ROH on old Coronation Ace for Figures

[dlbritton]

My Coronation Ace blades finally passed their useable life for freestyle. The technician said the sweet spot has shifted back due to multiple sharpening altho the profile is still correct. After the last sharpening I tripped over the toe picks a few times because they are closer to the ice. I ordered new Coronation Ace blades, I am still competing at Adult High Beginner so no higher blade really called for.

I was thinking of using my old blades with my old somewhat broken down Riedell Motion boots and having a dedicated Figures boot/blade combo.

What is a good ROH for Figures alone, or possibly Figures and Ice Dance if that is feasible? I currently use a 7/16 ROH for freestyle and have heard a shallower ROH is better for Figures. I will also talk to the tech about grinding down the toe pick some so I don't catch it.

Thanks for any advice

[tstop4me]

Maybe instead of immediately jumping to a large ROH (say 1" or greater) that a competitive figures skater would use, you should be conservative and increase the ROH incrementally.  E.g., start at 1/2"; if you're comfortable with that, then go to 5/8" when the next sharpening is due; ....

[Bill_S]

That was my thought too. Gradually increase the ROH from where you are now. A 1/2" ROH is a noticeable change from 7/16", but it's not a major change.

[Query]

And you have tried trimming your toe picks (particularly the drag picks)?

[dlbritton]

And you have tried trimming your toe picks (particularly the drag picks)?

When I pick up my new blades (the shop is going to sharpen them when he gets them) I will talk about trimming the toepick at the same time I have a shallower ROH done.

For now I have gotten used to the toepicks on my current blades. Hopefully new blades will be in soon.

[Query]

Of course, to keep the way you interact with your sweet spot, on your old blades, you COULD:
1. Trim the toepick, especially or only the drag pick.
2. Mount the blades further forward on the boots, so you get the sweet spot where you best like it.

But that moves the back of the tail forwards too, more like Dance and Synchro blades. Allowing closer footwork for yourself (and for Dance and Synchro, for others), and make back pivots and tail spins easier.

But Short tails create more drag if the back tail corner digs in. And if you use a full roll-through for speed and power, that's less. I'm not a good jumper, but maybe they destabilize jump landings.

Anyway, these ideas are just food for thought - from someone (me) who is not in any sense an expert skater.

[LunarSkater]

What is a good ROH for Figures alone, or possibly Figures and Ice Dance if that is feasible? I currently use a 7/16 ROH for freestyle and have heard a shallower ROH is better for Figures. I will also talk to the tech about grinding down the toe pick some so I don't catch it.

As someone who has done this - my blades were at 7/16 and my tech ground them down to 1". He ground off the drag pick. The glide was amazing. Stopping was impossible.

I would say, since this hasn't been addressed, that you generally don't have a blade for Figures and Dance. It's one or the other. Dance likes deeper hollows. Pretty much anyone who does primarily dance at my rink is on 3/8.

[Query]

As someone who has done this - my blades were at 7/16 and my tech ground them down to 1". He ground off the drag pick. The glide was amazing. Stopping was impossible.

I would say, since this hasn't been addressed, that you generally don't have a blade for Figures and Dance. It's one or the other. Dance likes deeper hollows. Pretty much anyone who does primarily dance at my rink is on 3/8.

Wow - completely removing the drag pick! That's hard corp - what some school figures skaters did, to give them longer glide, but not usually what ice dancers did.

For MK Dance blades usually use a smaller ROH, because it is ground thinner than most blades at the bottom (the working region). That is to get the same included edge angle. But that doesn't apply to Coronation Ace.

If you decide to make changes, perhaps you should start by making modest changes, and see how you like the result. I.E., not completely removing the drag pick. I've occasionally trimmed my drag pick a little. But destroying it completely is a lot of change - and it isn't reversible. If you want to economize. You don't really need a skate tech to make such changes - you could use a simple flat grinding stone to remove a little at a time. I wouldn't suggest too coarse a stone - you still want the toepick to be fairly sharp.

OTOH, by the time you need to remove a significant fraction of your pick, AND your profile has changed, you shouldn't expect your blade to have much useful life left. It's a hugely different blade.

But it's your choice.