SKATE SHARPENING
The above was just about gliding, but skating is much more. Acceleration, stopping and turning. The method of sharpening (groove depth and profile) also affects these areas of skating.
When sharpening the blade, a groove is formed between the edges of the blade. Deep groove sharpened skates have a groove clearly visible. It forms a sharper edge that bites in the ice very well. A deep groove adds a sense of sharpness. At the same time, however, it tries to guide the skater. The deep groove gives a brilliant hold to make sharp turns. The minus side is the blade sinking to the ice more and therefore the slip is reduced and skating is heavier. Advantage is therefore achieved in turns, a disadvantage of speed reduction and more difficult control of skating. The lower groove increases the speed but the grip is worse because the blade angle of the blade is larger. Acceleration, agility and tight tirns may seem more difficult starting until you learn to control the blade. A ice hockey player needs a blade where speed (acceleration and sliding) and agility (turns, and stopping) combine. The perfect groove depth that makes this possible is only found by experimenting with different alternatives.
A good example of the effect of sharpening on skating is to compare the speed skater to a hockey player. The fastest NHL players skate more than 30kmh, while the speed skaters reach nearly 50kmh. Are speed skaters, therefore, better athletes? Not necessarily, and the reason for the speed difference is simple. The best way to capture water as much as possible under the blade is a lower groove or even a flat blade. The blade slices better because the weight of the skater is divided into a larger area. For this reason, the speed skating blades are long. There is no hollow in the blade, so the whole blade touches the ice. When the weight is distributed to a larger area, the pressure on the ice is reduced and the friction decreases. However, speed is just one area of skating. The same speed skater must be careful with the curves or he may fall. Thus, a high velocity is reached, but it is out of agility. The ice hockey player needs both of these and hence the ice hockey blade is always a compromise for speed and agility. To achieve this, the correct groove depth and blade profile must be found. The groove on the blade is generated in normal sharpening. Blade profiling is carried out in accordance with the purpose designed equipment. Finding just the right groove depth can improve skating significantly, but it still does not have the same result as blade profiling based on the player’s playing style. More about the profiling section.
CHARACTERISTICS OF TRADITIONAL HOLLOW SHARPENING
The myth related to the sharpening is that one sharpening is sharper than the other. That is not the case. Regardless of the sharpening style, after each sharpening, the blades are always as sharp. The groove and the height of the edges make the blade feel either sharper or dull. In sharpening, a groove is formed in the blade. For this reason, the sharpener should form a sharpening stone according to the desired groove depth. The radial radius is quite easy to understand. Everyone has drawn a circle. The sharpener has a diamond-shaped rock forming device instead of the harp. The grooves are separated by different lengths of the circle radius. For example, a 22mm groove is formed when the sharpening stone is shaped in a radius of 22mm. By looking at the blade of your skate you can see the blade edges and the groove between them. The radius you choose affects how deep or low the groove is. The 22mm radius forms a deeper groove than the 29mm radius. Depth of the groove affects your playing, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively.
One and the same groove is not suitable for everyone. The sharpening shop that sharpens the same groove for everyone will almost disadvantage the skaters. There are several options to choose from. Groove is affected eg. experience, weight, position, agility, power, skill, ice temperature, etc.
HOW DO WE SHARPENING?
HOW TO SELECT YOUR GROOVE?
Various types of grooves are available. The skate blade is a personalized item that is comparable to the stick blade. As the sticks had different blades and stiffness of the shaft, there are differences in sharpening.
For example, figure skates and goalkeeper skates have a wider blade. This is how the same groove looks sharper than the player’s skate. Today’s goalkeeper’s skates are also available with 3 mm wide blades, that is, the same as player blades. Please note this for sharpening. If the previous skates had a normal 4 mm wide goalieblade, then to get the same grip you need to go deeper into the groove. By reducing the radius, ie about 5 mm of groove depth, you can reach the same sharpness.
Why did not you know this? Most sharpening shops do not bother telling you about these options, but sharpen all skates in the same groove. Most sharpeners do not ask for any sharpening tips, and others offer two options, deep and low groove. Warning, what’s in the other place is a deep groove, there may be something else in the other place. In fact, you never know which radius the groove is made of. You can of course ask it, but unfortunately often even the sharpener does not know or does not agree to tell it. They do not want to give up one groove sharpening routine because it would require more work and care. It also increases stone wear and thus slightly increases costs. We use real numbers to tell which radius we sharpen. When you sharpen, you know exactly what groove comes into your skates. If you have to sharpen your skates somewhere else, you just tell the sharpener your groove and you always get the same. If the sharpener does not agree to sharpen the groove you are hoping for or tries to collect extra, walk out and try another sharpening shop. It is very good to know the true depth of groove because it ensures that you always get the sharpening you want. Nothing more annoying than jumping for ice on an important game with just sharpened skates and note that the groove is not the same as last. You should never hesitate to sharpen the skates before the important game. Some NHL players sharpen their skates even in every intermission. They do not hesitate because the sharpener knows exactly what kind of groove the player wants. You should not hesitate. Always tell us what kind of groove you want your skates to be sharpened. In addition, sharpening the same groove does not consume the blade as much as a continuous change of groove depth.
HOW DOES THE TEMPERATURE OF ICE AFFECT?
