Pro-filer opinions

[irenar5]

Can you please share your experiences with the pro-filer?

Ease of use?
Length of time to do the blades?
Time the sharpening lasts?

I believe, Bill S mentioned that he uses a tracing of the original rocker to make sure the sharpening keeps the rocker unchanged.  How hard is that to do?

It is pretty convenient for me to get a pro sharpening, but I am looking for more consistency.  I always ask for the same ROH, but still get blades that sometimes feel off.  Part of it may be that I ask for an intermediate radius- between 1/2 and 7/16 (but the sharpener assured me that he can do it).  I think next time I will ask for just 7/16 and see how that feels, since the pro-filer does not come in the intermediate size.

Thanks!!

[Bill_S]

Can you please share your experiences with the pro-filer?

Ease of use?

It's slow and somewhat messy (cutting oil) , but aside from patience, there's not much skill required.

Length of time to do the blades?

I'd estimate about 30-45 minutes on average for a good sharpening session. A touch up will not take as long - maybe 15 minutes? Believe it or not, prepping the blades with protective tape is the part that I dislike.

Time the sharpening lasts?

This should be the same as a machine sharpening. The blade doesn't care how it got sharp. You will find that a smaller ROH wears down faster. When I skated 12-14 hours per week, I'd sharpen every 2 or 3 weeks.

I believe, Bill S mentioned that he uses a tracing of the original rocker to make sure the sharpening keeps the rocker unchanged.  How hard is that to do?

Unlike fast metal removal rates using powered grinders, the slow sharpening rate of hand sharpening will not change the profile much at all. It would be very difficult to remove enough material to change the rocker. I traced my blades to confirm this a few years back.

Here's a thought experiment - place your skate blade on a flat surface and note how the toe pick and tail are elevated about 1/4" above the surface. It takes about an hour of determined sharpening to remove 0.004" of metal from the blade. If I sharpen just the center rocker area in a deliberate attempt to flatten the rocker, it would take 0.25/.004 = 62.5 hours of continuous sharpening. Not likely to happen, and the slow metal removal rate works in your favor here. If you follow the directions and sharpen along the whole blade length, then the wear is distributed evenly along the profile, greatly reducing the tendency to flatten a rocker.

I don't mind sharpening my skate blades, but I can completely understand if someone dislikes doing it. It takes time and can get messy, so it's not for everyone.

[Bill_S]

Just in case someone reading this topic doesn't know about a Pro-Filer, here's a photo of the coarse diamond stone from a 3/8" ROH kit. While not pictured here, the kit also contains a fine stone for use after the diamond stone.



As you can see, the quality is high.

[irenar5]

Thank you for the detailed reply!
I am glad you posted the photo- I have Ultima Matrix blades and they thicken over the working part of the blade, so it does not look like they will even fit into the holder.

[Bill_S]

That's a good observation on your part.

They are for "normal" blades only.

[Query]

I have used Pro-Filers with the older style (Matrix 1) blades. I might have needed to file the gap in the Pro-Filer to make it a little wider. Then you can apply smooth tape to each side (which makes the gap a little narrower) so it doesn't scratch the sides of the blades. But I haven't tried the new (Matrix 2) blades, so I suppose it is possible they won't work at all.  Tell us if you make it work. In theory, if it doesn't fit, you could also file down the top surface of the Pro-Filer, so the wide holder part of the blade doesn't come into play, but that would be a painful thing to force yourself to do on your expensive new toy.

I don't use messy oil, partly because some spilled once in my skate bag. Yuk. Just water. I like it better anyway. I'm not certain water is better, but a lot of the people who are into traditional Japanese knife and sword sharpening techniques love it, and many people advocate it for diamond dust abrasives, such as the coarse Pro-Filer stone.

In addition to tracing (or just photocopying) and maintaining the profile, check how level it is across the two edges, at many points along the blade, by balancing a Popsicle stick across them, and looking to see if the angle is indeed a right angle, at both sides. If you are very careful, you can even balance two Popsicle sticks at once at different points along the blade, and sight across them to make sure it is uniform. (Cheap Popsicles or generic equivalents are available at dollar stores. I wonder if there is a cheaper way to buy such sticks.) It is hard to skate if the edges want you to tilt this way and that as you roll along the blades! And don't dull the teeth of the toe pick.

Another option, that may be easier to adjust for Matrix blades, but only if you happen to use 1/2" radius of hollow, are the old Berghman sharpeners, relatively cheap on eBay. The stones were a bit crumbly, and a bit coarse. But they were a really, really good design, and I think they used to be the way most people sharpened skates. Even coarser are the Skate Mate sharpeners - and you have to be VERY careful with them to keep the two edges level. BTW, Skate Mates can be adjusted for smaller ROH, but you have to be careful to make it uniform, and they aren't as well made as they could be. I like the very coarse Skate Mates if I want to change the profile or hollow, or if I have lost most of the hollow by waiting too long, because the Pro Filer is too slow, but, like I said, you have to be careful.

It takes me about 5 or 10 minutes to do both blades well, if I haven't sharpened in a while (roughly 40 skating hours on good ice). It used to take less, because I kept the blades very sharp and did touch-up sharpening more often, which worked well when all I wanted to do was to create a clean ice tracings on relatively cold (hard) ice, and to do clean 3-turns, on very cold (hard) ice, but super-sharp is problematical for some other things, and on softer ice.

I have more instructions at http://mgrunes.com/boots/BootBlade.html - ignore the hype about my planned sharpening class, which never materialized.

One thing I love about the Pro-Filer is that it has the look and feel and design simplicity of a high quality tool. 

Good luck! Be patient, and expect a little trial and error the first few times. 

If you don't have patience and a willingness to take care, another option is to find the best professional sharpener within a few hours drive, and use him or her. Ask lots of other skaters and coaches, and you will probably find a good one.

[Query]

Oh - regarding my suggestions that you file the Pro-Filer to fit your Matrix blades - you might call them up and ask if they will do it for you. I don't know if they have any experience with that, but someone once posted a page in which they said that  that Edge Specialties, the manufacturer, had modified the width of the gap on their tool for a particular blade.