Quad 1 - gevorkya

[gevorkya 1]

Profile 4

Steel - StepSteel Black 272

Hollow - 1/2"

About Me - I started skating when I was about 18.  Skating turned into pick up hockey then on to beer league and has been that for over 20 years.  Started out on cheap skates, no profiling, just was glad they were mine and not rentals.  Went thru 2-3 upgrades still without knowing what profiling even meant.  Skating was improving, as one would hope.  Finally got a set of higher end skates that felt most comfortable so far, still with out of box steel and normal sharpening.  Shortly after happen to stumble into a skate shop that had a pro who kinda explained profiling and possibly gave me his sales pitch.  Decided to go ahead and give profiling a shot, he took down my height, weight, etc. and profiled my couple of month old skates.  The difference was super noticeable, I felt completely different on the ice and couldn't believe the difference or how and why it took for me so long to figure out profiling existed and what it could do for one.  About a year after that I came across t-blades, the reviews and opinions seemed positive, so I had the same pro switch me over to t-blades, which apparently had a very similar profile already on them out of the box with the option of the blade I was picking out.  Well all that was another phase of my skating life and learning about skates/steel.  December of 2014 I went back to normal holders/steel when I got new skates yet again.  Had the same guy profile them, still not knowing exactly what kind of profile he was 'putting' on them.  I also started coaching and started to focus and learn extra about all facets of hockey including skate sharpening and what profiling exactly is.  About a year ago I bought my current pair of skates and this time asked what profile is being put on it, which, from what I was told is single 9' radius and what is now my control set.  An engineer in me usually analyses everything that I do, so it's same with skating, I always try to understand how exactly the steel makes contact with the ice, how the depth of the edge cuts into the ice and all the other aspects that contribute to someone staying upright or actually being on the ice.  Although I can't consistently put all of it together and be perfect, I consider myself a pretty good skater that can tell the difference between having an edge or not and beyond.  When I found out about all the different profiles and started researching what they are all about, I reached out ProSharp and was referred to JR, which thankfully brings me here to this project.  Can not wait to try out all the different profiles!

Review - This is my third profile done by JR - going from Single 9' radius to Zuperior S to Quad 0 to now Quad 1. 
Quad 1 felt similar to Quad 0, but one thing stood out right away, Speed.  It felt like I gained speed as the glide increased, yet it felt like it came at a price of losing some acceleration.  Stability and Mobility change seemed negligible.  I was torn on my opinion of it, I felt like it was the best out of what I tried so far, yet at the same time I couldn't remember how Quad 0 felt as it was about a week between the 2 profiles.  Overall I was very pleased, but since we're all in this project wanted to try couple of things JR suggested(changing the hollow, review of each change below..) 

Acceleration - 3.5 - decreased a little as described above

Mobility - 3 - felt very similar, couldn't necessarily remember much of a difference

Stability - 4 - transitions felt flawless and safe as with Quad 0

Speed - 3.5 - may be even 4, was very apparent as I noticed this right as I took my first few strides...there was that woooow! cheer in my head

This was the last profile that would work on my steel size, so JR had me try changing the Hollow as I have access to Sparx machine - see more reviews below.

Hollow - 5/8"

Review - As I had access to a Sparx machine, JR suggested to try 5/8" hollow to see if it helps.  Got on the ice, was right away aware of less edge or may be I was over thinking it 🙂 
Overall I didn't notice much difference in any of the areas, but since there was a little less grip, you can take couple of decimals off...and so I did in ratings below

Acceleration - 3.4 - since it felt like a little less edge and acceleration already decreased going to Q1, rating speaks of itself

Mobility - 3.1 - what felt like less edge made turning 'easier' yet held me back a bit thinking i'm going to lose it

Stability - 3.9 - just because there was a little less grip, made me think of "in case of emergency, use your seat cushion as a floating device" <- I'm weird, but still not as much as goalies 🙂

Speed - 3.6 - may be even 4.1, glide was definitely there, that's why i added the .1, but with it the 2 guys inside my head were pulling me in different direction and I couldn't enjoy the full benefit of less friction

So, as previously mentioned, having access to Sparx machine, I tried their version of Flat Bottom sharpening using the 1/2" radius  

Hollow - Flat Bottom 1/2"

Review - I've tried flat bottom sharpening before and absolutely hated it, but as I'm experimenting and the profiles that JR has put on my steel have been nothing but awesome, I decided to give it a try...and I think I like it!  Again, letting my brain do most of the intimidation, I approached this from less confidence than normal and was surprised.  Although not changing much on acceleration from normal 1/2" radius, the flat bottom kept and possibly increased the speed a tiny bit.  Stability felt kind of like with 5/8" but mobility was just weird, not bad or good, WEIRD.  See my results below.

Acceleration - 3.5 - felt same as normal 1/2"

Mobility - 3.05 - as stated - WEIRD

Stability - 3.9 - science of how I imagine the blade positioning on the ice made this score stay the same

Speed - 3.6/4.1 - felt as good as 5/8", may be tiny bit better even, but i kept the same score

I sent the steel back to JR, going to go back to Quad 0 with 5/8" hollow and hopefully I remember what I felt with Q1 and can make up my mind...