How to specify the heel/toe shape of skate blades?

[caveman27 208]

1 hour ago, dsizzle said:

I can actually do a little better than that. I took pictures of both skates, aligned them and traced both in Photoshop. Here's my old skate with the new skate outline:

https://imgur.com/WzqdwjY

Here's my new skate with the new skate outline

https://imgur.com/n45QiJ9

(By the way, how do you upload an image on this site? It seems neither option in the "Insert other media" link at the bottom of the post works.)

Interesting. Maybe no pitch adjustment is needed, but I can see why you are having issues with sprint-like acceleration and deep turns. Does it feel like the skates are forcing your chest upright when you are bending deep into a cross over acceleration and you lose balance from it? 

[dsizzle 3]

On 12/11/2019 at 1:00 AM, caveman27 said:

Interesting. Maybe no pitch adjustment is needed, but I can see why you are having issues with sprint-like acceleration and deep turns. Does it feel like the skates are forcing your chest upright when you are bending deep into a cross over acceleration and you lose balance from it? 

Incidentally, for my new skates this is after I had the "toes shaved" (I don't remember doing that for my old skates), so the difference used to be even more severe. The shaving did make an improvement.

I don't notice it as much on cross over acceleration as much as on cold starts. Didn't trip over my toes last game, so maybe I'm starting to get used to it.

[dsizzle 3]

On 12/10/2019 at 12:54 PM, SkateWorksPNW said:

There are a few issues here:

* You are transitioning from an older pair of skates that are much more pliable, which I assume is letting you get better forward flexion as compared to the extremely stiff 2S Pro skates. Are you lacing them all the way up? You might want to drop the top one or two eyelets so you can properly get over the ball of your foot. 

* Your old steel is likely very worn and likely an 8' or less profile, very shaved on the toe and heel. More on the whichever side is pushed into the wheel first when they get sharpened. 

* The new steel is a 10' flat profile as compared to what you are using to skating on. Its possible your old skates likely feel like skis and your new skates likely feel like you're riding a snowboard. However, if you adjust the body mechanics you might actually see the benefits of a longer radius. 

* If you make these changes and still feel like you are "stuck in mud" when skating you may want to consider going with a flatter hollow. If that doesn't make things better you should look into getting your steel professionally profiled. You can either have the profile matched from your old skates or you can select a new profile. I highly recommend a combination radius but if you want a single radius that is fine as well. 

*Lastly, add pitch, if needed. If you feel too far back on your heels or neutral. 

I'm actually trying a flatter hollow next -- haven't skated on them yet though. My first sharpening was 1/2", and there was sometimes chatter on stops. Stepped up to 5/8" next and that was better, but next I'm going for 3/4". My old skates were also V2's from the 90s, which had a thinner back 2/3rd (and I think that results in a flatter effective hollow).

I tried skipping the top lace but it felt too wobbly. Not sure if it helped with the rapid starts or not.

As mentioned elsewhere in thread, I did get them profiled (to 9') but didn't really notice a difference. My old skates were profiled too (not sure what radius), but pretty sure they had a neutral pitch.

[smcgreg 81]

On 12/10/2019 at 5:03 PM, oldtrainerguy28 said:

I feel if you need a more aggressive pitch something else is missing in the fit. 

In a study done more than 1/32 nd forward had zero benefits to 80% of participants. 

 

I don't know the study to which you refer, but this confirms my intuition.  If true, it should be posted on the banner...   But of course, that would negate a lot of special profiling arguments wouldn't it?  😉

 

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

9 minutes ago, smcgreg said:

 

I don't know the study to which you refer, but this confirms my intuition.  If true, it should be posted on the banner...   But of course, that would negate a lot of special profiling arguments wouldn't it?  😉

 

Well it was a thesis paper and its needs to be quantified so I'm pretty sure that's the case. The research was marked above. 

[smcgreg 81]

On 12/11/2019 at 12:24 AM, dsizzle said:

Is this the link to what you were referring to? https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ae0f/714bb7dbdb3ea4c3f4a0f2ca6c9f8450f0e8.pdf

Kind of crazy.  3 high level players with ROC < 9 ft and 3 with ROH </= 3/8".  Yikes!

 

[jimmy 194]

Most who changed to bulky steel like Step and LS5, etc, hate it at first. (also other steel as well if the old steel ends are banana shaped) But, the answer is simple, if these areas are bothering you while skating and you have given your muscle memory time to adjust to the new skates, holder and new steel, then by all means have some of the metal in those areas removed.  Don't hack it all off at once, do it in small steps until you feel comfortable. Removing too much may "feel" better because that was what you were use to, but it doesn't always mean it's the best for performance.

[dsizzle 3]

On 12/10/2019 at 12:54 PM, SkateWorksPNW said:

There are a few issues here:

* You are transitioning from an older pair of skates that are much more pliable, which I assume is letting you get better forward flexion as compared to the extremely stiff 2S Pro skates. Are you lacing them all the way up? You might want to drop the top one or two eyelets so you can properly get over the ball of your foot. 

* Your old steel is likely very worn and likely an 8' or less profile, very shaved on the toe and heel. More on the whichever side is pushed into the wheel first when they get sharpened. 

* The new steel is a 10' flat profile as compared to what you are using to skating on. Its possible your old skates likely feel like skis and your new skates likely feel like you're riding a snowboard. However, if you adjust the body mechanics you might actually see the benefits of a longer radius. 

* If you make these changes and still feel like you are "stuck in mud" when skating you may want to consider going with a flatter hollow. If that doesn't make things better you should look into getting your steel professionally profiled. You can either have the profile matched from your old skates or you can select a new profile. I highly recommend a combination radius but if you want a single radius that is fine as well. 

*Lastly, add pitch, if needed. If you feel too far back on your heels or neutral. 

@SkateWorksPNW Just saw one of your responses from 2016 here 

where you said "The LS3 has a fat toe and heel. It definitely needs some contouring for a power forward or someone looking for mobility." By "contouring" did you mean shaving the heel and toe? Did your opinion change on that since 2016 (since you listed a bunch of stuff other than changes the heel and toe)?

[Sniper9 559]

I know this is an old post but the issue isn't your new blades but your old ones. They are worn to shit in the heel and toe by poor sharpening that turned whatever profile you had into a banana. You never felt the issue bc the steel was slowly taken off over time and not abruptly at once. With that little toe and heel left on your old steel, they should've been replaced a long time ago.