Skate care questions?

[hopskipjump]

How long between sharpening for you?
And do the edges wear evenly?
Also, if you get a deep nick in the boot do you do anything to it? (a little girl accidentally jabbed her toe pick into the top of dd's skates so there is a big pit in them).

[Skittl1321]

My old blades I sharpened every 8 weeks.  My new ones lasted twice that (harder steel).  I generally wait until I notice that I'm slipping to have them done, I'm cheap, so I go with as needed, not scheduled.
They do not wear evenly. My right inside edge is always the first to go, as I tend to stop on it.  

I don't do anything about nicks in the boot- my last pair were insanely cut up because I bought them used. The girl must have been working on crossing her foot in spins, because I've never seen so many cuts in a boot before. You could ask your sharpener if they recommend anything.  

[AgnesNitt]

I sharpen every few months (skate about 5 hours a week and doing dance). If I can't do an inside swing roll even with a good bent knee, it's time.

[ls99]

I had MK double stars until last week. Typically  they were good for about 15 hours of skating, with hand stoning touch ups every 3 to 4 hrs. Way too soft edge material.

Bought a set of used Jackson freestyle EXT ultras. They are black anodized. Initial testing of them unmounted and comparing them to the dismounted Double Stars shows the Ultra to be much harder metal. Had them sharpened, the sharpening guy agreed they are much better tempered than the double stars, thus will stay sharp much longer. The Sharpening process is a good indicator of metal hardness.

Compared the Ultra EXTs to an instructor's Gold Seals, the EXTs appear to be roughly equal if not better tempered. Though the Gold Seals do look nicer. This particular instructor has hers sharpened every 40 skating hours, rain or shine. She keeps meticulous records of on-ice time. Shed had them for many years.

As a base line, low end skates will hold edges for about 15-20 hours, high end looks like about 40 to 45 hours, assuming not much skating on hockey ice.

PS. While I'm new to Ice skating, have spent a lifetime around metal, mechanical and other trades. I can tell good steel from scrap metal, regardless of what shiny coating it has, easily.

[hopskipjump]

She has professionals - when they are sharp they have a lovely growl sound.  She went much longer between sharpenings with her low level blades, but I am wondering if her better skating skills make her less tolerant to blades that are more dull.

[Sk8tmum]

Different skaters, different tolerances.  Two pairs of Gold Seals, one gets done about every 30 hours - high level skater doing triples - one gets done about every 45 - 50 hours - working on doubles. First pair - skater likes sharp edges, second pair, slightly dull preferred.

Also, found that the sharpening frequency declined when technique and consistent use of blades guards both improved. Wasn't so much being "dull" as having nicks from blades clicking in the air, crud from the rubber surround in the arena,  etc. Apparently that's a bit of confusion for some Ultima/Paramount skaters - yeah, they hold an edge longer, but, it's the nicks that will get you every time ... `

Wouldn't touch a blade with a stone - our coach did it once or twice, but only when we were on lower quality blades - I'm not risking a $700 investment for the sake of being able to wait another week for a sharpening ...

[hopskipjump]

Luckily, they don't have nicks - she wears guards and gets one on while still on the ice.  She knows they were a big cost and takes good care of them.  She has almost no inside edges left.  She has hit about 30 hours though so maybe that is kind of normal.

[JSM]

I live a 5 hour drive away from the guy who sharpens my skates, so I try to stretch it out.  I get them super sharp and send them to get done maybe every 50 hours or so.  I am SUPER careful about guards, my blades do not even touch the ground outside the ice!

It's almost time to get them done, but I have a competition soon and don't want brand new sharp blades right before hand - my spins are usually better after a week of skating.

I skate in Phantoms and I am working on doubles.

Edit: they usually wear fairly evenly, though my inside edges usually dull a bit faster than my outsides.  When I start to slip a bit on deep edges I send them off.

[hopskipjump]

Regarding the deep nick from the other skater - when I brought them in he told me how to fix it - unroll the loose piece of skate and flatten it as much as possible (it was like an accordion).  Fill the hole with superglue and then carefully push the flap in.  Add a little more glue to level it out.

[Skittl1321]

but I am wondering if her better skating skills make her less tolerant to blades that are more dull.

She might be picky, herself being less tolerant.  However, it has been my experience that high level skaters can skate on pretty much anything, where mid-level skaters are more likely to feel the effects of poor equipment.  When I was trying to find a sharpener, I asked a local coach, who was recently an international skater who sharpened his.  His response "uh, I haven't had them done since I retired"- that was at least a year after his retirement, and I still saw him huge double jumps (I think he stopped trying triples), and demonstrating gorgeous edge changes on footwork.   I was baffled that he could even hold an edge, as pretty much no one at our rink wears guards at all except when a competition is coming up and everyone has their new sharpening.

[fsk8r]

She might be picky, herself being less tolerant.  However, it has been my experience that high level skaters can skate on pretty much anything, where mid-level skaters are more likely to feel the effects of poor equipment.  When I was trying to find a sharpener, I asked a local coach, who was recently an international skater who sharpened his.  His response "uh, I haven't had them done since I retired"- that was at least a year after his retirement, and I still saw him huge double jumps (I think he stopped trying triples), and demonstrating gorgeous edge changes on footwork.   I was baffled that he could even hold an edge, as pretty much no one at our rink wears guards at all except when a competition is coming up and everyone has their new sharpening.

I've seen a coach nearly do the side splits in her skates as they were that blunt. But thinking about it, they're probably due a sharpening for being on the ice for 40 hours after a week. It gets quite costly after a while and most of the time they're not exactly skating flat out.

[sarahspins]

I was baffled that he could even hold an edge

I'm often amazed at the things my coach can pull off with no edges and literally no rocker left on her blades either.  However, we were working on (figure) loops a few weeks ago and she couldn't hold the edge well enough to do them correctly - she was skidding on every one of them.  My blades are pretty dull for how I like them, but I am sill able to keep an edge just fine (not that I was actually able to do all of the loops, but I tried).

I've probably got 35-40 hours on them since they were sharpened last.  I plan on getting them done this week.

[sampaguita]

It depends on the ice. I used to skate on hard, hockey ice, but I changed rinks and am now skating on super soft figure skating ice. My first sharpening was done after about 30 hours on hard ice. Since then, I haven't sharpened my skates, and they're doing okay on soft ice (I doubt they would do well on hard ice though).