Magical sharpening or improved skating ability?

[Lee-Bro 1]

A little background: 42 years old, 6ft 210+ lbs, been skating on roller skate quads since January 2009 (roller derby referee) -started ice skating November 2010, started ice hockey in January 2011.

Ok, all that being said during my first 6-8 months I was just getting accustomed to my skates and learning the mechanics of everything but it seemed I needed a sharpening every 8-10 skates (about 5 weeks). I didn't know what hollow worked best but I went w/ the "house standard" of 9/16. Towards the early-middle of 2011 I tried 1/2 a few months and then went to 7/16.

At the beginning of the year I got the skates sharpened (7/16) and I don't feel the need to get them redone though I've done a couple dozen games and equal number of shinny since then. I don't find myself losing an edge like I did a year ago or other issues usually associated w/ dull edges.

I've had the same guy do the 7/16 since I started using it. I doubt he's done anything different in the previous 3 or so times he did them, but it seems like this sharpening is lasting longer. I know my skating skills are getting better, so I guess I'm wondering if my perception of my skates limits and my abilities has changed that much and I really didn't need to sharpen as frequently?

Thoughts?

[Chadd 916]

For me it's usually luck of the draw. Sometimes I step on a blade or kick the boards when fighting for a puck. in the corner, otherwise my edges tend to last a long time. I usually end up sharpening them before I lose my edges as I like to have the same feel every time I get on the ice and it isn't a large adjustment to go from dull to sharp.

[jimmy 194]

How long edges last is a mysterious thing. Could be a new maintenece man at the rink is actually cleaning the sand and rocks out of the rubber mats. :-) But as a guide, as long as you have the same amount of performance (stability and stopping and turning crispness) as you do with a fresh sharpening, then no reason to sharpen then. I find that as edges dull, skaters will adjust their game to compensate, for example they don't go full speed towards the boards or make a hard fast leaning turn. Edges lose about 25% for each hour of skating. I'll bet if you go have them sharpened, you'll be skating better and love the feel.

[goodguy 7]

After that many games, you probably need them sharpened IMO.

Ours get done every 10 hours or so of skating as you can tell the difference is a polished/sharp blade and one that needs sharpening.

Had a very "deep" sharpening once (guy make the hollow too deep) and true they stayed sharp for a long time -BUT- they were all wrong for skating skill.

If your hollow is too deep, it will give you the illusion of staying sharp but you will not get much glide on the skate and you will be learning to compensate for incorrectly sharpened skates.

The better you get the less hollow you typically need.

It is only $5 bucks or so for a sharpening so why not get them done more often. As long as your shop knows what they are doing and does not try to grind down your blade profile. Most important is to go to a very good sharpener.