Hockey skating Blades Sharpness Problem

[hypersouza 0]

Hi, i had to change hockey skates. I did my first test drive today. The blades of the skate are very sharp. I can't turn or brake. What do you recommend? How long does it take to get used to new skates?

[marka 524]

Howdy,

How were your old blades setup in terms of profile and hollow?  The profile is the shape along the length of the blade/runner and the hollow is the shape ground across the couple mm width of the blade.  Something has likely changed here and either can affect how "stuck" you feel to the ice.

Assuming that you don't know either of those for your old runners or maybe even your new ones...

First, makes sure that the edges are level.  A really bad sharpening that had the inside edge way higher than the outside edge could cause a feeling like that.

Next, figure out what hollow you have on the new blades.  The easiest thing to get a "less sharp" blade is to use a bigger radius hollow.  So if you're at 1/2" and you feel super stuck to the ice, move to a 5/8".  1/2" tends to be "the standard" in terms of hollows that are ground into blades, but who knows what your local shop does.

If you don't have any idea, go to a reputable shop and ask them to evaluate the current condition of your blades (edge levelness and a guess on the hollow) and see what they recommend.  My suggestion if you don't have any idea where you're starting out given what you've said would be to sharpen with a 5/8" cut with level edges (if your sharpener isn't checking your edge heights after they sharpen, find a different sharpener), then evaluate from that known starting point.

Mark

[hypersouza 0]

11 minutes ago, marka said:

Howdy,

How were your old blades setup in terms of profile and hollow?  The profile is the shape along the length of the blade/runner and the hollow is the shape ground across the couple mm width of the blade.  Something has likely changed here and either can affect how "stuck" you feel to the ice.

Assuming that you don't know either of those for your old runners or maybe even your new ones...

First, makes sure that the edges are level.  A really bad sharpening that had the inside edge way higher than the outside edge could cause a feeling like that.

Next, figure out what hollow you have on the new blades.  The easiest thing to get a "less sharp" blade is to use a bigger radius hollow.  So if you're at 1/2" and you feel super stuck to the ice, move to a 5/8".  1/2" tends to be "the standard" in terms of hollows that are ground into blades, but who knows what your local shop does.

If you don't have any idea, go to a reputable shop and ask them to evaluate the current condition of your blades (edge levelness and a guess on the hollow) and see what they recommend.  My suggestion if you don't have any idea where you're starting out given what you've said would be to sharpen with a 5/8" cut with level edges (if your sharpener isn't checking your edge heights after they sharpen, find a different sharpener), then evaluate from that known starting point.

Mark

The brand of my old skates is Koho. It was a heavier skate and the blade sharpness was minimal. It didn't get stuck on the ice and I could move and turn freely. I wasn't having any trouble with the brakes. I bought the new skate from someone else. Only used a few times. I don't know how it sharpens knives. 

[stick9 881]

9 minutes ago, hypersouza said:

The brand of my old skates is Koho. It was a heavier skate and the blade sharpness was minimal. It didn't get stuck on the ice and I could move and turn freely. I wasn't having any trouble with the brakes. I bought the new skate from someone else. Only used a few times. I don't know how it sharpens knives. 

Have them sharpened to whatever you had the Kohos sharpened to and try again. Chances are the newer skates have a deeper hollow and if I had to guess a longer profile.