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The Pro Shop / Re: Pro-Filer Redirects to Wissota
« Last post by tstop4me on February 17, 2024, 05:16:14 AM »Not if the tool is UNDER the blade. E.g., if you hold the tool with a vice, as I think Bill_S once suggested, or maybe in your hand, though holding it underneath with my hand makes it a little harder to center it.
As I've said before, I have no trained tool skills, but have to learn from my mistakes. So I have indeed made some scratches. I had to learn to lubricate the sides of the blade, by wetting them - which helps.
Holding the blade with the edges down, and pushing up with the sharpener would likely reduce the number of particles that get in between the chassis and polished surfaces, but I don't think it would eliminate them. Some will still migrate upwards (particularly in the presence of a lubricant film) during operation. And when you remove the tool from the blade to flip the orientation of the tool, rotate the cylinder, clean the cylinder, switch blades, or end the operation, it'll be difficult to prevent particles from becoming embedded in the walls of the slot eventually: e.g., particles will tend to accumulate along the edges of the blade; as you remove the tool, the edges of the blade will likely contact the walls of the slot, and particles will be transferred from the edges of the blade to the walls of the slot.
And as you realize, the edges-down configuration is not ideal for viewing and for applying controlled pressure. Overall awkward configuration for operation. As I discussed before, I prefer to mount the blades sideways.
At any rate, I value functionality over cosmetics; however, I realize that many figure skaters place a premium on cosmetics.