DIY punching out skates

[caseyjones 26]

3 hours ago, Sniper9 said:

You skate with the top two eyelets undone? I've never had skates that locked in the heel completely with the top two eyelets undone. 

No but I’ve seen a lot of guys do it and I can do it in other pairs of skates. I’m  just confused about heel lock in general with the new skates.  If I stand up in these skates unlaced and lift my leg up, my heel comes right up.  That doesn’t happen in my 703’s or 707’s which ironically are supposed to be at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of heel widths.  But when I lace up the net speeds, my heel doesn’t really move.  So, idk if it’s in my head or if it’s something that shouldn’t be happening if the skates were a perfect fit 

[Sniper9 530]

1 hour ago, caseyjones said:

No but I’ve seen a lot of guys do it and I can do it in other pairs of skates. I’m  just confused about heel lock in general with the new skates.  If I stand up in these skates unlaced and lift my leg up, my heel comes right up.  That doesn’t happen in my 703’s or 707’s which ironically are supposed to be at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of heel widths.  But when I lace up the net speeds, my heel doesn’t really move.  So, idk if it’s in my head or if it’s something that shouldn’t be happening if the skates were a perfect fit 

The thing is no retail skates are a perfect fit. And like you said bc of materials etc modern skates fit quite differently. Imo as long as ur heel is locked when you leave them the way you like them that's fine. I personally never had skates still lock my heel if completey unlaced. 

The graf skates you compare the jetspeeds to are so different. That era of skates you actually could break in. Modern skates you break ur feet in lol

[caseyjones 26]

lol right, that was kind of my thoughts as well.  I guess I was kind of thinking that baking the skates would make them just mold around every facet of my foot.  These currently feel pretty good though.  Finished up trying the cotton ball trick tonight (I used rolled up paper towel and taped it where it hurts) so I’m gonna give ‘em a spin tomorrow night.  Thanks for the feedback 

[VegasHockey 1280]

On 11/23/2023 at 7:57 AM, stick9 said:

You may want to consider adding some adhesive backed shot blockers. At the very least it seels off the area and prevents chipping.

These would be good for that.

https://shotblockers.com/products/xt-pro-new

[caseyjones 26]

Damn, those are expensive.  I skated tonight and had zero pain in the areas I worked on.  I didn’t notice any more damage to the boots in the areas I punched either.  So hotspots on my inside ankle bone are completely gone, the pinching of the forefoot and my pinky and big toe are completely gone.  Now I’m fixated on the heel lock.  I don’t really notice it when skating, but I notice it when walking in the boots.  Aren’t jetspeeds supposed to have one of the more narrow heels out there?  My skates are a regular.  They didn’t come in fit 1, 2 or 3.  Just regular and wide 

[VegasHockey 1280]

13 hours ago, caseyjones said:

Damn, those are expensive.  I skated tonight and had zero pain in the areas I worked on.  I didn’t notice any more damage to the boots in the areas I punched either.  So hotspots on my inside ankle bone are completely gone, the pinching of the forefoot and my pinky and big toe are completely gone.  Now I’m fixated on the heel lock.  I don’t really notice it when skating, but I notice it when walking in the boots.  Aren’t jetspeeds supposed to have one of the more narrow heels out there?  My skates are a regular.  They didn’t come in fit 1, 2 or 3.  Just regular and wide 

FT6 skates come in tapered, regular and wide. The new boot design had added more width and volume to the boots, which also increased the heel width. The current regular width fits more like an E, while the tapered fits more like a D. 

[caseyjones 26]

41 minutes ago, VegasHockey said:

FT6 skates come in tapered, regular and wide. The new boot design had added more width and volume to the boots, which also increased the heel width. The current regular width fits more like an E, while the tapered fits more like a D. 

