BJØRN & FJØRD Blades for Figure Skating

[AlbaNY]

Could anyone who speaks English as their native language explain what Bjørn is trying to communicate with this text printed on their blade box? I don't understand it—and neither does AI.

To me it reads as marketing "bull(blocked)."  Like some lawyers decided this wording sounds good but doesn't open them up to lawsuits.  I could just be a jaded American with my interpretation though?

I can say that very equal blades might be a nice offering.  The ones I may send of to you are probably older than me (40) and the thickness is very easy to tell not the same using a ProFiler to sharpen. 

I'm going to say again, as I always do, that a skilled skater can use basically any blade and too much is made of these details.  Whether to spend on them or advise something it would be nice to know details though.

[tstop4me]

Anyway, the quote is an ad. Ads often don't make sense in a technical sense. As long as they help sell the product, technical accuracy is secondary, and may even interfere with sales.

Huh???  First you say that the point of an ad is to help sales, and that sacrificing technical accuracy is OK in an ad.  But then you say that sacrificing technical accuracy may even interfere with sales; and I interpret "may even interfere with sales" to mean "may hurt sales".    ETA:  Or did you mean that technical accuracy per se may hurt sales?

[tstop4me]

To me it reads as marketing "bull(blocked)."  Like some lawyers decided this wording sounds good but doesn't open them up to lawsuits.  I could just be a jaded American with my interpretation though?

Marketing hype often elicits a "Huh???" from me.  In this instance, we likely have original Finnish marketing hype further exacerbated by translation into English.  My initial reaction is that the ad was trying to highlight several key features, but they got mushed together into a nonsensical single cause-and-effects proclamation.

I have a friend who is proficient in many languages, fluent in at least 5.  She once told me that Finnish was one of the most difficult languages she ever attempted to learn.  I remember her joking, "Finnish is so difficult, even the Finns don't understand it!"

[tstop4me]

But I interpret it as meaning that they buy or make or  modify plate steel - or blade blanks - that are unusually uniform in thickness. Or at least they are claiming that they are more uniform in thickness than at least some of their competitors.

Purely for the sake of discussion, let's assume that your interpretation is correct.  Care to explain how extreme uniformity in thickness of the initial blanks "makes the blades more resilient and scratchproof"?

[Query]

Purely for the sake of discussion, let's assume that your interpretation is correct.  Care to explain how extreme uniformity in thickness of the initial blanks "makes the blades more resilient and scratchproof"?

Not really.

I didn't say, BTW, that sacrificing technical accuracy is "OK" in an ad. I Just think it is pretty common, and should be expected.

I really only care much about the working surface. If a blade had unusually large variation in thickness on the working surface, that didn't serve a specific purpose, I would consider that a defect.

But I consider unintentional bottom rocker profile variation, as well as blade warpage, to be a lot more common and significant than microscopic variation in blade thickness and smoothness. From my perspective, only the working surface, that touches the ice, matters much. Though it would also be nice if the mounting holes were in exactly the same place for all blades of a given size.

That said, from a skate sharpener's perspective, blade thickness consistency matters a lot. Because they have to re-center the wheel on the blade, from one blade to the next, if it varies.

But more resilient and "scratchproof" (whatever that means)? No, I don't get it. That's what I meant by it's an ad. I don't expect much technical accuracy.

[AlbaNY]

I didn't intend to start a battle here.  I just meant that companies market things with strange claims and have for at least 100 years. 

The blades I mentioned will probably be mailed off whether or not I use them, because Kaitsu compiles a lot of information for all of us.  The blades I have are not Bjorn but have a noticeable difference in thickness of blade.  Not really in the functional area anyway so maybe that part is fine? 

Either way I personally read this as marketing speak on the Bjorn brand's side.
ETA: I'd love to spell right first try once in my life.

[Kaitsu]

I think we can all agree that the intention behind BJØRN's marketing text was probably to give international customers the impression of high-quality blades made from some kind of unique steel, combined with exceptional craftsmanship and manufacturing precision. Instead, they somehow managed to produce a text that people seem to struggle to understand regardless of where they are from. At this point, I personally find it embarrassing enough that I would seriously consider covering the text on the boxes with a sticker. I doubt the current wording is going to shake the position of the established market leaders.

Unfortunately, the issues I have seen do not seem to be limited to English translation or marketing. In my opinion, having supposedly unique steel does not offer much comfort if there are obvious problems with the actual blade profiles.

[Kaitsu]

As I understand it, BJØRN originally specialized in hockey blades, which are very commonly profiled by the customer, skate technician, or retailer before use. Figure-skating blades are a very different product in this respect. Their factory profile is an essential part of the blade's design and performance, and the customer generally expects that geometry to be correct straight out of the box. Sometimes I wonder whether BJØRN has fully appreciated just how important this difference is.

If their figure-skating blades are being outsourced to a low-cost manufacturer, and communication with that supplier is on the same level as the English used on the packaging, it would not be particularly surprising if there were difficulties with specifications, manufacturing consistency, and quality control. Of course, I do not know enough about their actual manufacturing arrangements to say whether this is the case, but it is one possible explanation for some of the issues I have seen.

It is understandable that a relatively new product may have some initial problems, but I still think many of them could have been handled better. Personally, I would have entered the market with the product and its presentation somewhat better prepared.

That said, I freely admit that my own quality standards are quite high, and occasionally I even ask myself whether I am expecting an unnecessarily high level of quality. That thought often crosses my mind when I see the condition in which some blades leave the factory—and, perhaps even more surprisingly, how badly some blades have been damaged by "professional" sharpening while the skaters continue to use them perfectly happily.

Sometimes it seems that, as long as the blade has the right brand name and model engraved on it, that alone is enough. And for exactly the same reason, it is extremely difficult for new brands to establish themselves in the market.