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At a loss with new skates...


Boosh63

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I purchased new skates with the Vertexx Edge holder. I also bought 2 sets of Step STGoal Edge runners. I cannot for the life of me, feel stable on the ice. My old skates were Vapor XIX and I am solid as a rock at 5/8". I Went from 5/8" down to 3/8" (in gradual increments) and I still feel like they have never been sharpened. Is it me? I'm reluctant to spend anymore time/money...the skates, runners and all the sharpenings so far have been a small fortune. Not to mention a bunch of crappy experiences on the ice.

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4 hours ago, Boosh63 said:

I purchased new skates with the Vertexx Edge holder. I also bought 2 sets of Step STGoal Edge runners. I cannot for the life of me, feel stable on the ice. My old skates were Vapor XIX and I am solid as a rock at 5/8". I Went from 5/8" down to 3/8" (in gradual increments) and I still feel like they have never been sharpened. Is it me? I'm reluctant to spend anymore time/money...the skates, runners and all the sharpenings so far have been a small fortune. Not to mention a bunch of crappy experiences on the ice.

Are you feeling unstable at the ankle or is it more the balance point?

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@Boosh63 What new skates are you in now? Stock cowlingless Bauers?

Ive had some similar symptoms to what you’re describing. I’m in taller steel runners too which is brand new to me. I’m coming from traditional, cowling skates like you so I’m used to the shorter steel that was fixed into the cowling.

I wonder if this is partly due to losing some energy / stability with the replaceable runners. Read somewhere about a hack for this. Drape clear tape over top of runner near front and back of runner. The ends should come down near sharp edge on each side. Secure runners in the holder and lock in. Then take razor and cut tape along edges of the holder. Peal off excess. (I know...a graphic would have been much easier)

alternatively, like @DL42 said, I have a set of profiled blades coming this week. Will throw a review up after a few skates.

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5 hours ago, jayluv54 said:

Are you feeling unstable at the ankle or is it more the balance point?

Very stable at the ankle but I can barely skate. Like I mentioned it is as if they were very dull and yet they are at 3/8" ROH. I step on the ice and my foot immediately goes sideways.

My skate guy can't figure out why I'm having such trouble and did suggest me going for a profile if the move to 3/8" didn't yield results. I never profiled my shitty old XIX's and they are currently superior to these s29's and the XIX's are in need of a sharpen!

I'd like to try the Step 4mm runners but I have already forked out a small fortune.

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45 minutes ago, dstew29 said:

@Boosh63 What new skates are you in now? Stock cowlingless Bauers?

Ive had some similar symptoms to what you’re describing. I’m in taller steel runners too which is brand new to me. I’m coming from traditional, cowling skates like you so I’m used to the shorter steel that was fixed into the cowling.

I wonder if this is partly due to losing some energy / stability with the replaceable runners. Read somewhere about a hack for this. Drape clear tape over top of runner near front and back of runner. The ends should come down near sharp edge on each side. Secure runners in the holder and lock in. Then take razor and cut tape along edges of the holder. Peal off excess. (I know...a graphic would have been much easier)

alternatively, like @DL42 said, I have a set of profiled blades coming this week. Will throw a review up after a few skates.

S29

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22 minutes ago, Boosh63 said:

Very stable at the ankle but I can barely skate. Like I mentioned it is as if they were very dull and yet they are at 3/8" ROH. I step on the ice and my foot immediately goes sideways.

My skate guy can't figure out why I'm having such trouble and did suggest me going for a profile if the move to 3/8" didn't yield results. I never profiled my shitty old XIX's and they are currently superior to these s29's and the XIX's are in need of a sharpen!

I'd like to try the Step 4mm runners but I have already forked out a small fortune.

That's a pretty dramatic difference in height and blade thickness.  I would assume its going to take a lot of adjustment.  Did your skate guy cross-grind the step blades?  I've heard of that needing to be done on occasion.  Have you tried using the stock steel to see if there's any difference?  

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I just got new to me X900's.  I came from Reactor 6000s. There was some adjustment from 4mm steel to 3mm.

I kept the stock LS1G steel in for the first few skates, then moved to LS5G.  

It will take some time... Not sure if you can but even hit some public skates just to get adjusted

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taller skates messes with your stance and balance at first. first few skate you will feel it in the hips, could barely walk feel like goaltending for the first time.

This was couple a years ago, went from old bauer 7000 old school skates to  vertex cowling, then cowlingless in about a year time.

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@Boosh63 you're introducing lots of changes all at once... steel width, new hollow, and additional steel height. It's going to take some time. I made a similar change but di it in phases.

Width & Hollow... These two will go together no matter what I swapped out Cobra Cowlings to Vertexx 3mm on a set of Graf boots. Took a few skates to fully get used to 3mm steel, and a few more skates to finally find the right hollow.

