How often do you sharpen your skates? And how often do you skate a year? Thanks.
In these skates/blades she needs them sharpened about every 20-30 hours on the ice. Sometimes that is once a month, sometimes she can go longer. :WS:
All my previous blades I sharpened every 8 weeks... Or 25 to 30 hours. My new blades are harder steel and seem to last 16 weeks...which is very nice since the sharpener is a 30 mile drive.
I don't really do it on hours or weeks though- just when the blades feel dull and I'm slipping on my edges. However, it seems to fit these time frames almost to a T.
I've had my blades since August, on average I skate 5 hours per week, I just had them sharpened, but they were about 2 weeks overdue!
Forty to fifty hours unless basic spins are suffering badly.
more frequently if I skate outdoor, or in stupid cases, absentmindedly walking on concrete steps without hard guards... :(
Not often enough..... I had mine sharpened about 10 days ago, but prior to that it had been 6 months... and before that, about 12 years 88)
I did use a pro-filer in between though.. I don't find it's "enough" for replacing professional sharpening all together, but it does help to stretch out the time between getting them done, or if I am in a position where I know a blade is dull and I need it sharpened but I can't work around the sharpener's schedule, I can get enough of an edge back on that I feel more secure on the ice, but it's not quite like having them sharpened by machine.
My prior blades- Coronation Aces- every 30-35 hrs,
my new blades - Ultima Matrix Legacy- every 60 hrs or so
Quote from: Skittl1321 on December 12, 2011, 02:49:55 PM
All my previous blades (Mirage, Gold Seal, mid-level Paramounts) I sharpened every 8 weeks... Or 25 to 30 hours. My new blades (Ultima Matrix Legacy) are harder steel and seem to last 16 weeks...which is very nice since the sharpener is a 30 mile drive.
I don't really do it on hours or weeks though- just when the blades feel dull and I'm slipping on my edges. However, it seems to fit these time frames almost to a T.
I was always told that approximately every 30 hours is best. I generally now get mine done between 30-35 hours (I use a spreadsheet to keep track of how long I skate on each session). Better to get them done before they get really dull, as then the difference won't be as noticable.
If you skate on "hard" ice, you should sharpen more frequently.
I sharpen mine about once a month. I am on the ice a lot over the course of a week though; I skate about 4 times a week at about 2 hours per session and teach LTS twice a week. The rule of thumb says to sharpen them about every 20 hours or so of skating time, however this can vary depending upon the condition of the ice, your level, whether your skating outside vs. indoors, etc. I can usually tell its time for a sharpening when my spins just don't hook well; you can usually feel your edges aren't grabbing the ice well.
Ultima Matrix Elite - last sharpening was about December 2014. I skate 5-7 hours a week, on average. So, that's about 80-112 hours! I'm not totally slipping yet, but have a bad slide when it comes to three turns that is getting worse. So, time to sharpen.
MKPros. 40 -60. 4-5 hours a week. I wish it was more, but no local rink.
The thing about MK Pros, one day they're fine. The next day they're dull as the last season of How I met Your Mother. No warning.
I have Ultima Mirage (old boots, now used for outdoor skating) and Ultima Aspire XP (current boots). I general go 50 to 60 hours before I notice significant side slippage. Similar to getting hair cuts-- I probably should go more often if only for the social aspect of chewing the fat with my skate tech (I do learn a lot from my barber and no doubt would benefit from more interaction with my skate tech as well). I would go more often if I could talk him into keeping a few back issues of Police Gazette in fitting room--something to read while I'm waiting my turn.
Ultima Mirage (stock blade that came with the Jackson Classique and now my new Elles): about every 15-20 hours. Either my blades go dull very quickly or I'm just more likely to blame my bad skating on my blades if I know it's been that long. 88)
Approximately every 40 hours on the Aspire XP, waiting to see how the Coronation Aces do.
I sharpen my pattern 99s every 25-30 hours. I use a spreadsheet to keep track of my skating costs and a side effect is knowing how many hours I skate between sharpenings (my practice times unfortunately can be a little erratic).
Gold Seals every 40-50 hours. It probably should be more often...
Vision synchro. Every 20 hours.
