Skate sharpening SOS

[Happygirl123]

Hi guys!

I start my first official lesson tomorrow (yay!). When I bought my skates, the sharpening machine was out for maintenance. They came factory sharpened. Since then, I have skated with them 3 times (approx 1.5 hr each time).

My question is, should I sharpen them before my first lesson tomorrow? I had someone tell me that I should hold off for tomorrow, so I can see the difference between tomorrow's lesson and next week when I sharpen them. But I'm not sure if it's smart going into a lesson with unsharpened blades. Note - I also can't tell atm whether they are blunt or not although when I glide my finger gently along the edge it doesn't feel smooth all the way. Will 3 hours public skate on factory sharpened blades require them to be sharpened?

Thanks for your help!

 

[singerskates]

If you can hold an edge, outside or inside edge, hold off on sharpening until after your lesson. You also want to listen to what your coach tell you you need to have your blade like; ¾ or ⅜ or something else.

 

[jf12]

It should be fine either way - I have always gotten my blades sharpened before the first skate, but if you've been skating on them for 4.5 hours without noticing anything, it won't kill you to do a lesson in the factory sharpen.

 

[Happygirl123]

If you can hold an edge, outside or inside edge, hold off on sharpening until after your lesson. You also want to listen to what your coach tell you you need to have your blade like; ¾ or ⅜ or something else.

Thanks, I'll see what my coach recommends tomorrow! I think judging by what you say it should be okay for another session

 

[Happygirl123]

It should be fine either way - I have always gotten my blades sharpened before the first skate, but if you've been skating on them for 4.5 hours without noticing anything, it won't kill you to do a lesson in the factory sharpen.

Thanks jf12! Stopping can be tricky but i'm not sure if that's because of my blade or my inexperience (lol)

 

[gkelly]

Thanks jf12! Stopping can be tricky but i'm not sure if that's because of my blade or my inexperience (lol)

It's harder to stop on freshly sharpened blades, so sharpening them will temporarily set back your stopping skill, not improve it.

You're probably better off having your first lesson on blades you have become accustomed to, and to sharpen them at a time you will have time to skate a session focused on dulling them down a bit before real practice before your subsequent lesson.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Skate on your blades as they are right now with factory sharpening and then after first lesson you may look into sharpening. Just please make sure someone that knows how to properly sharpen figure skating blades is the one to do it. happy skating!

 

[singerskates]

Don't forget to ask your coach where she has her blades sharpened and the address.