Steel Height... I was unhappy w/ the performance of the stock Bauer steels and how incredibly soft they are so I switched to Tydan DLC. Already knew a hollow that gave me enough bite on 3mm so I didn't have to spend $$$ grinding down expensive steel. This was by far the easiest to get used to in terms of the changes, but when you throw it on top of the others... I can understand your feeling of instability. 

Not sure of your size and style... but my advice would be to chew up the stock steel in finding the right hollow... then introduce the Step Steels. If you're too far gone for that... just keep at it. Eventually you'll find your new stable... and it will be just that... not the same as before... but stable.

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I have read that at lot of goalies ended up 1/8" sharper going to 3mm. Runner height aside for a sec, should I not feel a huge difference between 5/8" and 3/8's? I't seems as if there is very little difference in bite. I went from 5/8 to 9/16 to 1/2 to 3/8.

I'm 5' 10" 190lbs and play somewhere between hybrid and true butterfly.

I will switch to the stock LS3 steel and see. I was hoping to sell the stock set thinking the Step Steel was going to be it.

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33 minutes ago, Boosh63 said:

I have read that at lot of goalies ended up 1/8" sharper going to 3mm. Runner height aside for a sec, should I not feel a huge difference between 5/8" and 3/8's? I't seems as if there is very little difference in bite. I went from 5/8 to 9/16 to 1/2 to 3/8.

I'm 5' 10" 190lbs and play somewhere between hybrid and true butterfly.

I will switch to the stock LS3 steel and see. I was hoping to sell the stock set thinking the Step Steel was going to be it.

I'm about your size minus a couple stones and 1/8" sounds... aggressive. I was at a 5/8" on 4mm steel and use 1/2" or 7/16" depending on ice conditions now. The reason I switched to Tydan DLC from stock was solely for edge retention. I found that if i just breathed near a post the stock steels got a good burr... higher quality steel and the DLC took care of that.  The additional height was a nice bonus that took all of 5-10 min to get used to.

IMO you should certainly notice a difference from 5/8" to 3/8"... and while you may have wanted to sell off the LS3... chew them up in sharpenings as you likely would have with constant burrs anyway. Once you find the hollow... slap on the higher quality Step Steels.

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The first thing I'd look at is the blade. Take a quarter(or any coin of size) and lay it flat on the blade near the toe, middle and heel. Make sure the coin lays perpendicular to the blade. If the coin leans to either side find a new sharpener, have the blades cross ground and start again. 

If the coin is square with the blade, hold the blade up to a light with the coin still on it and check to see if light passes under the coin on the blade( make sure there is a hollow). If not, again find a new sharpener and have them cross ground and sharpened to your spec.

If everything with the bottom of the blade is good, check that the blades come out of the holders square, then check that the holders are in line both toe to heel and foot to blade.

Next I would compare old to new. Hold one of each with the foot bottom parallel to each other. Look to see if the heel pitch/toe pitch are the same or similar. next check to see if the blade lengths are the same or close. Next check the profiles, obviously the new blades will have more steel but check the shape of the blades toe to heel as this can cause issues as well. Finally, while in the holder, lay the side of the blade on a flat surface and make sure the blades aren't warped. It happens sometimes that the holder cause the blade to warp or visa-versa. Being that the actual edge on each side of a ROH is only thousandths thick, a warped blade could cause a lack of edge in places along the length of the blade.

Just my $.02, hope it helps.

OBS

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57 minutes ago, old but slow said:

The first thing I'd look at is the blade. Take a quarter(or any coin of size) and lay it flat on the blade near the toe, middle and heel. Make sure the coin lays perpendicular to the blade. If the coin leans to either side find a new sharpener, have the blades cross ground and start again. 

If the coin is square with the blade, hold the blade up to a light with the coin still on it and check to see if light passes under the coin on the blade( make sure there is a hollow). If not, again find a new sharpener and have them cross ground and sharpened to your spec.

If everything with the bottom of the blade is good, check that the blades come out of the holders square, then check that the holders are in line both toe to heel and foot to blade.

Next I would compare old to new. Hold one of each with the foot bottom parallel to each other. Look to see if the heel pitch/toe pitch are the same or similar. next check to see if the blade lengths are the same or close. Next check the profiles, obviously the new blades will have more steel but check the shape of the blades toe to heel as this can cause issues as well. Finally, while in the holder, lay the side of the blade on a flat surface and make sure the blades aren't warped. It happens sometimes that the holder cause the blade to warp or visa-versa. Being that the actual edge on each side of a ROH is only thousandths thick, a warped blade could cause a lack of edge in places along the length of the blade.

Just my $.02, hope it helps.

OBS

Interesting...

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I took my skates in today. I had only been bringing steel in. My guy confirmed that everything was ok.

He also agreed that I should be farting around with the LS3 steel, get things right and duplicate on the Step stuff.

Turns out that since I purchased the skates there, I get a free contour! Fingers crossed.

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