I have ft690’s limited edition skates that are only offered in regular or wide.  Crazy to me that these would’ve been considered to have a wide forefoot

[BenBreeg 493]

On 11/24/2023 at 1:37 PM, caseyjones said:

Thanks. I’ll see how things progress.  If it looks like it starts to get worse and appears that the boot is being compromised in any way I’ll try a thin layer of clear epoxy first.  Im personally just not a fan of the shot blocker look.  I know I know.  But that could wind up being a necessity so appreciate that advice

 

These were $500. So not the end of the world in terms of them being very expensive skates.  I’ve used the clamp multiple times trying to find the exact spot but it’s hard to pinpoint.  I def have some relief but it’s not completely gone.  The inner foams are very compressed where I punched it out.  I’m going to try the cotton ball trick as my last option and then just see if it goes away from using them over time.  I’ve only skated in them 3x so far.  It’s annoying and I got blisters but nothing to the point where I couldn’t skate anymore.  This is just a very new experience for me with modern skates.  I’ve never had pain in that area before.  

Find the spot on your foot that hurts, put lipstick on it fairly heavy, then put the boot on and lace it up.  It will transfer to the liner and you know where to punch.  I do my son’s Bauers and he never has anything more than mid tier.  

[caseyjones 26]

23 hours ago, BenBreeg said:

Find the spot on your foot that hurts, put lipstick on it fairly heavy, then put the boot on and lace it up.  It will transfer to the liner and you know where to punch.  I do my son’s Bauers and he never has anything more than mid tier.  

Thanks, yeah I did that and it worked pretty well.  No issues for the most part in those areas.  I’m now wrapping them and clamping the heel to try to get these as perfect as possible.  

[Sniper9 530]

14 minutes ago, caseyjones said:

Thanks, yeah I did that and it worked pretty well.  No issues for the most part in those areas.  I’m now wrapping them and clamping the heel to try to get these as perfect as possible.  

If you feel some lift while walking but it feels fine skating , leave it. The only time you walk in them is to and from the locker room and it has no impact on your skating on the ice. When skating your knees and ankles are flexed forward and your pushes into the heel pocket vs standing upright and walking. I think with modern skates and the fact ccm has put more padding inside the skates now adays, the heel pocket is a bit more cushioned. Heel pockets used to literally be just lined with the liner and nothing else. You're just used to what you used to have. 

This was a complaint by some people when they tried true skates for the first time a few years ago. They found the heel lock to not be great for true skates and that was a combination of how much foam true has in the heel pocket and that their heel pocket is deeper than ccm Bauer etc. I felt this way as well but also noticed it didn't affect me on the ice as the heel lock while skating was fine. It was just walking that it didn't feel locked in like my old Bauers did. 

Personally, if I were you I wouldn't clam the heel. Do the shrink wrap technique. The clamping method is too precise in the location what you want is the entire heel pocket and ankle area to mold around that portion of your foot. With the shrink wrap you can achieve this. Only thing is with shrink wrap you should bake the entire skate and it may mess with the punching you already did. 

 

Good luck. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by Sniper9

[caseyjones 26]

16 hours ago, Sniper9 said:

If you feel some lift while walking but it feels fine skating , leave it. The only time you walk in them is to and from the locker room and it has no impact on your skating on the ice. When skating your knees and ankles are flexed forward and your pushes into the heel pocket vs standing upright and walking. I think with modern skates and the fact ccm has put more padding inside the skates now adays, the heel pocket is a bit more cushioned. Heel pockets used to literally be just lined with the liner and nothing else. You're just used to what you used to have. 

This was a complaint by some people when they tried true skates for the first time a few years ago. They found the heel lock to not be great for true skates and that was a combination of how much foam true has in the heel pocket and that their heel pocket is deeper than ccm Bauer etc. I felt this way as well but also noticed it didn't affect me on the ice as the heel lock while skating was fine. It was just walking that it didn't feel locked in like my old Bauers did. 

Personally, if I were you I wouldn't clam the heel. Do the shrink wrap technique. The clamping method is too precise in the location what you want is the entire heel pocket and ankle area to mold around that portion of your foot. With the shrink wrap you can achieve this. Only thing is with shrink wrap you should bake the entire skate and it may mess with the punching you already did. 

