Blade size vs boot...help!

[amandascw]

I got new John Wilson blades and some new boots. It seems that the blades are a little bit too long for the boot, only by about a fourth of an inch or so. I'm a freestyle skater so if I mounted them would that cause problems? What do you suggest I should do? Thank you so much.

[Matsumoto]

Is there any chance that you could exchange your blades for the next half size down?  From what you have described, the next half size down blade should be ideal.

[amandascw]

I could but I really rather not because I have a competition coming up and would like to get these broken in before, because my current skates are extremely floppy and creased.

[Query]

The front length of the boot does not interact with the ice. (Because the boot doesn't touch the ice, unless you fall. Though the sides of the boot may touch in a lunge, or in extremely deep edges and crossover and progressive underpushes.) Hence, there is no reason why different length boots means you need different length blades.

(Unless, of course, your feet have grown.)

(And of course, the front of the boot does limit how close your other foot can come, so if you like very close "neat" feet, you may have to change the way you skate a little.)

However, you might want to consider moving the blade mount points. Most skate techs mount the front of the blade flush with the front of the outsole, even if the boot is significantly longer than your foot, unless you tell them otherwise.

A plausible place to try mounting the blades would put them in the same relationship to your feet that the last boots and blades had.

[Loops]

What do you mean by too long? Are the mounting plates too long, or are you looking at charts?

Most people mount blades so that the front plate is flush with the toe (so the spin rocker is correctly placed) and leave a little extra space at the heel. In other words, the mounting plates are physically shorter than the sole and the extra space is left at the heel. In some cases (see klingbeil/avanta) the blades are mounted "end to end" so that both the front and heel mounting plates are flush with their respective ends to the sole. In this case the blade would be a smidge longer than the charts recommend.

It is generally not done that the plates extend past the heel of the boot. Too long blades would also mean that the rockers are not correctly aligned with your feet. Size matters!! What does your skate tech say about this?