865 Highway 169 N.
Plymouth, Mn. 55441

TWO MOST COMMON ERRORS THAT PRODUCE UNEVEN EDGES.

PLEASE READ AND UNDERSTAND “CHECKING SKATE BLADES FOR EVEN EDGES” BEFORE READING THIS SECTION.

Producing even edges on skates is actually very easy. As long as you check your finished work and correct if necessary, every skate will come out fine. Knowing how you ended up with uneven edges is not as important as knowing how to check for and correct uneven edges. If you would like a deeper understand of how some operators end up with uneven edges then read on.

There are two common sharpening errors. Both cause the creation of uneven edges.

ERROR #1
“If I grind down on the middle of the skate blade I will always produce even edges.” This seems to make common sense, however this statement is false! When skating aggressively, particularly in hockey, the inside edge is worn off more than the outside. Furthermore, the inside edge is worn mostly under the ball of the foot and not much at all near the tail of the skate blade. If you don’t believe this, go inline skating for a week and don’t rotate your wheels!

Skates coming back in to be sharpened do not just have dull edges; they will also have unevenly worn edges.

The outside edge, which is higher, is therefore “sticking out” further than the inside edge and it will contact the grinding wheel first.

Look at Figure H. All illustrations are exaggerated for effect. Here we have a skate with a high top edge coming into the grinding wheel. Note that the initial touch or first pass will only show grinding marks at the top of this skate. If the operator ignores this and continues to grind---the high material will be taken off and the grind will drop into the center producing even edges: see Figure I.

Go back to Figure H. Again if you lightly touched the tip and tail of this skate to the wheel, or took one light pass, you will see that you are only grinding at the top of this skate. What does this tell you? The answer is NOTHING! This is NOT an indication of where you will end up. This is only showing the wear pattern on the skate blade.

A poorly trained operator who saw that only the top of the skate blade was being ground in Figure H will feel the need to raise the height of the holder to correspond to Figure J or change the angle of approach to Figure K.

Notice that while Figure J and Figure K will both produce an initial grind that is in the center of the blade, both positions will result in the blade ending up the same way it came in…. With A High Top Edge! Making matters worse is that this type of operator will usually not check their finished work since they believe they “ground to the center”. These operators are called “Method Operators”. They pay attention to their method but they do not check for results.

TO SUM UP: (1) Grinding into the middle of an imperfect skate will repeat the error and (2) virtually every skate you sharpen will be imperfect.

The WISSOTA WAY is results driven. We check and verify that every skate has even edges. We do this AFTER the skate has been completely ground exposing all new metal. AND we do this in the skate holder. No skate even comes out of the skate holder, much less makes it onto the ice, unless it meets your accuracy parameters. Making even edges is simple. Follow the WISSOTA WAY.

ERROR #2
“Once I get my skate holder to produce a perfect skate I should leave it set that way”.
This statement is false!

The reason this statement is false is that skates vary in thickness much more than you would expect. “Standard” hockey blade thickness is .110 – if there is such a thing as standard anymore! Variations in thickness occur between different brands. I have micrometered one brand at .123! Even if you stay with one brand, manufacturing tolerances can vary widely.

To understand how blade thickness variations effect skate sharpening accuracy, refer to Figures L, M and N.

Figure L shows different skate thicknesses. Skate #1 is obviously thicker than skate #2. This could represent a figure skate versus a hockey skate; a hockey goalie skate versus regular hockey or this could be just an exaggeration of blade thickness variations in general.

Figure M shows the skate holder height set to produce even edges on skate blade #2. Note that skate blade #1 has a high top edge at this setting.

Figure N shows the skate holder set to produce even edges on skate #1. Note that blade #2 has a high bottom edge at this setting.

The operators committing Error #1 are operating under a false assumption. They are adjusting their holders too soon and too often. They end up “chasing their tail” and they cannot guarantee the results.

The operators committing Error #2 are the opposite. They are NOT checking OR changing anything.

Again, creating even edges is easy if you will follow the WISSOTA WAY.

1. Only check for even edges after you have finished grinding the skate – expose all new metal over the whole length of the skate.
2. Check blades as discussed under “Checking Skate Blades for Even Edges”. Only then make a correction if necessary. One full turn of the tilt control knob on the Wissota "Tangent Finder" Skate Holder will change the disparity of the blade edges by approximately 0.001" (hockey) and 0.0014" (figure). The operator can achieve perfection quickly and easily.

ADVANTAGES OF THE WISSOTA WAY

1. 100% Verification !
2. Takes less time to achieve desired results.
3. Removes less blade than other methods.

How are you going to sharpen skates?
THE WISSOTA WAY!

Creating Uneven Edges

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