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Change steel or buy skates?


kippewit

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Hi

I'm fairly new to goaltending (doing it for 1,5 years now) and I noticed the blades of my skates get dull really really fast. I mean: I have them sharpened (tried different radius), the first 20 minutes I cannot skate properly anymore because of the edges. The next time I'm in them, I have no problems at all. The third time, they already feel like "I should really have them sharpened" again, and I start getting trouble again with pushing for butterfly slides.

The steel is the one that came with the skates. Those are Bauer Reactor 6000 skates which I picked up 1,5 years ago for only €180 because they were discontinued. They are a little bit roomy left and right side on the front part of my foot, but fairly ok size wise. Anyway. I don't want to re-sharpen my skates every 4 hours, so here are the options I am considering:

  1. I heard many good things about step steel. I would consider the standard step steel. I heard the extreme step steel would be overkill on the cowlings I have (Vertexx cowling). However, I can only find the extreme version in Europe, which means I should order from Canada / US. = ridiculous shipping costs + import taxes. It would be almost € 180 in total. (Update: I found a shop in Germany where I can order them, but it will cost € 120)
  2. Go for new skates, because I heard the steel on the new skates is way better. And since my current skates are a little bit too wide in front. But maybe I'm just telling that to myself to justify buying new skates. I would opt for Bauer Vapor x900 or Bauer Supreme S190. Price for both is around € 320 each. I heard good things about the angles you can make with those skates, but all those "Wow I'm impressed by the angle" comments are from people who had really old super-heavy cowlings before. Maybe the angle difference between the S190 / x900 and the Vertexx cowling isn't that big?

Thanks for your advice!

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If the skates feel too big for you, I would look at buying new skates before spending money on new blades on skates that may be too loose on you. Altho I don't know how loose they really are? If you wear some thicker socks, are they ok then? Would baking them maybe help? If no, then maybe look into some new skates. And try them on in the store first, if possible. And get D width not EE if you don't have wide feet.

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They feel a tiny bit wide, but if I’m honest they’re fine. Especially for my level of play. I was just wondering if the attack angle and the 3mm instead of 4mm would justify buying new. The price difference between steel and skates is “only” 200 Euro. Unless I would have to replace the steel on the S190 also. Then it would make not much sense to go for new skates. 

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1 hour ago, kippewit said:

They feel a tiny bit wide, but if I’m honest they’re fine. Especially for my level of play. I was just wondering if the attack angle and the 3mm instead of 4mm would justify buying new. The price difference between steel and skates is “only” 200 Euro. Unless I would have to replace the steel on the S190 also. Then it would make not much sense to go for new skates. 

Fair warning on going from 4mm to 3mm steel... in my experience... when i made the move it took about 5 sharpenings for me to find the "right" hollow for me. It is deeper (was 3/8 on 4mm to now a 1/2 on 3mm) and as a result, the edges are far easier to blemish when you touch a post. To @bunnyman666's point, the stock Bauer steel is soft, and I have since moved to a Tydan steel w/ DLC which has held up MUCH better.

I really do like how light my S190s are... but like everything else... it comes at a price of durability, in this case, the steel. Keep us posted on what you decide.

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I have the S190's and very quickly changed out the steel to Tydan's DLC as well. The stock steel would last 2 skates before needing to be sharpened, now its more like 6 with DLC. I'd say go for the Step Steel if you don't need to get new skates, but if you need skates, the S190's are damn good after you upgrade the steel.

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6 hours ago, BadAngle41 said:

Fair warning on going from 4mm to 3mm steel... in my experience... when i made the move it took about 5 sharpenings for me to find the "right" hollow for me. It is deeper (was 3/8 on 4mm to now a 1/2 on 3mm) and as a result, the edges are far easier to blemish when you touch a post. To @bunnyman666's point, the stock Bauer steel is soft, and I have since moved to a Tydan steel w/ DLC which has held up MUCH better.

I really do like how light my S190s are... but like everything else... it comes at a price of durability, in this case, the steel. Keep us posted on what you decide.

STEP is making both a 3mm and 4mm for the Vertexx Edge holder now.  From what I understand, the 4mm flares a bit after the steel comes out of the plastic holder. 

I'm debating getting a set of these, or waiting until Step makes their DLC next year.

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1 hour ago, Chenner29 said:

STEP is making both a 3mm and 4mm for the Vertexx Edge holder now.  From what I understand, the 4mm flares a bit after the steel comes out of the plastic holder. 

I'm debating getting a set of these, or waiting until Step makes their DLC next year.

It’s called the fat blade.

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2 hours ago, Chenner29 said:

STEP is making both a 3mm and 4mm for the Vertexx Edge holder now.  From what I understand, the 4mm flares a bit after the steel comes out of the plastic holder. 

I'm debating getting a set of these, or waiting until Step makes their DLC next year.

Whatever you decide... IMO it's definitely worth waiting for the DLC. I can't say enough enough about how well the combination of better steel and DLC has reduced the number of sharpenings I've had to get on 3mm. 

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50 minutes ago, kippewit said:

I was looking at the Step website again and now I noticed there is standard, extreme, blacksteel and stepsteel. I always thought the standard was "standard step steel". So what's the difference between "standard" and "stepsteel"? And which one is this?

Standard = Stepsteel

Extreme = Stepsteel but taller

Blacksteel = Stepsteel but has different treatment to make it more durable (think carbon steel)

Make sure your skates fit as you said there's wiggle room. Having skates that are too long will easily affect your stance and pushes. Skates that are loose in the front gives you wiggle room which is okay, but might cause friction (blisters) or skate wobble (feet not completely set).

The one you linked is the standard stepsteel, 4mm for the vertexx cowling that uses a screw and nut (compatible with your skates). If you are interested in buying it, make sure to double check with your skate size.

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8 minutes ago, kippewit said:

But there’s also a fourth tab on the site just called “stepsteel”. 

I retract my statement, but I will say this from experience as I also own both Stepsteel and Extremes for the Bauer Vertexx 4mm.

I've only seen in my Pro Shops, Sporting Stores, and online like Finngoalie sell the two types of Step Steel; ST and Extreme. My presumption is that it's either promotional material or not really concerning for us. If you look at the downloadable sizing chart, it lists only 2 types of available steel (the ones with the Edge/Edgefat are for the cowlingless skates).

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40 minutes ago, kippewit said:

Hmmm... did Step send me the wrong steel? I asked for Bauer 4 mm with Vertexx cowling. The blades on top in the pic are my current blades, the bottom one is the one they sent me. Is it just the wrong blade or am I doing something wrong?

2017-12-21 17.45.49.jpg

Yep, the steel on the bottom is for the Edge Vertexx trigger holder (cowlingless).

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