At Custom Edge we understand the importance of a quality skate sharpening and maintaining your skates. We have on site precision figure skate holders, and gauges to insure your edges are perfectly square and your rocker is maintained. We also work closely with skaters and coaches to address any concerns and help the skater get the most comfort and performance from their skates.
When it comes to figure skates, figure skaters usually have a much higher expectation for their skate blades than hockey players. A pair of figure skate blades can easily cost as much as a really nice pair of hockey skates, so it doesn’t seem unreasonable to be a little more picky about some stranger putting your skates on a grinding wheel. Figure skaters spend their time on the ice focusing exclusively on skating and their edges which makes them more aware of their edge than a hockey player, as a hockey player is focusing on other things other than just their skating and edges.
Figure skaters seem to have a greater level of confusion when it comes to the sharpening process, which is strange because they are generally more aware of their edges while on the ice. Strange as it may be, it’s more common for a hockey player to have an entire conversation about their edges and sharpening whether they should adjust it for the current ice conditions than it is for a figure skater to even know what depth of hollow they prefer. This is very strange with the fact that a figure skater is more likely to notice a bad sharpening than a hockey player.
Figure Skaters should have their blades sharpened before they begin to feel dull. Waiting until the blades feel in need of sharpening means that you've already been wasting practice and lesson time. More importantly, waiting so long necessarily means that you'll have an adjustment period. Properly timed, there should be little or no difference in your skating after a sharpening. If you hate freshly and properly sharpened blades, then you've become accustomed to waiting too long between sharpening's. Skaters who procrastinate are setting themselves up for disaster should they damage their blades at or immediately before competition or testing. They'll have to skate on freshly sharpened blades and won't be able to do so. As a rule, sharpening should occur between 20 and 25 actual hours of skating. Many top skaters won't go beyond 15 hours, though a few can go much longer.
Hold a skate upright on a table. Rock the skate forward to where the bottom toe pick (drag pick) touches the table. The distance on the blade between the toe pick (A) and where the blade is touching the table (B) is not skateable . Were there is no blade between those two points, it would have no effect on skating. Such close sharpening endangers the toe picks while gaining you nothing.
It is true, however, that how the blade is sharpened toward the toe area is suggestive of the control or lack thereof taken by the sharpener when grinding along the critical length of the blade. There should be no re-curve of the blade's rocker or profile between points B and C which is the blade's critical area; no flat spot in this area.
Custom Edge has the only trained figure skate technicians on hand that will provide you with the best possible skate sharpening around. With 24+ years of experience, trained by the industry's best, why would you want to trust your skates to anyone else.