Coronation Ace or Eclipse Aurora

[infinitespiral]

Judging by the way my ankle feels when landing my miniscule waltz jumps and bunny hops, I'm soon going to have to upgrade from my Jackson Elles. I've decided to go with the Freestyle Fusions--I considered the Debut Fusion, but it felt dauntingly stiff--but want to upgrade from the stock blade.

My group coach recommended the Coronation Ace or the Eclipse Aurora as being good choices for me; she has several of her skaters in Eclipse blades and seems to think highly of them. I've read tstop4me's review of the Aurora, which makes it sound very enticing, and after a lengthy metallurgic discussion with my knife-collector/historian/enthusiast husband, I think I'm leaning in that direction. However, I've never skated on a stainless steel blade, and I wonder if it will feel significantly different? I've also heard some people say that they can be noisier than carbon steel.

So, any advice or concerns, pros and cons, you can throw at me, I'd appreciate it. I'm hoping that switching to a 7' rocker (and more pronounced spin rocker) will improve my spins and turns; my old Mirages are certainly nice and stable, but the flatness of them is very frustrating to me in terms of overall maneuverability.

[tstop4me]

Yeah, you'll find several posts on the net that stainless steel blades are inherently noisier than plain carbon steel blades.  That's not quite true.  Paramount blades and Ultima Matrix blades with an aluminum alloy chassis (blade holder) and stainless steel runners are noisier than traditional blades, but that's primarily because of the chassis.  Why am I confident in saying that?  Paramount produces blades using the same construction, same chassis, and same runner design ... but with a choice of different materials for the runners (at different price points).  I know a couple of skaters with the plain carbon steel runners, and they are also noisy relative to traditional blades.  Meanwhile, the Eclipse Aurora is fabricated entirely of 440C stainless steel, but using traditional brazed construction; and they are just as quiet as traditional blades.  [I don't know anyone with the Eclipse blades with the separate chassis and runner construction; so I don't know how noisy they are.]

As I've mentioned in my previous review, my assessment is that the Aurora is superior to the Coronation Ace in all respects, with the critical exception of the spin rocker.  You should discuss that with your coach.  There are other skaters for which the spin rocker is just fine (really a matter of personal preference).

Other skaters have written that they like the feel of plain carbon steel better than stainless steel (just as some audiophiles like the warmth of vinyl LPs over the coldness of CDs).  I'm probably not a good enough skater to tell the difference, but again, there are too many variables to isolate the root cause to the difference in materlal per se.  Again, with the exception of Paramount, you can't get a direct A-B comparison, because, in general, different models that are comparable are not identical (and that's certainly true of Coronation Ace vs Aurora).  Be aware that stainless steel does sharpen differently from plain carbon steel (and even different grades of stainless steel sharpen differently, as is also true of different grades of plain carbon steel) ... and that will affect edge characteristics.  Most high-grade hockey skates these days have stainless steel runners; so even if other figure skaters have plain carbon steel blades, your sharpener should know what to do if he sharpens hockey skates as well (one shop in my area handles figure skates exclusively, but I think that's rare).

[Sibelius]

FYI, Jackson has a new boot only model that is close to the stiffness of the Freestyle Boot/Blade kit.  It's called the Entre Fusion. Brand new, so not sure of the availability of stock yet, but usually when Jackson announces a boot it's available shortly at dealers.

Also, my skater replaced her Eclipse Mist (old non stainless version of the Aurora, similar specs) with the Wilson Coronation Ace and for whatever reason her skating improved in every way, jumps spins, edges, moves.

Trying to post a link to the Jackson Entre Fusion:

https://jacksonultima.com/collections/boots/products/entre-fusion

[Bill_S]

I just returned from a fitter and discussed Aces vs. Aurora specifically. The fitter is an experienced figure skater in the Columbus area. He's the person who sharpens figure skates at the Ohio State University ice rink, and is well known as a good sharpener.

I was prepared to go with stainless-steel Auroras, but the fitter said that they are troublesome to sharpen well. He didn't elaborate why, but he had a very strong opinion about it.

I ended up ordering another pair of Aces, being heat-treated carbon steel alloy. I also ordered some MK Pros (carbon steel alloy) to have for experiments.

[Sibelius]

I just returned from a fitter and discussed Aces vs. Aurora specifically. The fitter is an experienced figure skater in the Columbus area. He's the person who sharpens figure skates at the Ohio State University ice rink, and is well known as a good sharpener.

I was prepared to go with stainless-steel Auroras, but the fitter said that they are troublesome to sharpen well. He didn't elaborate why, but he had a very strong opinion about it.

I ended up ordering another pair of Aces, being heat-treated carbon steel alloy. I also ordered some MK Pros (carbon steel alloy) to have for experiments.

Come to think of it We had to have those Mist blades sharpened monthly like clockwork, the CA's can go much longer, approaching 6 weeks and even them the sharpener says, eh, could've gone longer.  They weren't stainless though, so maybe other issues.

[tstop4me]

I was prepared to go with stainless-steel Auroras, but the fitter said that they are troublesome to sharpen well. He didn't elaborate why, but he had a very strong opinion about it.

You need more time to sharpen stainless than plain carbon.  At the same time, stainless will hold an edge substantially longer than plain carbon (here I'm talking about hi-grades of stainless and plain carbon, excluding the el-cheapo stuff).  Not only does this extend the time between sharpenings, it also extends the service life of the blade.  Depending on exchange rates, the Aurora and the Coronation Ace are comparable in price (typically within $20 or so).  So I suspect this sometimes biases the perspective of a pro who sharpens and sells blades for a living (maybe that's too harsh of me).

Relative to plain carbon, stainless has the following properties that makes it harder to sharpen:

(a)  It has lower thermal conductivity, making it easier to overheat the blade.

(b)  It has higher toughness, making the removal rate lower, loading the wheel more [means more frequent dressing needed], and leading to a more persistent burr [means more careful hand honing needed].

All this requires more careful control of the pressure applied to the blade against the wheel, more careful control of the feed rate, and more careful hand honing ... and of course more time.  But sharpeners can learn to adjust.  As I mentioned above, hockey runners are primarily stainless these days (excluding the el-cheapo stuff).   And, of course, this mainly applies to commercial power sharpeners.

[If you've ever drilled (nonhardened) stainless, you know it's notorious for breaking drill bits if you are inexperienced with it.  In addition to the lower thermal conductivity and greater toughness, (nonhardened) stainless work-hardens during machining operations.  But once you know how, it's routine.]

[Bill_S]

It's no secret that about half of the available figure skating blades are now stainless steel.

I've worked with stainless some, even turned some on a lathe for automotive prototype parts during a labor strike. It does take a special touch.

I'll take the easy path until I have to give it up for some other blade attribute.

[tstop4me]

It's no secret that about half of the available figure skating blades are now stainless steel.

Riedell even has stainless blades pre-mounted on some of their beginner kits.  I don't know what grade of stainless they are; and I think they're made in China, instead of Canada; they don't bear the Eclipse moniker either.   I was talking to my coach about blades recently.  She's been a firm advocate of Gold Seals for decades.   But she told me many of her skaters have been switching to Paramounts, and even she is considering switching too.  Getting a decent sharpening around here is such a pain, and the extended edge life has become a big plus, if you drive 1.5 - 2 hours (one way) to get a decent sharpener.