 

Good luck. 

Thanks.  I’m just seeing this now so the clamping has already been done.  What you are saying though regarding the heel pocket seems to be exactly what I’m experiencing.  I have a pair of Graf 704’s with no holders on them and I laced them up last night and walked around like they were sneakers and my heel didn’t budge at all.  Looking inside the skate, it seems to be all about how much and where the heel padding is positioned inside the skate.  The only thing preventing my heel from lifting is the padding that is above my heel that wraps around my Achilles that doesn’t give the heel anywhere to go in terms of moving upwards.  My heel doesn’t move laterally at all in my CCMs.  
Also like you said, those hotspots did come back a little bit, but the heel does feel much better.  Appreciate all the feedback bc I’m wondering if I didn’t properly fit myself into the skates when I purchased them, but if this is a common thing then like you said, I’ll just have to get used to it.  The only skates I’ve ever worn where my heel didn’t lift up during a walking motion were my Grafs.  I skated most of my life in vapor 10’s (.5 size too big) and supreme 5000’s and my heel was never locked in on those either like my Grafs were and I never felt negative effects when skating 

Edited December 3, 2023 by caseyjones

[Sniper9 530]

5 hours ago, caseyjones said:

Thanks.  I’m just seeing this now so the clamping has already been done.  What you are saying though regarding the heel pocket seems to be exactly what I’m experiencing.  I have a pair of Graf 704’s with no holders on them and I laced them up last night and walked around like they were sneakers and my heel didn’t budge at all.  Looking inside the skate, it seems to be all about how much and where the heel padding is positioned inside the skate.  The only thing preventing my heel from lifting is the padding that is above my heel that wraps around my Achilles that doesn’t give the heel anywhere to go in terms of moving upwards.  My heel doesn’t move laterally at all in my CCMs.  
Also like you said, those hotspots did come back a little bit, but the heel does feel much better.  Appreciate all the feedback bc I’m wondering if I didn’t properly fit myself into the skates when I purchased them, but if this is a common thing then like you said, I’ll just have to get used to it.  The only skates I’ve ever worn where my heel didn’t lift up during a walking motion were my Grafs.  I skated most of my life in vapor 10’s (.5 size too big) and supreme 5000’s and my heel was never locked in on those either like my Grafs were and I never felt negative effects when skating 

Also with the heels being locked in with no padding in older skates, people suffered from "Bauer bumps" due to the constant friction. What I would've done was skate in your skates for about 10 ice times so the padding breaks in a bit and has packed in. Then Rebake the entire skate so your foot is then molded to the current state of the foams (using tissue technique on ur hot spots).

This second bake is fairly common after getting new skates. I think this could've solved your issue too, especially if you used the shrink wrap technique on the second bake. 

Edited December 3, 2023 by Sniper9

[caseyjones 26]

3 hours ago, Sniper9 said:

Also with the heels being locked in with no padding in older skates, people suffered from "Bauer bumps" due to the constant friction. What I would've done was skate in your skates for about 10 ice times so the padding breaks in a bit and has packed in. Then Rebake the entire skate so your foot is then molded to the current state of the foams (using tissue technique on ur hot spots).

This second bake is fairly common after getting new skates. I think this could've solved your issue too, especially if you used the shrink wrap technique on the second bake. 

Thanks I might give that a try.  They didn’t feel too great today.  Some rubbing on the inside of the ankles again.  This was prob my 5th time on them.  So I’ll give it another 5 skates and re-assess.  One piece boot, shorter holder, different profile and skating tongues in with these opposed tongues out.  There’s a lot going on.  Appreciate all of your help 

[Sniper9 530]

23 hours ago, caseyjones said:

Thanks I might give that a try.  They didn’t feel too great today.  Some rubbing on the inside of the ankles again.  This was prob my 5th time on them.  So I’ll give it another 5 skates and re-assess.  One piece boot, shorter holder, different profile and skating tongues in with these opposed tongues out.  There’s a lot going on.  Appreciate all of your help 

Np. For the rubbing is it causing blisters or is it a hard pressure point that is causing more than blisters. If it's just rubbing/ blistering you can prob grey away with using moleskins for now until the skin heals. 

