Something Strange I found on YouTube

[icefrog]

I am looking into getting new skates and blades. I am going to go with Ultimas because I've been in them for years and I really like them. So I found this video on YouTube and I tried to find out for info on google, but their video was the only one that came up. This whole video seems very strange to me and I was wondering what others here think of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f9SnKS8xvQ&NR=1

[FigureSpins]

That is an interesting video.  I've never thought about comparing blades heel to heel.  Wouldn't the rocker radius also make a difference on how high the blade lifts off the heel?

Hmmmm....I'm not entirely convinced that this is a really scientific comparison; maybe our resident engineers can comment on that.


Their initial assumption that the bottom toepick touches the ice on jumps and spins also seems a little off to me.  Spins should really "rock over" edge-to-edge (on the interrupted three) before spinning on the rocker itself.  To spin correctly, the toe pick shouldn't touch the ice and I'm not sure they made that point.  Skaters don't use that pick on toe jumps - the toe-in rolls down from top pick to bottom, through the toe rake otherwise you get what Jazzpants calls a "Floop."  (An intended Flip that takes off from the toeing foot like a Loop.) 

We do use that "angle" on edge jumps like waltz, axel, salchow, loop, walley and variants, so it's a valid analysis for those jumps, imo.

I've seen the tool they use at the end before and it is usually accurate, but it was developed before Ultima blades existed.  At the time, there were only the traditional blades like Wilson and MK's.  I don't know how fair it is to use it on the runner-based blades or the Ultimas, but I understand the point they're making in the video about starting out with new blades that are already into the "replace" zone.

[AgnesNitt]

'Compare blades of the same size' raises flags with me. I've been told that from manufacturer to manufacturer blade sizes aren't consistent. For example my 9 1/4 figure blades are smaller than my 9 1/4 regular blades. So if the sizes aren't consistent, the comparison is bogus.
I could see this test being useful for comparing a pair of blades before mounting them, to look for a manufacturing defect for example.
On the other hand, I'm not Mitch, so I'll sit back and wait for him to weigh in. Have at it Mitch.
The Broadbent gauge is interesting. I've heard of Sid many times, I'd really like to get a copy of his book, but it never seems to be available.