ASK MR. EDGE INDUSTRY MOVING TOWARD L IGHTWEIGHT BOOTS AND BLADES


Te future of boots and blades appears to be headed in a downward spiral; I’m speaking of weight, not quality. Some may argue against lighter-weight boots and blades, maintaining that while in the air for a jump, the added weight is needed to preserve stability and rotation; otherwise one might have a difficult time controlling his or her feet while in the air and upon landing. One can also argue that point by contending


that it’s what a skater gets used to throughout his or her career, which is where my feelings are about this whole notion of lighter versus heavier. To help illustrate my point, one needs to only


have a bit of knowledge about the human body and how easily it can adapt. As a skater continues to improve and acquire double and triple jumps, tim- ing becomes more critical and so does controlling body alignment. Remember when hockey players would train while wearing weights around their ankles? And what about baseball players? Tey still warm up using weights on their bats to improve bat speed in a game. Remember, these athletes have trained for many years using weights and then re- moving them just before skating or batting. Tey


have adapted to using weights and immediately their bodies readapt when the weight is removed. Let’s take a look at the advantage of less


weight in figure skating: • More speed with less effort • Quicker turns and footwork • More height on jumps • Faster spin rotation •


Taking a quantum leap forward this fall, Para- mount Sk8s will introduce an affordable interme- diate lightweight blade for under $200. I’m told this blade will feature a Coronation Ace toe pick and radius design.


Te rumor mill runs rampant in this industry ***


Increased endurance while practicing or skat- ing longer programs So why hasn’t there been a quicker transition


to lightweight boots and blades? It’s my opinion that a vast majority of people involved in skating have been ill-informed, and are not knowledgeable about their equipment and how to apply new boot and blade technology in order to take them to the next level within a shorter period of time. Manufacturing technology for boots and


blades has remained the same for decades, and only within the past five to seven years has new technology crept its way to the forefront. Softer carbon steel blades are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Tey are being replaced by much-harder, wear-resistant stainless steel ones. Expect to see car- bon steel blades available on lower test blades only.


DOES YOUR BLADE MAKE THE GRADE? Tere’s actually a grading system for figure


skate blades. Depending on whom you speak to, blades are graded on a scale of 1 to 3 or 1 to 4. Ca- nadian manufacturers, however, grade their blades according to the skating level for which they are used. For the purposes of this column, we will use the most common grading system, following that of design and manufacturing procedures. Blades are graded upon the following:


• Varying carbon content of the steel blades are made from • Edge hardening • Quality of the weld points • Blanking (stamping out) vs. laser cutting • Chrome plating quality • Polishing • Design modifications Let’s take a look at how different grades of


blades are determined, starting from bottom to top: Grade 3 and 4 • Small toe picks • Little to no rocker profile • Stamped-out blade shape (not laser cut) • Silver-soldered weld points • Lower grade of steel • Does not hold an edge well when sharpened • Slight splash of chrome plating, if any • Sold as an inexpensive boot and blade combina- tion: price point under $100


Grade 2: • Slightly larger and differently configured toe picks • May or may not have a rocker profile • Stamped-out blade shape • Stronger silver-soldered or hand-brazed welds • Slightly higher grade of steel than used in Grade 3 and 4 blade • Slightly higher degree of edge hardness than Grade 3 or 4 blades • Higher degree of chrome plating • Some degree of polishing following chrome plating Examples: Quest Onyx and Topaz, Mirage,


Mark 4, MK 21, Rinkmaster Grade 1: • Toe picks larger and configured much differently for more difficult jumps • Different rocker profiles for spinning • Stronger silver-soldered welds • Higher grade of carbon steel in some cases • Superior polishing following chrome plating • Special design modifications, i.e., parabolic, side honing, tapered edges, K-pick, etc. • Additional edge hardening procedure to main- tain the highest degree of edge hardness: 54‒60 degrees on the Rockwell scale Examples: Wilson Coronation Ace on up,


MK Professional on up, Ultima Protege on up, en- tire Riedell Eclipse line No matter which blade line you may consider, just because one blade may be more expensive than


and so do claims about boots and blades. Allow me to take a moment to dispel a few of them: Paramount blades make more noise on the ice than other blades. Tis is not true. Paramount blades are hollow in the center.


Tis is not true. Edea boots, even though they only come in one width, can be heat-molded to fit any shape of foot. Tis is not true.


Mr. Edge is a qualified skate technician with


years of experience. He answers questions on boots, blades and foot problems related to your equipment. Te opinions of Mr. Edge are his own and do not nec- essarily reflect the opinions of U.S. Figure Skating or SKATING magazine.


Mr. Edge


another does not mean it is an inherently better blade unless you compare it to the Paramount or Matrix lines, which fall into a different category, because they use stainless steel instead of carbon steel. Carbon steel blades for the most part are made using the same manufacturing process. Cer- tain blades are more expensive simply because of supply and demand and a few slight design modi- fications, such as side honing, which make them more costly to produce. Paramount and Ultima Matrix, on the other hand, use stainless steel, placing them on a dif- ferent scale of edge hardness. One noticeable dif- ference when comparing Paramount and Ultima to other manufacturers is both use a flat surface grinding procedure, which allows for enhanced edge bite. Following the chrome plating procedure, other manufactures grind away in order to remove the chrome plating along the edges to ensure that the hardened steel is at the working surface. Tis in itself distorts the edges to such a degree that it creates drag while skating and reduces edge bite as well.


One last thing to keep in mind is continual sharpening will gradually decrease the radius of any blade, eventually rendering it useless. If your blades are approaching two years or older, you are experiencing difficulty spinning, and you have to sharpen your blades more often, then perhaps it may be time to consider replacing them.


Mr. Edge SKATING 25


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