Hi everyone, just got my blades sharpened yesterday for the first time after having shims put on to help withy pronation, spent 2 hours on ice today and for the life of me could not get over my left outside edge going backwards which is not normally a problem. Had a look and after a lot of squinting and lining the blade up with horizontal surfaces and using a straight rule to check the edges (as described by tstop4me elsewhere on this forum) the left outside edge looks ‘higher’. The right blade has no perceptible unevenness, but I only have a very thin shim on the right, the left boots shim is thicker as my pronation is worse that side. It occurred to me that the uneven edges could be due to the shims as they were sharpened upright on a ProSharp machine, anyone else experienced this? If so should I get my blades sharpened by someone else on a different machine that is less likely to do this?
Shims and uneven edges after sharpening
- Thread starter Lucie
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The shims are inserted between the sole or heel mounting plates of the blade and the sole or heel of the boot. The sharpening jig clamps onto the runner or stanchions of the blade and would not be affected by the presence of the shims. What blades do you have? Do you know what model the ProSharp is? And whether they have the proper adapters for your blades if needed? Have you previously had your blades sharpened on this machine?
Ah ok interesting, maybe user error then? My blades are MK flight, they’re parallel entry level blades, they had their initial sharpen and a 2nd sharpen at this shop on the same machine, both seemed fine (I didn’t have shims fitted at the time). It’s a ProSharp AS 1001 according to their website, I’ve no idea re adapters etc, but judging by the fact that they had to send my boots off to have the blades mounted instead of doing it themselves I’m not expecting anything very technical from them
Just taken them back and they resharpened them for free, he spent a lot more time fiddling with the machine before starting it this time but tried to suggest that the uneven edges were due to me treading on something, but I had a good look and couldn’t see any damage, the left outside edge was consistently higher than the inside along the front 2/3 of the blade. Slightly worrying that, just from what I’ve seen, while they mostly sell figure skates they seem to mostly sharpen hockey skates. They look better now but I won’t know for sure until I get them home and check with a straight edge and get a feel of them on the ice. I’m going to need to upgrade blades soon and while I don’t mind having these blades sharpened at this shop, I might need to find someone more experienced for more expensive blades like Coro ace or Mk pro
Ah, first thing to check is whether the blades were bowed or warped by improper shimming. You'll need a rigid steel machinist's straight edge or ruler, at least the length of your blades. Lay the straight edge against one side of the blade. If the blade is straight, you won't see any gaps between the straight edge and the side of the blade. To confirm, do the same on the other side of the blade. Check both blades.
If the blades are straight, I'll let you know what next to check.
If the blades are straight, I'll let you know what next to check.
I’ve just done this using my sewists ruler which is dead straight and I can’t see any warping of either blade
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Since you've verified that the blades are still straight, here are two remaining possibilities.
(1) For blades with parallel sides, no special adapters are needed. In the latest generation of the AS 1001, the skate clamp is designed to be self-centering. For previous models, the skate tech is supposed to measure the thickness of the blade with a micrometer or caliper, and dial in a correction factor to center the blade. If your tech has an older model, and didn't take this step, then it's possible that one blade is thicker than the other. Then one blade by luck was properly centered, and the other one wasn't. If you have a micrometer or caliper, you should check the thickness of your blades at ~6 spots along the length of each blade.
(2) If it's the latest model, or if the thickness of both blades is the same, then the most likely cause is that there was some muck on the clamp or blade that caused the blade not to align properly in the clamp.
Note that the ProSharps are primarily designed to sharpen hockey blades, not figure blades. A couple of years ago, a hockey coach I knew came from Sweden, and he had the top-of-the-line AS 2001 sharpener. Properly configured, that machine can do a decent job on figure skates. But he had more engineering background than most techs. I don't know how good a job the AS 1001 can do on figure skates. Likely not a big deal for beginner blades. But if you're planning to upgrade to an intermediate blade such as Coronation Ace or MK Pro, the profile of the spin rocker is critical. Unless the tech can demonstrate to you on a sample pair of blades the profile consistency, you should have your sharpening done by a skilled tech on a manual machine.
(1) For blades with parallel sides, no special adapters are needed. In the latest generation of the AS 1001, the skate clamp is designed to be self-centering. For previous models, the skate tech is supposed to measure the thickness of the blade with a micrometer or caliper, and dial in a correction factor to center the blade. If your tech has an older model, and didn't take this step, then it's possible that one blade is thicker than the other. Then one blade by luck was properly centered, and the other one wasn't. If you have a micrometer or caliper, you should check the thickness of your blades at ~6 spots along the length of each blade.
(2) If it's the latest model, or if the thickness of both blades is the same, then the most likely cause is that there was some muck on the clamp or blade that caused the blade not to align properly in the clamp.
Note that the ProSharps are primarily designed to sharpen hockey blades, not figure blades. A couple of years ago, a hockey coach I knew came from Sweden, and he had the top-of-the-line AS 2001 sharpener. Properly configured, that machine can do a decent job on figure skates. But he had more engineering background than most techs. I don't know how good a job the AS 1001 can do on figure skates. Likely not a big deal for beginner blades. But if you're planning to upgrade to an intermediate blade such as Coronation Ace or MK Pro, the profile of the spin rocker is critical. Unless the tech can demonstrate to you on a sample pair of blades the profile consistency, you should have your sharpening done by a skilled tech on a manual machine.
Thanks, I will see if my dad has anything I can check the thicknesses with.
Muck on the machine is possible, the last time I had them sharpened there the blades came off the machine covered in thick black crud, but this time they were clean. I’ve now noticed that the unevenness is still there even after the re-sharpen it’s just less than before.
Interesting that the ProSharp is more of a hockey blade sharpener, all the UK skate shops seem to have one, I think only the expert sharpeners like John Turner use anything else.
Tbh I don’t think I’ll be going back to this shop for sharpening, (I only have because they’re closer to me). I get the impression they’re not all that bothered about maintaining the blade profile and evenness of the edges or ROH, they’re not interested in talking to me about it. It didn’t bother me before because this blade doesn’t have a profile worth worrying about and I’d feel silly taking them to an expert sharpener, but if it’s going to affect my skating like the issue with the edges has then I don’t want even these blades sharpened by them again! I think the tech that gave them the original sharpen at the shop I bought them from (5hours away from me) did a good job on their ProSharp, so I may post them to them in future. Once I get better blades I’ll have to see if I can get them done by a pro on a manual machine.
EDIT: the blade width appears to be 4mm the entire length, if there is any variation it’s too small for my dads vernier (in mm) to detect by eye
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- Mar 24, 2019
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John Turner is no longer with us, but his son, Rod, has taken over the business. John used to look after my blades many years ago.
I've had my blades sharpened at Everglides in Gosport on their AS2001 ProSharp machine (at the Basepoint shop) and they did a good job. Not quite as blissfully smooth as that done by Clive Shorten on his manual machine in Plymouth, but still very good. If I can't get my blades to Clive, then Everglides is my sharpener of choice.
That’s sad to hear about John Turner but good to know his son is carrying it on.
The first sharpen was done by Al’s in Blackpool on their ProSharp and I think it was very good, they offer a 24h turnaround postal sharpening service for £8.
