Sparx Skate Sharpener - At home sharpener

[Leif 161]

I’m rather surprised Sparx haven’t mentioned this given that I’ve been gnawing at their ankles over the last year, but the Sparx machines and accessories are now available in Europe from Monkey Sports in Sweden, about £1200 including shipping and VAT. The price is not unreasonable. Mine is in transit as I write. Last time I checked they still had stock. 

[colins 246]

23 hours ago, Leif said:

I’m rather surprised Sparx haven’t mentioned this given that I’ve been gnawing at their ankles over the last year, but the Sparx machines and accessories are now available in Europe from Monkey Sports in Sweden, about £1200 including shipping and VAT. The price is not unreasonable. Mine is in transit as I write. Last time I checked they still had stock. 

 

They did happen to announce it on Feb. 7th on their Facebook page. Glad to see them finally make it overseas. 

 

colins

[Leif 161]

1 hour ago, colins said:

 

They did happen to announce it on Feb. 7th on their Facebook page. Glad to see them finally make it overseas. 

 

colins

Ah, I guess you have to be up to date with modern communications methods then. I hate Fakebook, loathe it even though I have to use it for my hockey team and other hockey doo dahs. Fortunately I found their page:

https://m.facebook.com/GrupoSparx/

 

Edited February 19, 2019 by Leif

[Leif 161]

Mine arrived at work today, sent Monday evening from Sweden via Denmark, Germany and Belgium to England. What struck me is the sheer weight and size of the box. It’s very heavy. Back home it took me 30 minutes to unpack it, align the wheel, and sharpen my skates. A slight adjustment was needed, and my BAT gauge shows the edges are near perfect. I skated on them this evening, no complaints at all. They are good. I am impressed with the weight of the unit, and the quality feel. Yes it’s partly made out of plastic, but the quality is very high. Alignment is easy. Sharpening is very easy. I left it to take three cuts and prepared dinner. They appear to have ‘ripped off’the ProSharp unit, but in so doing they’ve made huge improvements to the ease of use. And massively reduced the price.

The official travel case is a Pelican 1510. Does anyone know if the foam in the packing box can be used in a stock 1510 case? 

[colins 246]

On 2/21/2019 at 8:56 PM, Leif said:

Mine arrived at work today, sent Monday evening from Sweden via Denmark, Germany and Belgium to England. What struck me is the sheer weight and size of the box. It’s very heavy. Back home it took me 30 minutes to unpack it, align the wheel, and sharpen my skates. A slight adjustment was needed, and my BAT gauge shows the edges are near perfect. I skated on them this evening, no complaints at all. They are good. I am impressed with the weight of the unit, and the quality feel. Yes it’s partly made out of plastic, but the quality is very high. Alignment is easy. Sharpening is very easy. I left it to take three cuts and prepared dinner. They appear to have ‘ripped off’the ProSharp unit, but in so doing they’ve made huge improvements to the ease of use. And massively reduced the price.

The official travel case is a Pelican 1510. Does anyone know if the foam in the packing box can be used in a stock 1510 case? 

 

I have a 1510 1650 for mine but I didn't try using the shipping foam. Pelican makes pick-and-pluck foam for the 1510 1650 and other models - making it very easy to customize a perfect fix for your Sparx.

colins

Edited February 25, 2019 by colins
Corrected for Pelican 1650

[Bbddll 2]

 I get different readings using the Sparx edge checker if I do it with the toe facing me versus doing it with the heel facing me. The edge check is spot on with the toe facing me, but with the heel facing me it’s off by two lines.  Could the edge checker be defective?  Anybody have any thoughts on this? 

[Sticktape 8]

1 hour ago, Bbddll said:

 I get different readings using the Sparx edge checker if I do it with the toe facing me versus doing it with the heel facing me. The edge check is spot on with the toe facing me, but with the heel facing me it’s off by two lines.  Could the edge checker be defective?  Anybody have any thoughts on this? 

What type of blades are you edge checking? I have had problems with different types of blades as the blade edges aren’t on a 90degree angle to the running surface.  My LS4 blades I check with the toe facing me, the Tydan blades I have to have the heel facing me. 

[Bbddll 2]

I have Step Steel in my skates. I emailed and got a response from Sparx. The Sprx reply was informative, but I was unable to confirm anything from their reply. I think I’m going to check the level at my skate shop and go from there. 

[Leif 161]

10 hours ago, Bbddll said:

 I get different readings using the Sparx edge checker if I do it with the toe facing me versus doing it with the heel facing me. The edge check is spot on with the toe facing me, but with the heel facing me it’s off by two lines.  Could the edge checker be defective?  Anybody have any thoughts on this? 

I had exactly the same issue with Step Steel. I don’t have problems with my new Bauer LS5. What you have is tapered blades, I don’t see how an edge checker could otherwise be out on one side. Step Steel gets rave reviews, but this suggests poor QC, and even though everyone says Step Black beats LS5, I might stick with LS5 when time to get new blades. I wonder if tapered blades would be sufficient cause to demand a refund or replacement? Pity as I prefer the less curved heel of Step. 

Edited February 24, 2019 by Leif

[Leif 161]

The first sharpen I did was accurate to about 1/1000” but not quite as accurate as my LHS. I threw in a couple more clicks of the adjustment knob today, and the edges are now absolutely perfect. When I bought new skates last year, I was shocked to see that the old blades were nearly flat, repeated hand sharpening had changed the profile, causing issues with my skating. The fact that Sparx preserves the profile is yet one more plus for this machine. It’s expensive for us Brits and Europeans though! 