[caseyjones 26]

54 minutes ago, Sniper9 said:

Np. For the rubbing is it causing blisters or is it a hard pressure point that is causing more than blisters. If it's just rubbing/ blistering you can prob grey away with using moleskins for now until the skin heals. 

It’s a bit of both.  It’s more annoying than anything.  I skated for 1.5 hours yesterday.  I have blisters and i can feel the hardness of the boot on those small bones below my ankle, but it’s not something that’s necessarily painful where I feel like I want to stop skating.  I was able to pull the heel in tighter, but it pulled that hot spot area in as well bc I clamped the heel without my foot being in the boot to try to get it nice and tight.  I’m imagining a little spot heat and the paper towel trick can get rid of that hot spot again.  It was basically gone before I did the wrap and heel clamp

 

I actually just taped two little felt pads that you put under furniture legs to my ankle bones.  They are the perfect size for where the spot is, heated the area up a little bit and tied my skates tight.  I have a feeling this might do the trick.  I think that is mainly what was bothering me yesterday bc the heel feels pretty tight now even when putting my bare feet in them 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2023 by caseyjones

[krisdrum 233]

@caseyjones obviously just suggest you keep an eye on those spider web cracks.  Just had to replace my kid's True Cat9s because the heels cracked.  Started as spider web fine line cracks, but progressed to the point where I can pretty easily push my thumb in a few areas and get the shell to flex and buckle.  Luckily True replaced them under warranty.

[Sniper9 530]

10 hours ago, krisdrum said:

@caseyjones obviously just suggest you keep an eye on those spider web cracks.  Just had to replace my kid's True Cat9s because the heels cracked.  Started as spider web fine line cracks, but progressed to the point where I can pretty easily push my thumb in a few areas and get the shell to flex and buckle.  Luckily True replaced them under warranty.

That's strictly a true issue with their cracked heels. But your weight. If the ccm boot is compromised it could get worse depending on how it's constructed. A composite like curv composite Bauer uses is less likely to actually spread in damage vs true that uses straight carbon sheets. 

[noupf 42]

On 11/26/2023 at 2:28 PM, VegasHockey said:

FT6 skates come in tapered, regular and wide. The new boot design had added more width and volume to the boots, which also increased the heel width. The current regular width fits more like an E, while the tapered fits more like a D. 

FT6 skates have been out for 6 months now, why does nobody seem to have them in tapered?  Did CCM screw something up in the design and manufacturing?  

[VegasHockey 1280]

17 hours ago, noupf said:

FT6 skates have been out for 6 months now, why does nobody seem to have them in tapered?  Did CCM screw something up in the design and manufacturing?  

The majority of retailers didn't understand that the new Jetspeed would fit different and stocked up heavily on Regular fit, going light on Tapered and Wide.

Manufacturers use the booking orders from dealers to determine how much of each specification to make. 

Any dealers can order them though as CCM has stock.

[caseyjones 26]

So my skate fit journey took a turn and I’m going to be swapping out the ccm’s for Mach’s.  The Mach’s locked my heel in probably better than my Grafs and the new wider toe caps are perfect for me.  I wound up dropping down another half size as well which is probably why I didn’t notice how good they fit the first time I tried them on.  Toe is a little jammed on the left skate but assuming a bake and a few skates should pull my foot back where the fit will be perfect.  
 

hopefully my last question for you guys is, which steel should I get?  Looks like I’ll be getting step steel eventually (I found some online) but will use Bauer steel in the time being.  From what I gathered researching, I’m guessing I should just save $ and go with the regular pulse steel and don’t bother with the ti?   I can basically get pulse, pulse ti, fly-x or fly-ti.  I have no interest in the carbonlite runners 

