Skate Pitch Question

[Bladoww 4]

Hey everybody. I know this topic/debate gets beat to death in general (e.g. Graf pitch VS Vapors, etc. etc.) but I can't find anything specific to this...

I got some new Tacks and while the pitch of the boot heel to toe is fine, it's the toe itself of the skate that isn't upturned like my old ones. In the new ones, the ball of the foot to the toe portion is very level and parallel with the floor, but in my old ones this space ramps up to the toe much more noticeably. In other words, the very tip of the toe is a good 3/8" higher than my new ones... and I think this is causing me an issue. It's not pain, but more of a balance thing. Just feels off. I feel like the balls of my feet (where I like the weight to be) is now more on my toes. Hope that makes sense.

Anyone know what I'm talking about and if you do, how did you remedy this?

[Vet88 674]

Get some ball of foot gel pads, cut them to the shape of toe area and insert them under the footbed, this should help with your feeling of more pitch under the toes. Downside is it takes up some volume in the toe cap area so if you have high profile toes then this may be a squeeze.

[caveman27 208]

18 hours ago, Bladoww said:

Hey everybody. I know this topic/debate gets beat to death in general (e.g. Graf pitch VS Vapors, etc. etc.) but I can't find anything specific to this...

I got some new Tacks and while the pitch of the boot heel to toe is fine, it's the toe itself of the skate that isn't upturned like my old ones. In the new ones, the ball of the foot to the toe portion is very level and parallel with the floor, but in my old ones this space ramps up to the toe much more noticeably. In other words, the very tip of the toe is a good 3/8" higher than my new ones... and I think this is causing me an issue. It's not pain, but more of a balance thing. Just feels off. I feel like the balls of my feet (where I like the weight to be) is now more on my toes. Hope that makes sense.

Anyone know what I'm talking about and if you do, how did you remedy this?

One way to reprofile the blade to get negative pitch. I had a set of blades that were the opposite of what you are feeling, I felt like I was getting pushed back onto my heels instead of feeling centered on the skate, so I needed positive/aggressive pitch. It requires the sharpener to grind metal off the whole length of the blade so you might want to try vet88's suggestion first.

[xstartxtodayx 343]

It sounds like your old steel was just sharpened a lot.  Little by little that angle/curve will increase depending on the place doing the sharpening.  Many of the new steels coming on skates is taller (esp if you have Step on there), the toe area is noticeably taller so when they're new they seem extra tall/chunky on the front few inches of the steel vs your old thinner worn out steel.  This is what I'm imaging from the way you described them at least, I may be thinking something different than you though.

 

[flip12 714]

1 hour ago, xstartxtodayx said:

It sounds like your old steel was just sharpened a lot.  Little by little that angle/curve will increase depending on the place doing the sharpening.  Many of the new steels coming on skates is taller (esp if you have Step on there), the toe area is noticeably taller so when they're new they seem extra tall/chunky on the front few inches of the steel vs your old thinner worn out steel.  This is what I'm imaging from the way you described them at least, I may be thinking something different than you though.

 

I think @Bladoww may be referring to his old boots having toe spring and the new ones lacking it.

https://theshoesnobblog.com/toe-spring-whats-it-all-about/

Edited May 14, 2021 by flip12