As an aside, how do I hone black steel ie Bauer LS5? I know not to use a honing stone on the sides. 

[stick9 888]

Use the leather strop on coated or polished steel.

https://www.sparxhockey.com/products/sparx-honing-kit

Haven't tried one, but this looks really cool.

https://www.hockeylion.ca/collections/step-steel-hockey/products/step-blacksteel-clay-skate-stone

 

Edited February 24, 2019 by stick9

[marka 526]

Howdy,

8 hours ago, Bbddll said:

I have Step Steel in my skates. I emailed and got a response from Sparx. The Sprx reply was informative, but I was unable to confirm anything from their reply. I think I’m going to check the level at my skate shop and go from there. 

Yeah, you're going to have to see if other edge checkers also do this before you can know what's up.  Could be either the edge checker or a tapered runner.

Mark

[Leif 161]

51 minutes ago, marka said:

Howdy,

Yeah, you're going to have to see if other edge checkers also do this before you can know what's up.  Could be either the edge checker or a tapered runner.

Mark

There is an earlier post from Russ Layton CEO of Sparx in which he claims that the Sparx BAT gauges are each tested prior to shipping to ensure accuracy. I’m sure a LHS would allow a side by side check with their gauge if in doubt. 

[stick9 888]

The difference when when checking toe facing vs heel facing could be due to the steel not being completely flat. Most steel even the higher quality steel is stamped, so it can be bowed ever so slightly.

I see a slight difference in mine when I check both my Step and LS4. It's less than the thickness of the line so I don't bother.

Try reversing the steel in the machine and do a few passes. Maybe the alignment is off a tiny bit.

[shoot_the_goalie 281]

8 hours ago, stick9 said:

Haven't tried one, but this looks really cool.

https://www.hockeylion.ca/collections/step-steel-hockey/products/step-blacksteel-clay-skate-stone

  

Interesting.  But at $30CAD a pop, not sure it's worth it since blacksteel rarely burrs, and if it does, nothing a piece of leather can't fix....  Might be incredibly useful to those with SB Black and other coated/polished non-Step blades.

[VegasHockey 1280]

3 hours ago, shoot_the_goalie said:

Interesting.  But at $30CAD a pop, not sure it's worth it since blacksteel rarely burrs, and if it does, nothing a piece of leather can't fix....  Might be incredibly useful to those with SB Black and other coated/polished non-Step blades.

I used a gummi stone. Cheaper and likely works the same, or even better. Its also cheaper. 

[218hockey 50]

8 hours ago, shoot_the_goalie said:

since blacksteel rarely burrs, and if it does, nothing a piece of leather can't fix....  Might be incredibly useful to those with SB Black and other coated/polished non-Step blades.

Everything I've sharpened on the Sparx has really burred. Bauer LS3, Massive DLC, and Step-V. Not sure why but it all does.

[Leif 161]

On 2/24/2019 at 12:47 AM, Bbddll said:

 I get different readings using the Sparx edge checker if I do it with the toe facing me versus doing it with the heel facing me. The edge check is spot on with the toe facing me, but with the heel facing me it’s off by two lines.  Could the edge checker be defective?  Anybody have any thoughts on this? 

This might be of interest:

https://blogs.sparxhockey.com/uneven-edge-checker-reading

[marka 526]

Howdy,

7 hours ago, Leif said:

This might be of interest:

https://blogs.sparxhockey.com/uneven-edge-checker-reading

I'll add one to their causes...

You might have a grinding wheel who's center doesn't match the others.

My 5/8" ring needs 3 to 4 clicks to get the same edge heights as my other rings.  Not sure if its always been that way or if its a wear thing (the ring is in the last 3rd of its life).

Mark

[IPv6Freely 2092]

10 hours ago, 218hockey said:

Everything I've sharpened on the Sparx has really burred. Bauer LS3, Massive DLC, and Step-V. Not sure why but it all does.

My Step Blacksteel doesn’t burr at all. I just wipe with a towel and I’m done.

[Leif 161]

1 hour ago, marka said:

Howdy,

I'll add one to their causes...

You might have a grinding wheel who's center doesn't match the others.

My 5/8" ring needs 3 to 4 clicks to get the same edge heights as my other rings.  Not sure if its always been that way or if its a wear thing (the ring is in the last 3rd of its life).

Mark

I believe you’d get the same reading from your BAT gauge on both sides of the blade, but reversed of course, if the blade sides were parallel and flat. 

[Leif 161]

Out on the ice today at 8:15am for and hour and a half of hockey with newly sharpened skates, apprehensive at first, but straight away it felt good, as good a sharpening as I’ve ever had, and I love freshly sharpened blades. The BAT gauge showed zero error. I’ll try two passes every 6-7 hours on ice, and see how it goes. I wonder what other people do in terms of number of passes, and how often. I used to get them sharpened every 16 hours or so. 

[Swlabr11 69]

I do one pass every two hours of skating. It might be excessive but I'm happy with it. I play on average three times a week and one wheel lasted me just shy of a year.

[VegasHockey 1280]

1 minute ago, Swlabr11 said:

I do one pass every two hours of skating. It might be excessive but I'm happy with it. I play on average three times a week and one wheel lasted me just shy of a year.

This seems reasonable. 

[Bbddll 2]

I also do 1-2 passes each time I skate. I also wear my skateguards from locker room to bench.