Blades not even on Boots, should I be concerned?

[tvguy 5]

I just noticed the Tuuk holders on my son's new skates are mounted unevenly. They are centered, but on one foot the back of the holder is almost flush with the heel, the other one is mounted more forward on the boot by nearly an 1/8th of an inch. (Youth size 13.5 which makes the discrepancy seem like a lot) My son is a rep player and a very good skater but I have noticed some uncharacteristic stumbles and not sure if its the adjustment period or there might actually be a issue with the skate. He has only gone up half a size so I'm wondering if there is an issue. Any thoughts?

[Bbd94 26]

From what I've heard a lot of Bauer skates have this problem. Not because of poor quality, just outsourcing. Take them to a LHS to make sure the steel isn't bent or anything as well.

I thought I had this problem with my Vapors and it turned out I was just in the wrong size.

[tvguy 5]

Thanks for the reply. Steel is straight, that was the first thing I checked, then I noticed how the holders were mounted. Would love to hear anyone with profiling expertise. Can this help?

[Bbd94 26]

Can't help that much in that area but do know some things.

Is he on Vapors? Vapors have an aggressive boot and the steel has a forward pitch as well. Some people don't realize that. You can help offsetting that by profiling to a neutral pitch. Not a good idea to put a negative pitch on it.

Could change the radius to an 11. Vapors are usually stock 9.

Could also be what cut he's getting. Something to shallow can cause him to stumble, especially if he isn't getting much blade on the ice because of the forward pitch of the vapors. All preference

[Chadd 916]

Thanks for the reply. Steel is straight, that was the first thing I checked, then I noticed how the holders were mounted. Would love to hear anyone with profiling expertise. Can this help?

I don't think profiling is a good solution to the problem. The only way that would work is if the sharpener takes the differences in center of gravity into account when determining the appropriate profile for each skate. Unfortunately, quality control is not always very good on youth skates. If you are unable to re-mount the holders, I would return them for another pair.

[Bbd94 26]

Yeah just to clarify my response, that is IF AND ONLY IF the holders are aligned.

Don't compensate for misaligned holders by changing the cut of the blade. I would take them to a LHS though.

[tvguy 5]

Nothing has changed, same ROH as always. Same skate just half size bigger. As the poster above mentioned, I am also dissappointed in the quality of youth skates in general. It can't be that hard to mount blades evenly, really? uggh. I will try to get them re-mounted because there is no stock at the LHS. But before I start drilling holes etc .... is this out enough to really matter or will my son adjust? Every pair is going to have some differences in feel. At the end of the day we're talking about 3 or 4 millimeters. Should I let it ride for a while longer?

[Bbd94 26]

Absolutely not. If your LHS says they are mismounted get them fixed or replaced immediately. Especially at that age, they can learn to compensate for the misaligned holder but that's just asking for poor edge control and or other techniques later in life

[Davetronz 109]

I am also dissappointed in the quality of youth skates in general. It can't be that hard to mount blades evenly, really?

It's not just the youth skates. LOL. They ain't mountin' holders like they used to!

[jimmy 194]

Take them back where you bought them and get another pair. Do not accept remounting the holder as a solution. The quality comtrol at the orient manufacturing sucks. This problem is so common it's ridiculous. A kid came in the other day who broke a blade during a tournement. When I was putting in the new set, the left skate had a 272 holder and the right a 280. Kid didn't even know.

[flip12 699]

Take them back where you bought them and get another pair. Do not accept remounting the holder as a solution. The quality comtrol at the orient manufacturing sucks. This problem is so common it's ridiculous. A kid came in the other day who broke a blade during a tournement. When I was putting in the new set, the left skate had a 272 holder and the right a 280. Kid didn't even know.

WHAT?? How does that even happen? Crazy.

[B-Nads 0]

My First pair of 709's had the same issue - I brought them back to Rousseau's, and Graf replaced the ASAP.