Sparx Skate Sharpener - At home sharpener

[218hockey 50]

25 minutes ago, IPv6Freely said:

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

Great for you. Maybe that's the only steel in the world that doesn't burr. Everything I've taken out of the Sparx machine has needed a lot more than a towel or piece of leather.

 

 

[VegasHockey 1280]

4 minutes ago, 218hockey said:

Great for you. Maybe that's the only steel in the world that doesn't burr. Everything I've taken out of the Sparx machine has needed a lot more than a towel or piece of leather.

 

 

I wonder if its a specific hollow or type of ring that causes the steel to burr more than others. 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

18 minutes ago, Leif said:

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. 

I do 2 or 4 passes before every game. Quite excessive obviously, but being a goalie I have a lot of nicks from the posts I have to try to get out. 

7 minutes ago, 218hockey said:

Great for you. Maybe that's the only steel in the world that doesn't burr. Everything I've taken out of the Sparx machine has needed a lot more than a towel or piece of leather.

It IS great for me, now that you mention it! 

1 minute ago, Nicholas G said:

I wonder if its a specific hollow or type of ring that causes the steel to burr more than others. 

Wouldn't surprise me. That would be an interesting thing to document. Mine are 3/8 and like I said, on Step black steel. 

[218hockey 50]

I think we only have three rings. I use the 1/2" Fire. I'll try the other two (1/2" and 5/8" roh) soon.

 

 

[Leif 161]

I have Bauer LS5 which is a black steel. I’ve just done one pass, with a 7/16” wheel, and the burrs were very fine, and easily brushed off with a finger. Proper black steel has very hard edges, which probably create fine burrs as the black coating is brittle. I might try one pass per two hours. I marked the edges with a sharpie before the cut, and all of the ink was removed. 

Edited February 25, 2019 by Leif

[stick9 890]

2 hours ago, Leif said:

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. 

 I do 2, sometimes 3 passes at the end of the week, skating 3 days a week, 5-6 hours total. My edges are still fairly good at the end of the week so I rarely need to do that third pass. Ring life has been really good so far. I suspect I'll get somewhere close to a year from a single ring. 

I had skated on the Sparx product before buying the machine so I was fairly confident in the results. The area that made me nervous, was me, the operator. I always say the machines biggest drawback is the sack of meat operating it. 

Edited February 25, 2019 by stick9

[218hockey 50]

1 hour ago, Leif said:

I have Bauer LS5 which is a black steel. I’ve just done one pass, with a 7/16” wheel, and the burrs were very fine, and easily brushed off with a finger. Proper black steel has very hard edges, which probably create fine burrs as the black coating is brittle. I might try one pass per two hours. I marked the edges with a sharpie before the cut, and all of the ink was removed. 

That's quite a different scenario. One pass? That isn't going to do much for someone that plays hockey and really bangs up their skates. My skater is usually playing three games a week plus on the ice another five hours of practice or outside time. The machine is at my buddy's place so I go over there about once a week and do four passes minimum. Sometimes our edge is still good after the week but there are bad spots from other skates or goalposts, etc.

Edited February 25, 2019 by 218hockey

[218hockey 50]

On 2/22/2019 at 6:51 AM, colins said:

 

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

colins

So this works good? Doesn't seem like it would be big enough.

 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1365553-REG/pelican_1510_case_with_foam.html

[Sticktape 8]

9 minutes ago, 218hockey said:

So this works good? Doesn't seem like it would be big enough.

 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1365553-REG/pelican_1510_case_with_foam.html

I did a quick measure of my case from Sparx and it's outside measurements are 32in by 21in by 12 in high. I looked at alternate ways of doing the case and felt the one from Sparx was comparable in price to anything I could do of similar quality on my own. Plus I didn't want to mess around trying to get the foam to fit properly. I must say that the quality of the case and the way the foam fits is very good.   

[218hockey 50]

Ya, that Pelican 1510 is only 22.0 x 13.8 x 9.0" / 55.9 x 35.1 x 22.9 cm

 

So not even close.

[Leif 161]

2 hours ago, 218hockey said:

That's quite a different scenario. One pass? That isn't going to do much for someone that plays hockey and really bangs up their skates. My skater is usually playing three games a week plus on the ice another five hours of practice or outside time. The machine is at my buddy's place so I go over there about once a week and do four passes minimum. Sometimes our edge is still good after the week but there are bad spots from other skates or goalposts, etc.

