t'Blades

[dangle7 0]

i've been using my t-blades for two seasons now and i like them alot. i notice the difference alot in terms of the way they feel on the ice. when you're not on edge you can coast alot further, and slide more easily than a conventional blade. but when you are on edge they are much more responsive than a regular blade. they are pretty durable too. i broke my first one last night after an akward fall into the boards, smaking my blades against it. i'm not saying that i don't like regular blades, but t-blades feel a little nicer, if you're the kinda player who enjoys that type of feeling. if you're a grinder you may not like them as much.

[Reijo29 0]

Keith,

You say they are too flexible? Do you wiegh over 3oo lbs? If so, maybe I understand. But, we have some strong, 225 lbs midgets wearing them who are hard, grinding, beat the crap out of equipment kind of players, and they never once described them being flexible. I know that technically, all holders flex somewhat and to different degree's but, it is almost undetectable by like 99% of the humans to ever wear skates. Heck, even the roller chassis with the extruded aluminum or magnesium bend and flex but to degree's you would never feel. Some actually factor in the degree of flex in the design. Now the cheapo cheapo stuff I am sure bends to recognizable levels but T-Blades???? I am 6 foot and about 190. Not big but surely I should be noticing something if they were flexible to others. To me, they are as solid as anything. Yes, shots can and do chip the paint off the holder thingy and can even crack...but that never affected the performance or feel to me or anyone I know.

Anyway, I'd love to hear about how and where you notice the flex. I am not trying to doubt you but after using these for a few years and speaking to tons of users and friends from big to small, I've never heard one time that they were flexible. I've only heard that from a couple people here who I think just prefer regular blades. If you don't like them, fine. Everyone prefers different things. I just get the feeling that sometimes people make mention of something on Bulletin Boards and then slam, everyone says that they agree or feel the same thing or Wow, that happened to me. Just wondering?!?!?!?

[Chadd 916]

I could feel them flex just by shifting my weight, hard cornering made it pretty uncomfortable to me.

[Keith 0]

I am 217 w/o gear. I definitely felt those holders flex in turns and crossovers. I even had a runner snap on me once in the heel area. It completely freaked me out. I was on 288s. They are definitely more flexible than conventional setups. The 300 length t-blades prove this. They are considerably more beefed up than any other length.

[black296tuuk 3]

all my sharpenings ive ever had have been sub par...

In what way? Was it the wrong hollow, was it bad edges, bad finish? The reason I ask is that there is a difference between a normal sharpening and a sharpening that would force you to change holders. What would you consider par?

[jimmy 194]

all my sharpenings ive ever had have been sub par...

In what way? Was it the wrong hollow, was it bad edges, bad finish? The reason I ask is that there is a difference between a normal sharpening and a sharpening that would force you to change holders. What would you consider par?

Unfortunately, many have never had a "good" or correct sharpening. Hence, when they slap on a t-blade it feels good, and better than what they are use to. Same as folks who come to my shop first time, when they come back they say "wow", my skates have never felt so good. As they saying goes, you never know what you are missing until you try it.

[Sniper407 0]

they turn out to have an edge missing or it just doesnt feel right to me on the ice... i cant describe it exactly but they just felt weird to me. then i went out of my way (an hour) to go to a place that i heard did amazing sharpenings... and for about two months id drive twice a week to get that sharpening.. i bought my G5s from them and they recommended T'Blades because i drove so far every week and the owner loved them and now i do too... i still buy my t'blades from there cause i feel like i should support a good business.

[Reijo29 0]

Alright...I guess I have to take your word on it. It is just hard to believe that of the 24 people I personally know who use TBlades, not one has complained about Flex and no one has ever broken a blade. Not once. Several of the guys are on 280's and 288's. The most popular is 272. Mine are 272 and absolutely no flex at all. A few cracks in the screw mechanism but never affected performance. I know we are all just sharing our opinions so no one would mislead. Maybe in the Midwest we are just lucky. As the saying goes, only way to get Tblades away from me is by peeling back my cold, dead fingers. But if I ever move to JR's town, I might try a traditional blade with his sharpening. Until then, make mine Tblades.

