Shimming the Jackson SoftSkate

[Sk8Dreams]

The toe plate of the blades on the Jackson SoftSkate is riveted instead of screwed in, so the blades cannot be shifted to compensate for glitches in a skater's stance.  I have a student in them who has not been able to hold onto a RFO edge because of this.  I noticed that the last adjustment to my new boots/blades was a leather shim under the heel of one boot, so I tried this with my student's skate.  The heel plates are screwed in, and I was able to unscrew enough to slide a thin shim into place.  I did not remove any screws, but just lifted the heel plate a little with the end of a screwdriver.  There were no problems tightening up.  Voila! RFO edges are now a piece of cake for her.  I've been afraid to recommend this skate, which was my favorite for beginners, since I've had two students with this kind of problem.

[FigureSpins]

Did you put the shim across the entire heel plate or just on the inside / outside?

[Sk8Dreams]

Just across the outside (or inside, not sure right now - a bit groggy and should go to sleep!)  I cut a piece of plasticized paper packaging and made notches in it for the screws.  It's about the thickness of a credit card and just looked right to me based on the piece of leather shimming my own boot.  I'm hoping it will last until my student is ready for better skates, but I'm keeping the larger piece I cut it from just in case.  I'm keeping my eyes out for anything that might work better.