Wow - I don't sharpen nearly as much as you guys!
I skate 6-8 hours/week - and not doing freestyle - but I do dance, moves and figures in my SuperDance99.
I probably sharpen MAYBE every 6 months or so - so maybe every 150 hours?
I sharpen when my three-turns get slushy - skidded
When my stops, turns and spins (so basically everything :P) start skidding. I find this is about a month and a bit. I have Ultima blades - I think Legacy?
Gold Seals, usually every 3-4 months (I'm on the ice about 5-6 hours a week), unless I have a competition coming up, then I want to make sure they're ready to go!
Quote from: sarahspins on December 12, 2011, 05:02:26 PM
Not often enough..... I had mine sharpened about 10 days ago, but prior to that it had been 6 months... and before that, about 12 years
And I thought I was bad. Due to injuries I once went almost a year without a sharpening but I still skated most of it.
Quote from: Meli on April 10, 2015, 10:45:34 PM
Approximately every 40 hours on the Aspire XP, waiting to see how the Coronation Aces do.
I'm on the aspire xp and have been thinking about trying the ace next time. I'll be curious to see how they compare for you. Sharpening and otherwise!
I tend to sharpen between 20-30 hours!
When I had my Eclipse blades, they needed far less sharpening. My skate dude said something along the lines of blah blah blah alloys blah blah blah metals.
This is sort of an FAQ.
AFAICT, it depends on how smooth the ice is where you skate, how dirty the ice is (dirt destroys edges very quickly), whether you ever skate on "synthetic" (plastic) ice (likewise), whether you use blade guards when you are not on the ice, what metal your blades are made of, whether you dry and/or oil your blades after use (which reduces corrosion), how you store them, your personal skating stylle, and how sharp you personally feel you need the blades to be.
A well respected sharpener tells me that some of the world's top competitors, some of whom use him, only sharpen once or twice a year, despite that they skate hundreds of hours or more per year. Partly because they may not live near someone who can do a good job - so getting them sharpened is a big deal, involving long drives or shipping blades and/or skates back and forth to an expert. So it is most practical for some of them to adjust their technique to not depend much on sharp blades.
But many of his customers, also including some of the world's best, sharpen much more often. He says every 30-40 hours on the ice is a good rule of thumb for most figure skaters. Bear in mind, though, that he tells most of his customers that ultra-sharp is not good, because you have to vary your skating style too much immediately after a sharpening - in fact he deliberately dulls the edge a fair bit, unless you ask him not to.
I need sharp edges, because I'm not good enough to make do without them. I can do it more often, maybe every 10-15 hours, because I do it myself by hand, usually using abrasives that are finer than most professional sharpeners use, and take off very little metal at a time - maybe .0005" - it's hard to measure. Essentially, most of my sharpenings are just edge straightenings rather than true sharpenings.
When you slip sideways when you shouldn't, you likely need to sharpen. However, there is a substantial extent to which the alignment of your blades relative to your feet (adjustable by shimming), and of your body weight relative (+ inertial forces, like centrifugal force on edges, and other accelerations) to your skates, affect how sharp you need your blades to be. I do occasionally let my blades go dull in order to refine my alignment.
With most (not particularly great) sharpening professionals, the amount of metal removed (which is usually inverse to the blade lifetime) costs you more money in the long run than the sharpening itself, and you waste time getting them sharpened, so you obviously save time and money by sharpening less. So if you can adjust your technique to need less sharp blades, that may be worthwhile. On the other hand, since most of us want to skate as well as we can, we don't want to do so to the extent it degrades our ability to skate too much.
As you can see from the big variety in answers here, you may have to find your own answer.
(I know - that's an answer that's not an answer. So sue me. :) )
Is there a specific way you use to tell if they need to be sharpened? I keep meaning to keep a log of how many hours I skate between sharpenings, but it never happens. I feel like they are starting to slip, but I don't want to over-sharpen them as it doesn't seem like it's been that long since I've sharpened them.
I've got MK Pros and I start skidding (worse that usual) at about 25 hours. Part of my skidding is technique, but I sharpen when it gets worse and I skid *everything*. 88)