 

edit: just wound up getting the fly-x runners.  Just hoping the bake pulls my toes back a bit 

Edited December 7, 2023 by caseyjones

[Sniper9 530]

6 hours ago, caseyjones said:

So my skate fit journey took a turn and I’m going to be swapping out the ccm’s for Mach’s.  The Mach’s locked my heel in probably better than my Grafs and the new wider toe caps are perfect for me.  I wound up dropping down another half size as well which is probably why I didn’t notice how good they fit the first time I tried them on.  Toe is a little jammed on the left skate but assuming a bake and a few skates should pull my foot back where the fit will be perfect.  
 

hopefully my last question for you guys is, which steel should I get?  Looks like I’ll be getting step steel eventually (I found some online) but will use Bauer steel in the time being.  From what I gathered researching, I’m guessing I should just save $ and go with the regular pulse steel and don’t bother with the ti?   I can basically get pulse, pulse ti, fly-x or fly-ti.  I have no interest in the carbonlite runners 

 

edit: just wound up getting the fly-x runners.  Just hoping the bake pulls my toes back a bit 

Nice. Machs have a decent amount of padding in the ankle area so it will pack in a bit and provide u a touch more room in your left skate. I had the machs for a short stint and I felt the fit was very good. Heel lock was good for both the fit 1 and 2 that I tried on. I bought the fit 1 but returned them after a skate as I felt a bit of pinching in my pinky which in hindsight probably would've been fine after getting usee to them. But at the time I didn't want to settle and risk it being an issue for $1000 skates. 

Hope the machs work out for you. 

[caseyjones 26]

2 hours ago, Sniper9 said:

Nice. Machs have a decent amount of padding in the ankle area so it will pack in a bit and provide u a touch more room in your left skate. I had the machs for a short stint and I felt the fit was very good. Heel lock was good for both the fit 1 and 2 that I tried on. I bought the fit 1 but returned them after a skate as I felt a bit of pinching in my pinky which in hindsight probably would've been fine after getting usee to them. But at the time I didn't want to settle and risk it being an issue for $1000 skates. 

Hope the machs work out for you. 

Thanks, I have pinching there too and my toes are pretty jammed up in the toe box, but my heel feels great lol.  They didn’t have other sizes so I’m going to try to seek to try a 6.5 fit 1 and a 6 fit 3.  I currently have 6 fit 2.  Appreciate all your help and continued responses 

putting these on with shins tucked and wow, these skates have so much forward flex.  They almost feel like my 707’s where there’s virtually no resistance.  These also look like little baby skates.  Toes are hitting the toe cap even when I flex forward, but the power foot makes it feel more comfortable.  I also notice the shorter than I’m used to runners on these way more than I did on the CCMs.  I know xs is 1mm larger but I can’t imagine that’s the difference.   Maybe the taller steel in the CCMs or perhaps a different profile is the reason? 
 

still not sure what I’m gonna do as my toes are jammed, but I almost feel like a bake, maybe a stretch?, and playing around with socks and footbeds can  hopefully get these where they need to be.  My CCMs 

Edited December 7, 2023 by caseyjones

[Sniper9 530]

19 hours ago, caseyjones said:

Thanks, I have pinching there too and my toes are pretty jammed up in the toe box, but my heel feels great lol.  They didn’t have other sizes so I’m going to try to seek to try a 6.5 fit 1 and a 6 fit 3.  I currently have 6 fit 2.  Appreciate all your help and continued responses 

putting these on with shins tucked and wow, these skates have so much forward flex.  They almost feel like my 707’s where there’s virtually no resistance.  These also look like little baby skates.  Toes are hitting the toe cap even when I flex forward, but the power foot makes it feel more comfortable.  I also notice the shorter than I’m used to runners on these way more than I did on the CCMs.  I know xs is 1mm larger but I can’t imagine that’s the difference.   Maybe the taller steel in the CCMs or perhaps a different profile is the reason? 
 