Peace

[troybruins89 0]

what are the blades of t'blades made out of that makes them last longer

[black296tuuk 3]

Smoke and mirrors and/or "liquid hot magma"

It is allegedly harder steel that hold an edge longer.

The strange thing I have seen is that everyone that tries them no matter how much they rave about them. They always come back to the real thing. Even in the NHL.

[SnakeEyes29 0]

Black29,

A few years and counting for me on the Tblades and I'm standng strong. Not even thinking about changing except to new G35's with Tblades or actually, I have a pair of Mission Helium's coming that I think I will put TBlades on. Not sure how it will look but I will try it!

Don't know of any TBlade defectors in these here parts. Again, there must be something in our water or we are real dumb....probably the latter :)

Later

[jimmy 194]

All I can say is every one of my customers who had them, converted back to regular.

You would not believe how many folks buy these things and don't know that they can't be sharpened. That's not really advertised or made obvious. I've had a couple of customers who actually brought me the skates to sharpen! Boy were they pissed.

[mik3 1]

Everyone I know who has used them, has gone back to regular. It probably has a part to do with the fact it's very easy to get a good sharpening around here.

[Sniper407 0]

blacktuuk:

the steel on the bottom of the t-blade is hollow.... its basicly a box of steel.. not a cube so it has alot less mass than it seems too. which is strange because youd think it wouldnt be as strong... but for me its proved to be very strong...

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as for the NHL... if you go to germany (where they were invented) entire teams wear them.. and in europe in general they are a big hit from what ive heard. the reason they havent caught on here as much IMO is that people are scared to use anything the NHLers arent using... i have no idea if NHLers have tried them and disliked them or what the deal is so i cant really comment on that with facts... but everyone i know that has them LOVES them. i still believe its personal preference... basicly if the glove fits wear it... no hockey pun intended. and this goes to everyone (blacktuuk only the first part was in respose to you directly about the steel)

"dont hate the t if you aint tried it" - my teamate

note: when i say NHLers its all theoretical ;)

[JR Boucicaut 3805]

blacktuuk:

the steel on the bottom of the t-blade is hollow.... its basicly a box of steel.. not a cube so it has alot less mass than it seems too. which is strange because youd think it wouldnt be as strong... but for me its proved to be very strong...

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as for the NHL... if you go to germany (where they were invented) entire teams wear them.. and in europe in general they are a big hit from what ive heard. the reason they havent caught on here as much IMO is that people are scared to use anything the NHLers arent using... i have no idea if NHLers have tried them and disliked them or what the deal is so i cant really comment on that with facts... but everyone i know that has them LOVES them. i still believe its personal preference... basicly if the glove fits wear it... no hockey pun intended. and this goes to everyone (blacktuuk only the first part was in respose to you directly about the steel)

"dont hate the t if you aint tried it" - my teamate

note: when i say NHLers its all theoretical ;)

Like I said, I've used them. They ain't all that.

I have done about 15 swaps to date. Every one of them went back to conventional holders, either by putting them back on or going to a new skates.

[Sniper407 0]

im fine with people who have tried them and dont like them.. im just getting skick of all the people that havent tried them and knock them all the time.

for me i like them because i cant get good sharpenings... im not saying they're sent to us by god or anything... im just saying you like em or you dont and thats absolutely fine, but as i stated above im getting tired of people who have not tried them thinking they know what theyre like. if youve tried them and not liked em i value your opinion cause its just that.. but i dont see how people can form an opinion without trying them. im just tryin to stick up for us t'blade users :(

[JR Boucicaut 3805]

Like I've said too, it is a good alternative to bad sharpenings. But a good sharpening will win out every time.

[Sniper407 0]

i totally agree

a good sharpening is an hour trip for me and $7.50

so $7.50 for the sharpening plus gas money twice a week adds up to more than a pair of blades.

if i didnt have this problem i porbably never woulda tried t'blades..

