Buying Figure Skates from SkatersEdge NZ: Mounting and Sharpening

This product is available for skaters who are buying both boots and blades from SkatersEdge NZ.

The quality of your figure skate blades sharpening can significantly affect your performance on the ice. To ensure that your blades are in good condition, you need to know what to look for when evaluating them. Here are some key factors to consider:

1. Unleveled Edges: When you look at your blades from the back, they should form a U shape where both the outside edge and inside edge are the same height. If you notice that one edge is significantly higher than the other, then your edges are unleveled. You can also feel this while skating if one edge is harder to perform than the other.
2. Spin Rocker: The spin rocker flattens over the lifetime of a blade. However, if you find that spinning and turning become more difficult after a particular sharpening, it’s likely that the spin rocker was shaved off.
3. Inconsistent Sharpening: Sometimes, after a sharpening, you may find that some parts of the blades are sharp, while other parts are not. To check for this, run your fingers along the edges and see if they feel equally “grippy” on all areas and both edges.
4. ROH: The radius of hollow (ROH) determines how much “slip” and “grip” you will have on the ice. The ideal ROH depends on your body weight, the hardness of the ice, and your skating style. Most freestyle skaters skate on 0.5 and 7/16. If you can’t skate properly or feel that your edges are too slippery or grippy, then it’s likely your ROH has been changed.
5. Tail: Shaving off the tail of the blades is a common problem for many technicians. Some blades come with a slightly shaved-off tail from the factory, so we often leave the tail unsharpened during our initial sharpens until the tail is leveled with the rest of the blades. A shaved-off tail can cause issues when landing jumps and doing some turns.
6. Smooth Skating Experience: Some skaters find that their blades require a “break-in” period after a fresh sharpen. At SkatersEdge NZ, we ensure that your sharpening finish will require minimal break-in time and be smooth from day one!

Trust the Quality: Ultimately, the best way to judge whether you have good figure skate blades sharpening is to trust the quality of the work. At SkatersEdge NZ, we don’t boast about our work; you’ll feel the difference on the ice.