Ice temperature is of great importance when selecting a groove depth. Ice is actually two types of ”soft ice” and ”hard ice”, also known as ”slow ice” and ”fast ice”. Slow ice is all ice whose temperature is higher than -5 degrees Celsius. High ice is left with a temperature of -5 to -8 degrees Celsius. With soft ice, the blades sink into the ice to deeper, slowing your pace and making the skating heavier. On hard ice you needed more groove to get enough grip. If you play in many different rinks, your skating may seem very different in different rinks. As a rule of thumb it can be used to have more grooves on hard ice.
So what can I do? Of course, it is not economical to sharpen skates every time for a different rink. However, in the case of an important game, it is certainly futile to give the opponent an equalizer with an improper blade. For this reason, for example, NHL players sharpen their skates always before away game. Tell us if you are going to play on hard-to-soft ice or vice versa. We will guide you in finding the right groove depth. You can ask about the temperature of the ice from the hall keeper. They, however, monitor the temperature of the ice every day on the refrigeration meter gauge. In order to cover the costs we are able to buy 5 or 10 times sharpening card, which will save you a lot of money.
OK, I FOUND THE RIGHT GROOVE, WHAT’S NEXT?
Remember your groove, so you get a similar groove every time you go to sharpening. However, this does not mean that this groove depth would always be the best. The development of skating skills, changing position, weight gain or drop, and ice temperature may be necessary to change the depth of groove. Tell us if your skates do not feel good, then discuss different changes to sharpening.
What’s next?
Now you have your skates sharpened from us, what do you do next? You go course to skate! If your groove depth changes you will feel the difference. It takes some time to get accustomed, but we are sure that you are mostly satisfied with the result. And do not worry if you are not happy, remember what you did not like and what kind of problems came in skating. Dullness, bouncing the skate in the braking, slowness, ease of fatigue, etc. Bring your skates to us and tell us about the problems. Sharpen the skates again and try to find the right groove that suits you.
OUR PRICES
Our personalized sharpening service does not cost you any extra. Customized sharpening costs only 10 euros. Approximately the same as sharpening in a place where you do not know what the sharpener actually is doing. We also offer 10 times a sharpening card with 85 euros, so that saves you 1.5 euros for every sharpening. Blade profiling costs 20 euros and includes sharpening. We do not charge extra for various grooves, figure skates or goalkeeper skates as some sharpening points do. As a guarantee of quality, we use the highest quality grinding stones in the market. They guarantee a smooth finish that increases sliding and speed. We also cleaned the stone of the metal left after each pair. Some sharpening points try to sharpen as long as possible without cleaning the stone. Why so, to save money, stone, and of course time. But by doing this you will get a blade that is anything but smooth and probably not in the groove is not what it was like since the stone has the shape of the groove already worn out. Do a test, examine the bottom of the blade, and compare our sharpening to the others. Is the groove smooth or coarse? You can imagine whichever blade slides on ice better. The blade should be smooth and shiny. If that is not the case, you will not be able to get the best performance of your skates. Come on, we’ll fix it.
Our shop is equipped with a Wissota and Blackstone pro-level sharpening station. We clean the machine daily and we care regularly to ensure consistent top quality for every customer. Just a top-notch machine alone does not guarantee top quality. It is made of the best equipment coupled with strong expertise, dedication and care in every detail. For us, sharpening is a matter of honor, and you will get the same kind of sharpening every time. We have a good sharpener always in place. We always want to offer top quality service. We are confident that after you try our sharpening, we will become your favorite sharpening place.
We always sharpen carefully and with high quality. We use the time that high-level result requires. We have the patience to make the sharpening carefully and high quality even if the queue begins to grow. Even if you stand in the queue for 15 minutes, you know that on your turn, your skates will get that careful and quality handling even if there is a queue. There is only one way to sharpen us, that is, with care and quality, every time. Of course you can also leave your skates to us and come and pick them up the next day. Or use our Teräbox service.
Many sport shops do not think sharpening as a difficult thing, so they do not much care what kind of sharpening service they offer. You do not know how many times we have resharpen the blades after this kind of sharpener. In fact, there are very few Pro-level sharpeners. The Pro-Level Sharpener has thousands of sharpenings behind it, providing information on the variety of blades and durability. They are also hockey players themselves, so they know what hockey player needs. The Pro-level sharpener knows how to save the blade, does not consume it to sell more blades. That’s a pro-level sharpener, and that’s who you meet everytime when visit us.
Flat Bottom V, ie FBV sharpening. This groove combines a smooth blade with a good slide and the sharpness of the normal radius. As the name suggests, the groove looks like a center-flat V. The flat bottom allows for better gliding and edges for sharpness. There are a lot of options in FBV sharpening, according to the traditional groove. That is, if your groove has been, for example, 22mm in radius, there is a FBV sharpening option that is similar to the sharpness of that groove. That way, your skates will remain as sharp, but the gliding will improve. Already about 97% of the sharpening we are doing is in the FBV. Do not hesitate to try a new FBV because it does not require getting used to it. The only change is that your skate gliding better.
WARRANTY
We’ve got the reputation as an excellent sharpening spot. This is because we take sharpening seriously. For this reason, we offer a sharpening 100% guarantee. If you are not happy with our sharpening, we will sharpen your skate again. So simple.
Remember that if the groove was changed, it will take a few skating times. Every time the groove is changed, the skating seems initially somewhat different, sometimes even troublesome, especially if you do not sharpen the skates regularly. After getting into a new groove, you are certainly satisfied with the result. Most of our customers have reported skating developed with a new groove depth.
