Chroming issues in the World Best Blades

[Kaitsu]

For those who have recently bought or are about to buy the world's best blades, I recommend checking the blades in the store or at the latest before mounting them. John Wilson clearly has some recent batches where chrome plating or chrome removal sanding has failed. When new, the blades may show only minor chipping of the chrome, but after very short use, the chrome can chip badly.

Instructional video https://youtu.be/n4Nf9uGb2Kw

I already know at least 5 pairs of blades that have recently had the same problem.

[supersharp]

Thanks for the warning, that looks terrible. I'd much rather deal with it before mounting than after.

[AlbaNY]

I've been skating on Pattern 99s for six months and recently noticed this at one of the toe picks.  The rest of the blades are looking okay.  I worry again about the set waiting for my new boots, but I did have my tech check them out, and I hope he looked for this.

[tstop4me]

It'll be interesting whether the "lifetime promise" covers this defect.

[Kaitsu]

It'll be interesting whether the "lifetime promise" covers this defect.

It covers, but it wont cover the extra work and delays what replacement causes.

[Isk8NYC]

It's happened before - both of my daughters' CorAces had the same chrome peel problem about ten years ago.  I wrote to the company and they replaced them for free.

[Kaitsu]

This is real epidemic. I will see more and more of blades where chrome peels off. I hope this will end in some day, or people start to buy some other manufacturer blades.

[AlbaNY]

This is real epidemic. I will see more and more of blades where chrome peels off. I hope this will end in some day, or people start to buy some other manufacturer blades.

Wow!   

[Query]

Is it likely that the steel comes plated from the steel factory - or would you guess HD Sports does its own plating?

I'm not making excuses for them - their quality control folks should have rejected the blades regardless - just wondering.

Aside from looking bad, and making rust more likely, if plate falls off on one side and not the other, or falls off asymmetrically, it seems intuitively like it would act somewhat like a non-level (or worse, an irregular level) sharpening.

Plus this is something that should be pretty obvious to both the skate tech and the buyer. They don't need to take any high precision measurements - they can just look at the blade.

Maybe HD Sports should hire a decent figure skater to head their quality control department. People who pay premium prices for high end blades expect to get premium quality. I wonder why HD Sports' management doesn't understand that. 

I hope a lot of skate techs return the blades as defective. Maybe that would be a sufficiently unsubtle hint.

But I guess JW and MK blades are too popular for it to make economic sense for pro shops to stop dealing with them...

[tstop4me]

Is it likely that the steel comes plated from the steel factory - or would you guess HD Sports does its own plating?

Note that all the surfaces of the pieceparts, except for regions in which the chrome has been intentionally removed (the hollow and the chrome relief), are chrome plated.  Therefore, the chrome was plated after all the pieceparts had been cut out from plate steel, finished, and assembled (and heat treated at various steps). 

[Query]

So they have no excuse that sounds even slightly plausible...

Maybe you should offer to work for their engineering, manufacturing or quality control department.

[tstop4me]

So they have no excuse that sounds even slightly plausible...

Maybe you should offer to work for their engineering, manufacturing or quality control department.

I would advise them to ditch the chrome-plated, plain-carbon steel and switch to stainless steel.

[AlbaNY]

I would advise them to ditch the chrome-plated, plain-carbon steel and switch to stainless steel.

This would be nice.

[NiceIce]

This is real epidemic. I will see more and more of blades where chrome peels off. I hope this will end in some day, or people start to buy some other manufacturer blades.

That is bizarre,

There should be no plating left on that part of the blade.  The side-grinding/chrome relief is done to bring this part of the blade down to the unplated steel; it seems that they are having a real QC issue.  But I find they almost always do for this aspect as many times the grinding is done unevenly -- especially in the rear part of the blade, so getting even edges there becomes a chore and takes extra adjustments.

If you can find a rocker that you like and your sharpener can handle them, I really recommend blades like the Matrix and Paramount lines.  Construction by CNC and using separate runners gives very good precision and repeatability of manufacture (and sharpening in my experience).


 

[LunarSkater]

From talking with my local skate tech, his sources told him the manufacturer was in the middle of replacing aging equipment. And that a lot of this was happening for that reason. Now whether these blades were coming from the old or new machinery, no one had any idea.