached behind him and picked 4 to 6 broken fusion blades that he had on the shelf. While my son’s fusion steel didn't break he was constantly complaining about poor edges that disappeared as soon as we switched out to Step steel. He is much happier with conventional steel over the fusion steel and only sharpen at 50% the frequency.

[jsykes 35]

I havent seen a lot of fusion actually broken, but we see a ton of it bent and it bends quickly on new skates. I'm sure it has to do with the fact its less steel and therefore less rigid.

[MyBoxersSayJoe 134]

Been on it for about 10 months, on the ice 4-5 times a week. Haven't had a problem yet. I don't have to sharpen them any more frequently than my previous skates. Maybe because I'm a smaller, lighter player. But I'm loving it.

[jimmy 194]

When I questioned my sharpener about the fusion steel he immediately reached behind him and picked 4 to 6 broken fusion blades that he had on the shelf. While my son’s fusion steel didn't break he was constantly complaining about poor edges that disappeared as soon as we switched out to Step steel. He is much happier with conventional steel over the fusion steel and only sharpen at 50% the frequency.

I literally have a thousand broken blades here in the store. (I've been saving them to eventually take them to the metal recycler for cash) I'm not saying fusions don't break, just that it's really no more than other blades other they can break apart where the bolt head goes, I've seen that. I agree with you totaly on the poor edge retention. Step is much better and BlackEdge even better than that. So before I spend $130 for Fusions, I would consider the BE's as well.

[Tommyj214 3]

Odd, i thought my fusion steel held the edge real well, of course untill recently.

I got my skates back in Sept of '10 with the inital sharpening being a flat bottom v, skated about 40+ times, in a solid mens leauge + reffing, i got them sharpened again in November.

I moved out of the country and skated another 40+ times between november and june on an FBV and being with no ice for 5 months skated a few more times and finally got them sharpened again.

Thought that the fusion steel edges held awesome and i never had issues with my edges breaking/chipping untill.....

now have to get them sharpend with a regular hollow, at 1/2" and since it looks like little there are chips of steel missing and i have to get my skates sharpened after 4-5 hrs on the ice.

Guess i better check out step steel/black edge or mail them back to my friend to get the FBV back on em.... dont really want to go back to LS2's either cause i have had the same edge problems with those too.

EDIT: oH and no corrosion issues...

[jimmy 194]

FBV last longer than hollows so that could be part of the explanation.

[hollowicked 39]

Bumping an old thread but, was wondering if its time to give up on my fusion steel or not. I picked up a pair of nxg's 2 months ago and so far have had several problems with the steel. 1st issue was I took a shot to the skate and the steel bent, That was my 1st game in them. I figured that was a freak incident and still go with them after spending 850+ dollars on a pair of skates. The other issue I have is I just feel like the edges dont last long at all. I am 220 skating on 1/2" so not sure if that's playing a factor in the steel or not. Think its about time to pony up another hundred bux and go with some step velocity steel.

[Carson92 0]

The hockey team I work for went with step this year over the stock bauer steel and it held

up way better. I would think it would be a big improvement over fusion because bauer steel is a pretty low quality from china.

[hunterphfr 12]

One of my TotalOnes has a bent runner. I think I'm going to go with Step. Loved the steel in my Pitch3s. I've been using the Fusion steel since it came with my skates, Pitch was much better steel. I haven't personally skated on Step steel but my son who's 12 loves it. He's a very skilled/technical skater. He was skating on Step steel, we just got him a new pair of the same CCMs a size larger and he hates the stock steel. He's very frustrated between the steel and the quality of sharpening available in our area. Planning on going with No Icing Sports.

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

Not sure if another sharpeners have this issue but I find the Fusion sticks in the holder much easier than any other steel. Even if you clamp just the steel part.

Had an issue last year when a pair got stuck and went to hit the boot to get it out and missed, 4 stitches later and almost tore the tendon off my knuckle I highly recommend to any of my team to change runners.

[jere26 5]

Never had a problem with Fusion steel (3-4 times a week with 4-5 skates between each sharpening). Put them on X:60s and also on two pairs of Vapor APX, which of course came with it. Even got a replacement set for the first APX when the original steel wore down. But, they were always sharpened with shallow hollows, 5/8 or 3/4.

[hollowicked 39]

Went to local total hockey yesterday (Philadelphia) and got a set of step v steel to replace the fusion runners. Going to keep the fusions in my bag as a spair set. Hope the step live up to the hype, the taller runner does seems to have its benefits. I hope to be able to get on the ice tomorrow for a quick stick and puck to test them out.

[markush 12]

Is there a Chance that BlackEdge steel is allowed to provide their steel for the new Lightspeed Edge holder?