I agree, I was giving an example that showed that different blades burr differently. And I happened to do one pass today. Black steel has brittle edges due to high carbon content. Four passes doesn’t create huge burring on my blades. Of course if the edges are dinged, you’ll need four or more passes. Luckily mine weren’t. 

As an aside, a sharpener I know deburrs by pulling blades across a piece of soft wood. I tried that and it removed a bit of the sharpness or bite, definitely not something I will try again. 

[colins 246]

50 minutes ago, 218hockey said:

So this works good? Doesn't seem like it would be big enough.

 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1365553-REG/pelican_1510_case_with_foam.html

 

Sorry, my mistake - the case you need is the Pelican 1650. I didn't lookup the model number that the previous poster quoted, but I just double checked mine and it's a 1650. I had previously seen this confirmed as the exact model Sparx sells, but theirs has the custom foam inserts so you don't have to make your own.

 

colins

Edited February 25, 2019 by colins

[Leif 161]

19 minutes ago, 218hockey said:

Ya, that Pelican 1510 is only 22.0 x 13.8 x 9.0" / 55.9 x 35.1 x 22.9 cm

 

So not even close.

I think the Sparx case is a Pelican 1650 with custom foam. They look identical. 

[Leif 161]

Beaten to the post! 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Man those are $280-ish. I think for the price difference I’d just go with the Sparx case. Not even so much for the machine, but so the accessories fit perfectly too. 

[218hockey 50]

57 minutes ago, IPv6Freely said:

Man those are $280-ish. I think for the price difference I’d just go with the Sparx case. Not even so much for the machine, but so the accessories fit perfectly too. 

I see $289 with Pelican foam, $244 without. Thought I'd stumbled across quite the deal when I saw the 1510 for $150!

[IPv6Freely 2092]

3 hours ago, 218hockey said:

I see $289 with Pelican foam, $244 without. Thought I'd stumbled across quite the deal when I saw the 1510 for $150!

Heh yep. Makes the “really expensive” travel case actually look like not that bad of a price.

[Leif 161]

The U.K./European price is £572. I can get a 1650 for ~£200 without foam, Peli foam is ~£60. 

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

17 hours ago, Bbddll said:

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

 

17 hours 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.

That's how the home machines should be used.  A refresh before every time you skate.

[Bbddll 2]

55 minutes ago, JR Boucicaut said:

 

That's how the home machines should be used.  A refresh before every time you skate.

Agreed. It works for me. 

[DarkStar50 679]

17 hours ago, JR Boucicaut said:

 

That's how the home machines should be used.  A refresh before every time you skate.

In other words, the home machine is only worth a single skating use per sharpening ?

Constantly sharpening your skates after single use would seem to directly effect the longevity/life of your steel ?

Expense of using your ring constantly leading to quicker replacement ?

[Stewie 721]

16 minutes ago, DarkStar50 said:

In other words, the home machine is only worth a single skating use per sharpening ?

Constantly sharpening your skates after single use would seem to directly effect the longevity/life of your steel ?

Expense of using your ring constantly leading to quicker replacement ?

Difference between a refresh and a full grind. We’ve already been over this 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

1 hour ago, DarkStar50 said:

In other words, the home machine is only worth a single skating use per sharpening ?

Constantly sharpening your skates after single use would seem to directly effect the longevity/life of your steel ?

Expense of using your ring constantly leading to quicker replacement ?

Huh?

[Leif 161]

2 hours ago, DarkStar50 said:

In other words, the home machine is only worth a single skating use per sharpening ?

Constantly sharpening your skates after single use would seem to directly effect the longevity/life of your steel ?

Expense of using your ring constantly leading to quicker replacement ?

A full sharpen is four passes each way. A refresh is one pass each way. An owner can of course do as normal, one full pass every 10-20 hours, if they prefer. But why? 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

3 minutes ago, Leif said:

A full sharpen is four passes each way. A refresh is one pass each way. An owner can of course do as normal, one full pass every 10-20 hours, if they prefer. But why? 

Indeed. I'd much rather have complete consistency.