[delpiero27 0]

ummm by the way. ther's someone that switched to the t-blades with graf 705 techlite? just to know. my brother is thinking that, so...  :o

personally i have'nt used t-blades, i still have my razor bladzII on my z-air. does anyone changed even them? 

thk. :P

My 705 teclites came with t'blades right out of the box. As I don't have a half-decent sharpener in my area, I am fully satisfied with the t'blades.

thanks! but did u ordered them with t-blades or not? here the only graf's that came out with t-blades are G35. the others have the standard cobra 3000...

[Eazy_b97 1]

Alot of Graf dealers will happily make the switch to t'blades if you ask them. My LHS did it for me for free a while back (they kept the Cobra's) another would do it for $20 on any skate, if they got to keep the old Holders.

Sniper407 - I'm not sure about the NHL, but know alot of Major junior teams were able to try them out (maybe all, since the reps have a "demo" session with them) and most didn't like them. There was also a fear of breakage, which I don't really see being an issue, but thats there reason.

And I've gone back to conventional holders only since I started sharpening my own skates, and I can see why so many people wear T'blades after watching people who lived by Hamiltons LHS's come in night after night with terrible skates. It's incredible what a good sharpening will do for you, our store with bad location (terrible actually) and bad selection is starting to get very busy.

[Chadd 916]

as for the NHL... if you go to germany (where they were invented) entire teams wear them

Actually I was told that they were invented by a canadian and a Graf engineer stole the design and set up the company in Germany. I was able to find evidence of a lawsuit but not the final determination in the case.

[Sniper407 0]

woah thats really interesting... it shows how hockey equipment has turned into an arms race...

[tblade_Germany 0]

as for the NHL... if you go to germany (where they were invented) entire teams wear them

Actually I was told that they were invented by a canadian and a Graf engineer stole the design and set up the company in Germany. I was able to find evidence of a lawsuit but not the final determination in the case.

Just an attempt to set a few things straight:

- the inventor is a German engineer whose sons were playing hockey, and who got tired of poor sharpening around his hometown, and therfore experimented on the replaceable skate blade concept

- he developed the concept, the technology, the design, the brand and the current blade with a local network of German industrial partners

- he is now the head of R&D of t-blade GmbH, the German company who holds all IP (patents, trademarks, design rights etc)

- t-blade GmbH has formed a joint venture with Graf Canada and CCM/The Hockey Company: t-blade Inc is distributing the product in North America

PS A friend told me about ModSquadHockey - it´s great. I hope I can contribute some basic info to the sometimes heated debate about t-blade ...

[Chadd 916]

Just an attempt to set a few things straight:

- the inventor is a German engineer whose sons were playing hockey, and who got tired of poor sharpening around his hometown, and therfore experimented on the replaceable skate blade concept

- he developed the concept, the technology, the design, the brand and the current blade with a local network of German industrial partners

- he is now the head of R&D of t-blade GmbH, the German company who holds all IP (patents, trademarks, design rights etc)

- t-blade GmbH has formed a joint venture with Graf Canada and CCM/The Hockey Company: t-blade Inc is distributing the product in North America

PS A friend told me abot ModSquadHockey - it´s great. I hope I can contribute some basic info to the sometimes heated debate about t-blade ...

So the reports of a lawsuit are not correct?

[tblade_Germany 0]

what are the blades of t'blades made out of that makes them last longer

the bottom part of the t-blade replacement runner consists of highly compressed, cold welled, special stainless steel. Its Rockwell hardness is above Rc 53 (at 0.1 mm away from the edge). And it is consistently so after every runner replacement.

In contrast to that, for a conventional steel blade, the initial Rockwell hardness may be comparable, but it can decrease over time, because the heat deposition during conventional sharpening changes the structure of the steel and makes it softer. Worst case is a "burnt", discolored blade.

So: the harder the edge, the less wear (abrasion), the longer the edge lasts

But like with all blades, goal post impact, walking outside the rink, etc can significantly reduce the edge´s lifetime.

We have observed that some kids love overly aggressive edges (9mm hollow), which can reduce the lifetime if the hollow is too deep to form a water film, because the edges are the only point of contact, and wear down quickly. If you want more bite, rather go to a short rocker ("S") instead of a deeper hollow.