Editor’s note: In each issue of SKATING magazine, one of the country’s top skate technicians will provide their expertise on skating boots, blades and related industry equipment.
Tools of the trade
BY JACK COURTNEY After 45 years of sharpening skate blades and
mounting them to boots, I have accumulated a relatively small quantity of tools for those purposes. Skate “teching” on the road while performing in ice shows during the late 1970s and early 1980s made keeping the tools of the trade to only those required. I’ve just updated them over the years. Sharpening machine: This is the star tool of
the trade. Several good brands of sharpeners are available, such as BladeMaster, Ice Skate Equipment, Blackstone and Wissota. However, it still takes experi- enced hands, knowledge, artistry, patience and pride to operate them and acquire a beautiful sharpening. Taking care of these machines properly is a job in itself.
Edge level guides: The most common error
in sharpening is uneven edge level. Each of the ma- chine manufacturers has a level guide of some kind. The precision T-square from Ice Skate Equipment and the magnetic leveling bars from Paramount Sk8s are helpful tools. Honing stones: The final step in the sharpening
process is edge honing. This requires a flat-sided carborundum stone for sliding along the side of the
blade to remove or flip the burr created by the grind- ing wheel. This is where the real sharpening takes place, so good quality, fine grit stones by Norton are great for this. I use a 1/4-inch-round stone as well, for work in the hollow or the sides. These stones wear easily, so often require attention. Tools for blade mounting: A battery-operated
drill/screwdriver, manual screwdrivers, small drill bits, flathead and bevelhead screws of 1/2”, 3/8”, 3/4” and 1” lengths. Duct or Gorilla Tape for pre-placing blade to boot. 1/16” dowel rod for plugging holes. Sno-Seal and a heat gun for hot-wax sealing. Heat molding: A convection oven for heating
boots, a heat gun or professional hair dryer for spot heating, and a boot press for area/spot molding. With these tools, a complete sharpening and
mounting can be accomplished. Jack Courtney learned to mount blades from Hall
of Fame coach Gustave Lussi, who made him mount his first pair of ice skates after switching to ice skating from roller figure skating. Jack was the world men’s roller figure skating champion and world roller figure skating pairs champion with his wife Sheryl Trueman Courtney. World ice dance medalist Jim Sladky taught Jack skate sharp- ening in 1972 while training in Wilmington, Delaware. Jack has sharpened almost daily since. Jack’s Arena Pro Shop is located at the Broadmoor World Arena Ice Hall in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Editor’s note: In each issue of SKATING magazine, a skating equipment manufacturer will profile one of its products. This is not an endorsement from U.S. Figure Skating or SKATING magazine.
product spotlight:Eclipse Blades
Riedell Skates, est. 1945, creates skates made to last longer and fit better. In 2012, after more than 50 years of distributing other brands of blades, Riedell took everything that they learned and developed its own line of blades. Riedell selected the most popular and tested blade profiles, and in partnership with the world’s best manufacturing facility, created Eclipse Blades. Eclipse Blades are not only beautiful but are a better performing skating blade — priced compet- itively and made with the highest quality carbon steel, aluminum and titanium. The Eclipse Blades line includes tested profiles
and features that meet performance expectations. Eclipse Blades are guaranteed to be your favorite blade or 100 percent money back within 60 days with proof of purchase. Eclipse Blades are lighter, stronger and faster
than the competition. Less weight with less resis- tance means faster ice coverage and higher jumps. Eclipse offers some of the lightest blades available and a wide variety of blade profiles, because match- ing the right blade features to skating skills is critical to performance. Skaters working on singles and doubles can
36 JUNE/JULY 2017
jump higher and stay on the ice longer with the new lightweight Quantum Blade. The Quantum, engineered with precision, is made from a harder aluminum and features a permanently affixed, stronger, rust-resistant stainless steel runner. Its 7” radius allows for versatile freestyle movement and a cross-cut rake provides stability. This blade doesn’t need a specialty jig for sharpening, so skaters can get a consistent sharpening without hassle to their tech- nician. Eclipse Blades did the math so that skaters can focus on defying gravity. Give Quantum or any of the complete line of
Eclipse Blades a try! Description provided by Riedell
ask the expert
MICHA EL CUNNINGHAM
SKATE TECHNICIAN U. S. OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATING TEAM
Q: Is there a name for the groove in the bottom of my skates? What’s its purpose?
Kenneth, Newark, Delaware
A: That groove is known as the radius of hollow or ROH. It is sometimes re- ferred to as the depth of hollow, but radius of hollow is a more accurate descrip- tion. It defines the two (in- side and outside) edges of your blade. It can be adjust- ed by your skate technician whenever you have your skates sharpened. Sharp- ening is usually referred to as “dance,” “freestyle” or “figure” with dance being a smaller, more aggressive grind (5/16” to 3/8”) and figure being a larger, much less aggressive grind at any- where from 1.0” to as flat as 11.0 centimeters. Freestyle usually falls in between, ranging from as deep as 3/8” to 5/8” or 3/4.” That said, the preferred ROH for each skater, for each disci- pline, is an individual thing. I have sharpened skates for high-level freestyle skaters who want their ROH at 1/4” and left sharp. I have also done high-level freestyle skates with an ROH of 9/16” with most of the sharp edge softened.
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