New blades skidding sideways | Golden Skate

New blades skidding sideways

leia1979

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 9, 2022
I picked up my new skates (SP-Teri Super Teri) with MK Pro blades on Friday. I started breaking them in that afternoon in a public session with awful ice but didn't notice anything amiss. This morning I went to a freestyle session on freshly-cleaned ice and was going through the adult pre-bronze 2 pattern (half circles on edges along a straight line). I noticed I was skidding on the turns. T-stops take a bit of pressure when normally I have to be so careful on a fresh sharpening. I dared one small waltz jump, and as I expected, skidded on the landing. I can do a 3-turn mid-blade easily because it'll just slide sideways.

I'm pretty sure I've only ever had a 3/8" sharpening since my first skates in 1994 but was talked into 7/16" this time. Is there that much of a difference or is something wrong? Like maybe they forgot to actually sharpen the blades? They feel flat and dull compared to my 3/8" sharpened blades with about 20 hours on them. Considering some people skate on a 1/2" ROH, I'm guessing something is wrong, but just want to make sure I'm not crazy.

Hopefully the shop is open on Monday because I cannot skate on them like this. I don't trust the edges for anything beyond basic footwork.
 

tstop4me

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Country
United-States
The difference in ROH by itself wouldn't cause that degree of skidding. Something else is wrong with the sharpening. Can't say what without inspecting them. But feel carefully along the edges (with your fingernail, not your fingertip) to see whether the burrs have been removed from the edges. A couple of years ago several skaters at my rink had similar problems after a fresh sharpening (previous good tech moved away, new tech took over). When I checked the edges, I found that the new tech wasn't deburring the edges after sharpening. I removed the burrs, and then they skated fine. Your problem may be different, but worthwhile to check for burrs.
 

leia1979

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 9, 2022
Thanks! There are no burrs - I just double checked both blades. At least it's good to know I'm probably not imagining something is wrong.
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
Thanks! There are no burrs - I just double checked both blades. At least it's good to know I'm probably not imagining something is wrong.
Sounds possibly like an unbalanced edge sharpening to me.
 

leia1979

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 9, 2022
Here are some photos. They're not quite permanently mounted yet. I was supposed to skate on them for a couple weeks to break them in and come back for adjustment. The right placement is good, the left needs to move a tiny bit to compensate for pronation. Unfortunately the shop wasn't open today to fix them, so I think I'll have to wait until Saturday. :(

I did some warmups in the new skates this morning before switching to my old ones to practice jumps. My older skates felt so sharp in comparison, even though they were last sharpened in mid-March. I am convinced they forgot to sharpen the new blades, as both skates are so evenly dull. (ETA: I just gave both blades a good wiggle test and there was no movement, so I believe it's not a case of a loose blade.)

It's disappointing because the new boots fit so much better but I'll need to wait another week to do much in them.

JAQQNdX.png

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tstop4me

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Country
United-States
Sounds possibly like an unbalanced edge sharpening to me.
Yes, this is another possible cause to check out.

OP: See if someone at your rink (another skater or a coach) has a test gauge to check for uneven edges.

If not, do a series of forward cross-overs, a series of forward consecutive outside edges, and a series of forward consecutive inside edges. Do you notice a difference in bite between inside and outside edges for each foot? If one edge has good bite, but the other skids, then you could have substantially uneven edges or the blade mount needs to be moved (or both).
 

kolyadafan2002

Fan of Kolyada
Final Flight
Joined
Jun 6, 2019
Here are some photos. They're not quite permanently mounted yet. I was supposed to skate on them for a couple weeks to break them in and come back for adjustment. The right placement is good, the left needs to move a tiny bit to compensate for pronation. Unfortunately the shop wasn't open today to fix them, so I think I'll have to wait until Saturday. :(

I did some warmups in the new skates this morning before switching to my old ones to practice jumps. My older skates felt so sharp in comparison, even though they were last sharpened in mid-March. I am convinced they forgot to sharpen the new blades, as both skates are so evenly dull. (ETA: I just gave both blades a good wiggle test and there was no movement, so I believe it's not a case of a loose blade.)

It's disappointing because the new boots fit so much better but I'll need to wait another week to do much in them.

JAQQNdX.png

QEvUd6t.png
I see what you mean, the blades do look dullish (like factory sharpness rather than properly sharpened).

It may be a trick of the light, but the front end doesn't look flush against the boot, so if the screws were incorrectly tightened then I'm not sure this could have an impact. (I.e. would lean one way if was tightened on one side more than the other, even if blade wouldn't move), and it not being flush itself may not be the problem but it does allow for imbalance if the screws aren't tightened as they should be).
Theorising here but by no means a skate tech, and if possible you should see a pro ASAP.
 

leia1979

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 9, 2022
@tstop4me - they are definitely equally dull on all edges--slow speed footwork is the only thing I feel comfortable doing on them currently, and I get skidding on both inside and outside edges. Either they weren't sharpened since leaving the MK factory or the machine was set way wrong. The hollow feels very shallow, and even if I really tried, I don't think I could cut my finger on these blades.

@kolyadafan2002 - You're right, the front plate isn't flush to the boot closer to mid-foot. It's identical on both. I'm not sure what their plan was for permanent mounting to address that.

I left a voicemail yesterday morning, but I guess they weren't open. Hopefully they call me back today, but as I have to work during their open hours on weekdays, I won't be able to go up there til Saturday. I'll just have to use my old skates for this week's lesson because I'm certainly not going to jump with the new ones.

I appreciate the feedback. I'm glad to know that once I get them fixed to a properly sharp 7/16 ROH, they shouldn't seem wildly different to what I'm used to.
 

tstop4me

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Country
United-States
I left a voicemail yesterday morning, but I guess they weren't open. Hopefully they call me back today, but as I have to work during their open hours on weekdays, I won't be able to go up there til Saturday. I'll just have to use my old skates for this week's lesson because I'm certainly not going to jump with the new ones.

I appreciate the feedback. I'm glad to know that once I get them fixed to a properly sharp 7/16 ROH, they shouldn't seem wildly different to what I'm used to.
Thanks for the updates. If you know you prefer 3/8" ROH, you should simply insist on it. Even if they did sharpen properly to 7/16" (and now you have good reason to suspect they may not have sharpened at all), 3/8" is a deeper hollow anyway, so there would be no waste of metal in asking them for 3/8" at this point. It would be a different story if you were a newbie and asked, "Duh, what's ROH?"; then OK go with the tech's recommendation. But that's not your situation.
 
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