Blade question

Thanks to all who helped me decide on my new pretty purple boots! Now I have a blade question (I'm finding this whole process of getting my first real boots & blades a giant learning process!)

I've ordered MK professional blades with the parabolic option. Unfortunately I have to wait 6 weeks to get them, grrr.

The dealer is going to sharpen the blades for me & asked what grind: 5/8 or 7/16? Then she asked my weight (175) and told me that I really should have the 5/8 grind, me being a heavy lump on the ice (my words not hers!), or, at the most, a 1/2 grind. Not the 7/16s.

I read the informative article at:
http://chuck-wright.com/Skating/sharpening.html

but I would be interested in any comments, especially from other hefty-ish skaters, on what radius grind they use.

Thanks!

I think the US figure skating web site has a section called "Ask Mr. Edge" in the Skating Magazine section of the site. You can e-mail him an equipment question from the site, and he will e-mail you back within 2-7 days. He should be able to tell you what grind to use.
http://www.usfigureskating.org

PARABOLIC BLADES?? so what have you heard?? I am real interested in what they feel like compaired to the last ones you skated in ...... what are the last kind of blade did you skate in ?? and what difference do you find with the parabolic blade??
I am very interested !!
Good luck

I'm getting the boots & blades Saturday, but the blades won't be mounted, so it will be a bit longer before I get to try them out...just wanted to warn you that it will be a bit longer before I can report on them.

My skating friends tell me that I should expect to take most of the summer getting used to them. I'm coming from VERY old, shall we say, ANTIQUE skates, that I purchased when I was 19 or 20 and taking skating lessons at college & skating in the ice show (a memorable solo number with flaming fire batons, sequins, & way too much bare skin...not much skating...)

That was quite a while ago: about 30 years. My skates are Hyde skates, with MK Crusader blades. One occasionally sees them on Ebay. I use them with orthopedic heel/arch pads, and something that I bought with the skates, which is a rubber-like device that fits inside the skate & wraps around the ankles for extra ankle support. I do think that item has indeed helped the support level of the skates. (It's starting to disintegrate now - just the other day the right one split halfway down the back! I guess it's yet another sign that it's about time I replaced them.)

So, I've basically skated on these skates for my entire adult life, although, truthfully, since college, I've barely skated. I had a summer season about 4 yrs ago when I started some private lessons, then childcare/work issues just made it impossible. But this past year, it suddenly became possible to drop my youngest at school, then skate for an hour at a rink on the way to work. And at my age it's high time to find a physical activity I really enjoy - and skating REALLY fits that bill just fine! And I've only had the blades sharpened maybe 3 times their entire life, too (only once this whole past year-I was afraid I wouldn't adjust to it quickly). I have two great coaches, and am working on 3 turns, mohawks, edge change combinations, simple spins, and, of course, always on improving those basics, forward & back crossovers. Once I've got my new skates up & running, my plans are: 1) to work towards testing pre-bronze (I'm not really very far away now, but the new equipment will slow things down for a while); and next year, 3 of my friends & I have a plan to have a group number for the 4 of us choreographed for our ice show. I'm really looking forward to that!

Klingbeils custom-made (no more inserts!) and MK Pro blades are likely to be a big change for me, so I'm not sure how helpful my comments will be especially on parabolic vs. not parabolic. Not exactly a wide range of blade experience here!

Thanks for listening & I'll post again when I'm starting to skate on them.

Ummm...whatever my coach does. It seems to work well...

arte: Just a warning in advance: Custom Klingbeils can feel like steel toed workboots at first!! They are likely to feel much heavier and very stiff, but the neat thing is they will hold up amazingly well. I've had mine for 18 months and they're nice and flexible and comfy now, but they don't have a crease on them. They make one heck of a boot. It will take a while to get used to them, though. Please do report back on the parabolic blades. Good luck and congrats on your new skates!!!!!

Thanks, Yazmeen. I've got the boots & blades now, and have tried on the boots, and BOY are they different feeling from my old Hydes! I'm really not sure how I'm going to bend my knees enough but my coach says not to worry. I do hear that they last a really long time. I'll be getting the blades mounted later this week & then.

t's good to hear encouraging words!

Just a quick report for those who are interested in the parabolic blades. I tried out the new boots/blades, finally, this morning. Just one session, so far, so there's lots still to discover.

Wow! what a difference.

I can say that although it is hard to get my un-broken-in boots to bend, it's very clear that once I force then down with good knee bends, I have MUCH more stability on the ice. In fact I feel like I can bend my knees much further now, and feel more stable.

The problems: 1) of course the blades were newly sharp, VERY sharp, and I do hate this "sticky" feeling on the ice. I feel like the tails will trip me. (This is the same on my old blades when i got them sharpened.)

2) My right foot feels just fine. I feel like I can do most things I used to, or I will be able to within a few weeks, once I learn the feel of the boots/blades better.

However, my LEFT foot...I actually took the boots out & talked tp the person who mounted them. I could not do an effective forward outside edge. Also the inside edge seemed like it curved in more than it should for how much pressure I was applying.

He checked & said the blades are mounted absolutely straight; there's adjustments that can be made, of course, but he wants me to skate more in them.

He, and one of the rink pros, feel that the parabolic blades probably make good edges easier - but on the other hand, magnify one's innate problems. In my case, it may be that I need a wedge under my left sole. I'm going to try that tomorrow.

In thinking carefully, I realized that my left foot pronates much more than my right foot from my profession (I'm a church organist. I can play an octave with my knees together & using just the inner side balls of my feet...you get the picture...and since I do much more playing with my left foot, some careful examination while I was playing today showed me that indeed I 'turn over" my left foot far more easily than my right.)

Sorry if this is boring to anyone. I find the mechanics of skating so fascinating, and especially how one's body physics affect literally everything one does. (Maybe because I've spent lots & lots of time teaching people how to use the tiny little muscles in their fingers/hands/arms/body better to have much finer control for keyboard than pianists who are taught to use brute force, relatively speaking.)

Thanks for listening!

Day 2 report. Happy, happy, happy!

The wedge on left boot has fixed everything. I can see now that the arch/heel supports I had in my old boots must have functioned about the same for me with those boots. Silly me, I thought with custom boots everything would be perfect right off...

Anyways I am SO happy because I am almost skating at the level I was at in old boots, and some things are EASIER, definitely (spins; deep knee bend; even pointing toe). Maybe some of this is indeed a result of parabolics - the edges (now) fell really, really secure.

I'm looking forward to starting to really improve my skating now.