still not sure what I’m gonna do as my toes are jammed, but I almost feel like a bake, maybe a stretch?, and playing around with socks and footbeds can  hopefully get these where they need to be.  My CCMs 

Toes being jammed isn't really a good sign though. Powerfoot will also reduce volume in the toecap which causes your toes to flatten and splay and thus lengthening a bit as well. If you removed the powerfoot you'd probably feel like you gained a mm or so. I noticed this when adjusting my true skate tongues as the further I have the tongues into the toebox the more my toes pressed against the end of the toebox. Forgot what footbed you had. Superfeet might pull the toes away a bit as well due to how it positions your foot in the skate. 

Edited December 8, 2023 by Sniper9

[caseyjones 26]

2 hours ago, Sniper9 said:

Toes being jammed isn't really a good sign though. Powerfoot will also reduce volume in the toecap which causes your toes to flatten and splay and thus lengthening a bit as well. If you removed the powerfoot you'd probably feel like you gained a mm or so. I noticed this when adjusting my true skate tongues as the further I have the tongues into the toebox the more my toes pressed against the end of the toebox. Forgot what footbed you had. Superfeet might pull the toes away a bit as well due to how it positions your foot in the skate. 

I think the powerfoot just makes my toes feel cushiony.  I hate feeling that extra space above my toes.   My toes pull away from the toe cap if I go in a baseball catchers stance on my toes.  Walking around in them, they’re pushing into the front.  I have a bunch of different footbeds from other skates.  I tried a mako footbed which game me a tiny bit of extra room bc the heel cup isn’t as pronounced.  Graf sidas gave a tiny bit of extra room too bc of the arch support.  
 

I still haven’t baked them or anything bc I don’t want to not be able to return them. 
im going to try on a 6.5 fit 2 tomorrow and a 6.5 fit 1 in the M5 (I’m assuming that is the same fit).  Nobody has a 6 fit 3 in stock by me.  

[Sniper9 530]

1 hour ago, caseyjones said:

I think the powerfoot just makes my toes feel cushiony.  I hate feeling that extra space above my toes.   My toes pull away from the toe cap if I go in a baseball catchers stance on my toes.  Walking around in them, they’re pushing into the front.  I have a bunch of different footbeds from other skates.  I tried a mako footbed which game me a tiny bit of extra room bc the heel cup isn’t as pronounced.  Graf sidas gave a tiny bit of extra room too bc of the arch support.  
 

I still haven’t baked them or anything bc I don’t want to not be able to return them. 
im going to try on a 6.5 fit 2 tomorrow and a 6.5 fit 1 in the M5 (I’m assuming that is the same fit).  Nobody has a 6 fit 3 in stock by me.  

M5 pro is very similar ya. I tried the hyperlite 2 today. Pretty comfy. 7 fit 2 felt good in left but right felt a touch too big since my right is 1/4 size smaller and is also a bit smaller with wise.  They didn't have 7 fit 1 in the hyperlites so I tried the 7 fit 1 in x5 and the fit was noticeably diff since it has less padding. The x5 fit 1 felt pretty similar to the hyperlite fit 2. I expected the forefoot to be noticeably narrower in the fit 1 but it wasn't. I have a feeling most of the volume difference is just how far the eyelet facing extends. 

I also tried a 6.5 fit 2 and it pinched my forefoot and crushed my toes. They didn't have a fit 3 in 6.5 for me to try. Made me realize how shitty retail is for me bc of my size diff in feet. 

Just for kicks I put my feet on the brannock and surprisingly it had me at a e width which I never thought I was. Always considered myself a d. Brannock said my left was 7.5 and right was just under 7.5. Wonder if the brannock sizing is based on the 1.5 size smaller than shoe size. Brannock was a Bauer one too. 

Guess there's no point steering away from my true cat pros as nothing retail fits remotely as good. 

Edited December 8, 2023 by Sniper9