hockeykid1 wrote:I've had my skates sharpened at almost all these places and they are all very bad at sharpening skates
Hmmmm
- get our own and learn how to do it yourself.
- go back to the place you last got them sharpened and tell them what
you think the problem is or what you are unhappy about
- STOP GETTING YOUR ROLLER BLADES SHARPENED!
Sal of Saint Paul Park doesn't know much about hockey,but no one knows more about sharpening metals,be it a chainsaw ,lawnmower blade,or a skate blade....radius,rocker,deep hollow,who cares.....make it sharp with no knicks to trip a kid up,thats what he does all for just $2.50 .......he has a homemade device that he uses to check to see that both sides are even...its basically his eye,and in my opinion no one does it better anywhere....once a kids been on his blades they all can tell if anyone else did the job instead...NEVER heard a complaint about his work,ever.....
hesabaddmann wrote:Sal of Saint Paul Park doesn't know much about hockey,but no one knows more about sharpening metals,be it a chainsaw ,lawnmower blade,or a skate blade....radius,rocker,deep hollow,who cares.....make it sharp with no knicks to trip a kid up,thats what he does all for just $2.50 .......he has a homemade device that he uses to check to see that both sides are even...its basically his eye,and in my opinion no one does it better anywhere....once a kids been on his blades they all can tell if anyone else did the job instead...NEVER heard a complaint about his work,ever.....
That's probably because only he does it...not just any HS kid that gets a job at a store.
Guy sounds like he loves to tinker with things, and yes if you do it enough you can go by eye on the edges, but not just some kid that got shown how to wing it back and forth on the wheel a few times.
Can't Never Tried wrote:This is a good topic.....
Knowing a bit about this subject I'll share some insight.
1st it's not so much where you get your skates done it's who's behind the machine and their knowledge of the principles.
The first consideration is the rocker of the blade..this is is determined by the size and style of skater, a smaller light weight agile skater should have a smaller rocker say 11' rocker where as a heavier 6' + tall skater should be closer to the 12'- 13' mark rocker...this is all determined by radial push from the hips to keep maximum contact with the ice thru the stride.
Next is the blade radius this also has a bit to do with size but again more to do with position they play...a smaller size fwd. player that makes a lot of aggressive moves can utilize a deeper radius say as small as 1/4" to 3/8" but will give up speed for the agility.
A defensive player that's more concerned with being able to adjust quickly will also use a smaller radius as speed is not as important as making the quick adjustments to the on coming fwd's.
A bigger fwd. player that needs flat out speed will go as high as 3/4"-1" radius.... they give up the hard cuts for the breakaway speed.
The centering of the radius is probably the most important factor, there should be no more then .002" difference between the the high points on either side of the blade...very few places I've seen actually have a gage to measure this.
After all the above is completed the last factor is the honing of the edges this should be done both before and after the skate is sharpened...the before removes any side nicks in the blade and allows for a very easy job of removing the sharpening burrs after sharpening.
If the place you get your skates done does all this you have found the sweet heart of skate sharpening... best of luck..but get what your paying for....
what about boyer blades??? He seems to know what is going on?
The guys on my team call Boyer the Skate Nazi. not too many still get skates done there.
I will give my vote to Westonka sports in Mound. The new ownership has invested in new sharpening equipment (Blackstone) and they are putting a emphasis on being the place to have your skates sharpened. They are very good, just a little out of the way. Sport hut is terrible, they run it like an assembly line.
This is actually quite old (about a year and a half), but it's one of the kids who used to sharpen my skates at Strauss and graduated from Johnson with me. He was a goalie for the East Side Midget team that won a state title in 1992 (maybe 91? I don't remember exactly). If you're ever in Phalen Arena (and why would you be), you'll see his team picture on the wall in Lou's Warming House.
It always made me nervous having a goalie sharpen my skates, but he did a good job and I lived. It's nice to see the guys we rely on for our skates grow up to be the ones we rely on for other things too!
Govs93 wrote:There's a little tiny place in Plymouth on 55 - I think it's called Score Sports or something... looks like an old 1 bedroom house that's crammed full of gear, and you have to go down to the dank basement where all of their sticks are (they can't fit them on the main floor) to get skates sharpened. It's just an old, unfinished concrete basement.
I went there one time a couple of years back, and I think they did an ok job - seemed to last for a while.
It's a really interesting place.
I could be wrong, but i think that score sports was torn down during all the development in the area, and being run out of bussiness becasue of Letterman's, Sports Hut, and the Plymouth Ice Center
Govs93 wrote:There's a little tiny place in Plymouth on 55 - I think it's called Score Sports or something... looks like an old 1 bedroom house that's crammed full of gear, and you have to go down to the dank basement where all of their sticks are (they can't fit them on the main floor) to get skates sharpened. It's just an old, unfinished concrete basement.
I went there one time a couple of years back, and I think they did an ok job - seemed to last for a while.
It's a really interesting place.
I could be wrong, but i think that score sports was torn down during all the development in the area, and being run out of bussiness becasue of Letterman's, Sports Hut, and the Plymouth Ice Center
I could be wrong about the name of the place, but I know it's there. It's on the corner of Hwy 55 & Peony Ln, just about half a mile in front of Wayzata High School... it's right next to a newer development with an SA & Culvers.
Govs93 wrote:There's a little tiny place in Plymouth on 55 - I think it's called Score Sports or something... looks like an old 1 bedroom house that's crammed full of gear, and you have to go down to the dank basement where all of their sticks are (they can't fit them on the main floor) to get skates sharpened. It's just an old, unfinished concrete basement.
I went there one time a couple of years back, and I think they did an ok job - seemed to last for a while.
It's a really interesting place.
I could be wrong, but i think that score sports was torn down during all the development in the area, and being run out of bussiness becasue of Letterman's, Sports Hut, and the Plymouth Ice Center
I could be wrong about the name of the place, but I know it's there. It's on the corner of Hwy 55 & Peony Ln, just about half a mile in front of Wayzata High School... it's right next to a newer development with an SA & Culvers.
I drove past yesteray, and it is called Score Sports. They're still there. Interesting place.
[quote="Can't Never Tried"]This is a good topic.....
Knowing a bit about this subject I'll share some insight.
1st it's not so much where you get your skates done it's who's behind the machine and their knowledge of the principles.
Exactly! It's not about what skate shop, it's about who is doing the sharpening and their skill and attention to detail. How many times have you driven across town, paid $3 or $4 for some part time guy to carelessly grind a few millimeters off of your blades? (Except, as mentioned above, Strauss - I've always had good results there)
I bought a sharpener several years back and sharpen my own skates. With a little practice and care, you can get a good quality, dependable result. I save the time and money spent driving back and forth to the local skate shop and get a better result. I use a Wissota, great machine, nice price.