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marka

Wissota's speed skate?

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Howdy,

I sent them email the other day:
 

Quote

Howdy,

I saw the new Speed Skate tool on your website.  A couple questions:

* Will this function as a deburring tool?
* Does the polishing/buffing material wear out?  If so, is it replaceable and what sort of life expectancy is there?

Thanks!



Here's their response:
 

Quote

Hi Mark, to answer your questions:

- It will not de-burr since it is only buffing the bottom of the blade.  A hand honing stone would still be used to de-burr.

- As the diamond coated rubber abrasive wears, new abrasive material is exposed so it will last for a long time.  We have had one unit buff over 1000 skates and still working well. Once the abrasive material completely wears out there is no easy way to replace it so a new unit would need to be purchased, but they will last a very long time.

Thanks!


I'm likely going to try it out with my Sparx.  A final buffing / honing step like this seems to make sense to me.


Mark

Edited by marka

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I own a Wissota 911 sharpener, and have found the folks at Wissota to be straight forward, honest, and helpful. If they say they have great results and experience with this new product, I'D tend to believe them.

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Looks like a plastic piece with abrasive cord glued in the groove. This should be safe for any kind of steel. It definitely can increase the glide, but not sure by how much. 

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Howdy,

I ordered one.  I'll post up what I think after I get a chance to play with it.

I don't get the dime thing?

Mark

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Howdy,

2 hours ago, clarkiestooth said:

Use promo code EXPO18 and get a free edge checker and hat.

I ordered through the FB Hockey Deals and Discounts group buy ($30 instead of $45), so that wasn't available, but that sounds like a great deal as well!

If anyone else is interested in that group, its https://www.facebook.com/groups/183079712265223/  No affiliation, but they seem to have good deals at times.  I like it mostly because I occasionally see new stuff like this I didn't know about.

Mark

Edited by marka
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On 2018-03-25 at 4:32 AM, clarkiestooth said:

Use promo code EXPO18 and get a free edge checker and hat.

Got this message:

  • Sorry, this coupon is not applicable to your cart contents.

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Howdy,

I've had mine for a couple weeks now.  I use it after a fresh sharpening on my Sparx.

There's a definite visual difference before and after use.  I do short back and forth strokes, moving up and down the blade, then finish with 20 to 40 strokes the full length of the skate.  Afterwards, there's more shine / the hollow is more polished than what it is straight out of the sharpener.

I've not done a back to back test of pre and post polished blades on the ice.  I would say that I thought there was a touch more glide than I was expecting when I first started using the Speed Skate polisher as compared to "normal", but it wasn't a huge difference to me and it was 100% not blind, so maybe it was all in my head.

I've only used it on one other person's stakes and she liked it, but she's 9 years old or something and impressionable, so also not scientific.

I've continued to use it, solely based on the visual / more polished appearance.  In general, I'm pretty happy with it and like it as a finishing step, but I'm unable to quantify if or how much improvement there is.

Mark

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Howdy,

2 hours ago, 215BroadStBullies610 said:

@Marka

Have you used the Speed Stick? Wonder if the Wissota Speed Skate is better/worse.

I don't think I have... Certainly I'm not familiar with what the Speed Stick is.

This is one of the google results... Is this what you're taking about?

https://www.amazon.com/Smarthockey-Speed-Re-Edger-Sharpener-degree/dp/B079VHG3KR

If it is... That's an entirely different product and is nothing at all like the Wissota Speed Skate.

Mark

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Howdy,

2 hours ago, 215BroadStBullies610 said:

Sorry: I meant Sweet Stick. 

https://sweet-stick.com/

Ok.  Yeah, that's similar to what I found via google.

I haven't used a Sweet Stick, but they're completely different products.  The sweet stick looks to basically be like a knife hone / sharpener, where the goal is to get back an edge that has dulled/rolled.  It works only on the edge itself, not on the steel surface in the hollow.  Wissota's Speed Skate is the opposite of that... It doesn't touch the outside of the blade at all.  Instead, it has a (fine) abrasive that, with some elbow grease, polishes the steel surface inside the hollow on the skate.

I would assume people use the Sweet Stick to keep their edges sharper longer.  You'd use the Speed Skate to reduce friction between the blade and the ice, without affecting the sharpness of your edge one way or the other.  How much it reduces friction will depend on how "un-polished" the hollow was in the first place.

Hope that helps!

Mark

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19 hours ago, marka said:

Howdy,

Ok.  Yeah, that's similar to what I found via google.

I haven't used a Sweet Stick, but they're completely different products.  The sweet stick looks to basically be like a knife hone / sharpener, where the goal is to get back an edge that has dulled/rolled.  It works only on the edge itself, not on the steel surface in the hollow.  Wissota's Speed Skate is the opposite of that... It doesn't touch the outside of the blade at all.  Instead, it has a (fine) abrasive that, with some elbow grease, polishes the steel surface inside the hollow on the skate.

I would assume people use the Sweet Stick to keep their edges sharper longer.  You'd use the Speed Skate to reduce friction between the blade and the ice, without affecting the sharpness of your edge one way or the other.  How much it reduces friction will depend on how "un-polished" the hollow was in the first place.

Hope that helps!

Mark

Thanks for the explanation!

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Thanks for the update Mark. I spoke to a gentlemen at Wissota and he said it should definitely help after a sparx sharpening, which I use, more so than a experienced pro at an LHS.

Once mine arrives I’ll post an update as well. I have spare runners with the edge holders so I’ll try a back to back swap at the rink.

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So I got a back to back skate in with runners that received passes with the wissota speed stake and runners that didn't.

Both runners were step blacksteels with a 5/8" Fire cut on my sparx.

Results: I did notice a fairly minimal increase in glide. I tried to replicate the same push on both sets of runners, tried one footed glides, ect. The bottom finish of the sparx cut did look slightly more polished after passes with the speed skate.

Note that I'm utilizing multiple items that are supposed to increase glide such as the blacksteels and the flat bottom fire cut. The speed stick will most likely be more effective or a more significant difference may be felt on non dlc coated / polished steel and non flat bottom.

Conclusion: For a guy that is always trying to find that extra edge, $45+shipping for the long term use of this device is worth it to me.

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Another update, I took a pic side by side of my left and right runner after sharpening with my sparx. Left is runner had 35 passes with intermittently running the speed skate under the faucet. Right side left alone after sharpening.

In person, you can see that the runner which had passes with the speed skate has a shinier polished finish.

 

J7Tcvai.jpg

 

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