Buying used Pattern 99s

[Hamburger]

Hi everyone,

I am transitioning blades and to try out some different ones I am looking at second hand blades. Given price etc I don't expect them to last extremely long, but I don't want to spend money on unusable blades. Seller of these Pattern 99s states they are in 'good' state, but I think I might be seeing some blemishes/rust on them? Would love to have some more opinions on the seller's pictures.







Thanks in advance!

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Hi everyone,

I am transitioning blades and to try out some different ones I am looking at second hand blades. Given price etc I don't expect them to last extremely long, but I don't want to spend money on unusable blades. Seller of these Pattern 99s states they are in 'good' state, but I think I might be seeing some blemishes/rust on them? Would love to have some more opinions on the seller's pictures.







Thanks in advance!

No. Don't do it.

 

[thisismynewsport]

Those blades were sharpened quite a bit and the rocker looks flat to me. That’s a hard pass for me.

 

[victoria7988]

I understand wanting to try different blades before actually investing in a pair, but the biggest problem with that is a blade that has been sharpened and used for a while is not going to feel the same as a new blade. For instance, the pair you showed, appears to have little to no rocker. You'll likely put this blade on your boot and be unable to turn and spin. This will make you rule out the 99 blade before ever trying one that actually "works". You just won't get the same results from a used blade, especially if it's just to try them out to see if you like them. I prefer explaining why something won't work, rather than just telling you no. So I hope this explanation helps. Something I did, which wasn't possible for everyone, but I asked some of my skating friends if I could skate in their skates for a couple of minutes. Obviously, this doesn't give perfect results either, as I am skating in a different boot, possibly a different size, but it gave me a little bit of feel. One thing I learned is I HATE the feel of Matrix and Paramount blades. I didn't like the way these blades moved on the ice compared to the traditional blade material. But the owners of those skates love the feel. Each person is unique in what they like. I'll also add I was NOT jumping in their boots. At most I was doing some twizzles and scratch spins as their skates weren't always my size.

ETA: You don't want to be drilling unnecessary holes into your boot by trying different pairs of blades. This really weakens the sole and can make future blades really unstable if the holes are not filled in properly.