Gold Seal vs. Pattern 99 blade comparison

[AlbaNY]

Pattern 99 vs Gold Seal comparison in video format. https://youtu.be/wM1sWE20Rug

Interesting!
I am not a fan of the side honing idea, and it seems measurably backed up.  Pattern 99s all the way for me.  I'd be curious to try out the pair of Gold Seals I have though, but I'm not curious enough to have anyone mess with mounting them. 

[Query]

The last video link is very cool, and very clear. Good find.

[Nate]

Interesting!
I am not a fan of the side honing idea, and it seems measurably backed up.  Pattern 99s all the way for me.  I'd be curious to try out the pair of Gold Seals I have though, but I'm not curious enough to have anyone mess with mounting them.

Side honing does make the blade perform better in terms of edging and landing security, and it's really good for axel and edge jump take-offs.


I wouldn't touch Parabolics, though...

[AlbaNY]

Side Honing is not an option.  It's inherent to the blade's design.  Lots of higher end blades are side-honed:  Gold Seal, Phantom, Gold Star, Pinnacle, Ultima Supreme, etc.


Maybe you can ask them to make you a pair without it?  I'm not sure.  By default, they all come side-honed.


Maybe you're thinking about Parabolics?  I wouldn't touch those as it's risky.  Your tech needs to know they are side honed, and they need to know how to handle them, as the blade thickness is tapered.  Not worth the risk for me.

I think you misunderstood me.  I worry about sharpenings, so I would avoid those.  I have to admit the parabolics I recently tried were lovely to skate on.     They were so, so nice. 

[supersharp]

I tried parabolics for awhile but didn't really find them advantageous.  I kept wearing them for a quite a bit because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to skate as well if I went back to parallel blades, but I had to test some skates that I mounted for a friend who lives out of town and realized that I had just spent a bunch of time skating on parallel blades and hadn't ever thought about it...so clearly it was not something that was critical for me.  That being said, by the time I made this decision I was doing very little jumping, so I can't really compare that aspect. I'm back to doing more jumps, now that my knees are feeling better, and fortunately the coaching I am getting now is so much better than orginally that the improved technique has more than made up for any advantage the old blades gave me.

On skis, a parabolic shape revolutionized the experience of alpine skiing compared to parallel-sided cambered skis [carving became accessible for the non-elite level skier, hooray!] but now we have seen a similar revolution with rockered skis, which have more in common with the shape of a skate blade and also make the ski easier to turn.  But the ski is long and neither the tip nor tail is close to your foot, so you are wrestling with a much larger tool, plus you are plummeting down a hill.

Skates blades are right underfoot and the ankle is able to flex to create even more options for placement of the blade on the ice, so it's not as critical to have a parabolic shape on the footprint of the blade.  The great thing about parallel blades that are of a consistent thickness down the full length is that they are the simplest to mount and sharpen, so the skater is most likely to be skating with about the same edge angle after every sharpening, particularly if they stick with one skate tech (see thread on measuring accurate diamond tip distance for calibration of ROH).

[supersharp]

(continued due to word count issue)
From a skate tech point of view, parabolics require fanatical attention to detail during mounting, because the thinner cross-section at the middle makes it very easy for the blade to get pulled out of alignment while tightening the mounting screws.  I think the biggest problem with sharpening parabolics comes from the likelihood that the centerline of the blade does not run in a straight line down the boot, in which case no matter what you do, you can't get the edges level along the entire length of the blade.  If they are mounted correctly, and they are not also side-honed, they will be more of a nuisance to sharpen than a standard parallel blade but getting level edges is possible.


I know there used to be options for blades that were both side-honed and parabolic, but I'm not sure if that is still a thing. I'm happy to say that I have never handled a pair, and they seem like they would be a nightmare in terms of finding a consistent datum for finding level.  It's common for side-honed blades to be tapered from front to back (Wilson Gold Seal, MK Gold Star...) but not hourglass shaped.  I've wondered whether the taper is actually the defining performance feature on the Gold Seal, because on most Gold Seals and Gold Stars that I have seen, the chrome relief band flattens the flared edge (or even angles it the opposite direction in places), so you don't truly have a flared edge, but you still have blades that are difficult to create level edges on.  Seems like the Pattern 99 with parallel sides would give you a more consistent experience. 

I am hoping to do some of the same experimenting with different blades that Bill did, now that I have had my boots rebuilt and my old boots can be experimented with.  Now I "just" need to find the blades...