Skate Sharpening
 

Looking for a place that knows how to sharpen a quality pair of hockey skates properly. Preferably someone local.

The place I wanted to take them to (Sports Arena in Hooksett) is shutdown due to Covid. Since this will be the first sharpening it is critical someone with experience does it.

Any hockey players out there??

Thanks!

Dan

Skate Sharpening
 

Pure Hockey in Nashua does a good job.

Pure Hockey #45
375 Amherst St Somerset Plaza
Unit 2
Nashua, NH 03063
603-598-9008

I can’t speak about the rink in Laconia never had skates sharpened there

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There is a guy that just moved from Hudson NH to up in Bridgewater. No Icing Sports
792 Mayhew Turnpike, Bridgewater, NH 03222 - right near new found lake
https://www.noicingsports.com/


probably one of the top 3 in New England by far, people from all over north America mail him blades

does profiling, radius, custom/combo radius

Wow! Just came from their web site. These guys are the real deal!! Getting back on the ice after 40 years so I need all the help I can get!! :eek:

Thanks!

Dan

Thanks. This helps me a lot also. My son plays for New Hampton so it’s only 15 minutes from the school.


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www.plymouthski.com on Main St near the MVSB does skate sharpening for eight dollars, while u wait, or for six dollars if you leave them, there.

Plymouth Ski & Sports has a big selection of new ice skates, too.

Their master ice skate sharpener has a Ph.D in ice skate sharpening having studied the craft for seven years at the Helsinki School of Hockey & Figure Skating with a minor in broom ball sharpening!

if you radius it is a one time cost, and then just the cost of sharpening, $8-$10

I found this guy three years ago, my daughter's goalie skates have a combo radius and a pitch and she loves it, she tried it three years ago. Come to find out I knew a lot of people that was using him, I just never asked and I guess some like to keep it to themselves. I went to a Flat bottom V, and I am old school played in late 80's and all throughout the 90s into early 00s, so all this stuff was new to me 7 years ago when I when I got back into playing regularly, didn't believe the stuff made a difference. Wow it did

Highly recommend the flat bottom V with a 5/8ths cut if you are an old school
When no on your edges it is like butter knives no resistance can glide across the ice with two strides, but when you go to turn nice and sharp

Yes he knows his stuff big time, he is old school and a little standoffish but trust me, trust him

Plymouth state
 

The rink at Plymouth State does a really good job with sharpening (if they are open)

A Little Humor
 

So here’s what I did....I really wanted to take my new CCM Super Tack AS3 to AC2717’s sharpening place. I was totally impressed by their web site and clientele as well as the recommendations from here and others I have asked about them...truly they are, by far the best around! I contacted them but unfortunately got no response.

I have two hours of ice rental time coming up next Friday so I had to do something now... I decided to take them (my skates) to Monkey Sports in Londonderry. When I got there I was asked what kind of sharpening I wanted....I said loudly “something that makes my fat ass look like Bobby Orr”!! A good chuckle was had by all! ����.... ****, I was serious!��

Anyway I asked for his recommendation,...he started saying something about this and that and blah blah blah and how 1/2” might be good...so I blindly said go for it. The kid honestly seemed to know what he way saying and doing. (I honestly have underwear older than this kid!) I told him, “look, I am getting back on the ice after 40 years, just make them sharp so I don’t kill myself”...so I went with whatever 1/2” means! No jokes from you perverts!

I then asked him if he remembered the Manchester Blackhawks / Monarchs and if he knew Willie Bibeau or Andy Prefontaine or Bert Metevier....(Come on you local old hockey people, these were superstar local hockey players back in the day!��) He asked me if I liked Lady Gaga....Again a good chuckle was had!

Anyway...My fat ass is going skating for the first time in almost 40 years next Friday in Laconia (is this Lake related...webmaster!��) I have all the gear to look like a fat Terry O’reily (remember him!) and can only hope I don’t break anything!

Wish me luck!

Dan

PS....my next humorous story will be about skate sizing and pain....

Good luck Dan. I’m sure you will do fine. I am completely self taught and I stink and my 14 year old has been skating circles around me for 8 years but I try.

FYI the 1/2” is the concave in the blade. The heavier you are generally the larger the concave.


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So are you saying a 1/2” is good for me or is my fat ass in for a beating??

When I was a kid playing hockey and skating, I had a friend of my fathers who was semi professional sharpening my skates...had no idea back them how good he really was but apparently most of the monarch / Blackhawk team sent their skates to him... I never had a clue how lucky I was.....till now!

Dan

Lol. No 1/2” should be good. Smaller kids start with 3/8s and real big men 5/8”.


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This is the chart I was given at Monkey Sports...it might as well be written in hyroglyphics... The chart should say...”fat old people need not apply”! :D:D;)

Dan

Skate Sharpening
 

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]. Cool chart never seen one like that I’ll have to save it. The box on the left is all you ready need to know about deep and shallow con-caves.


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You should try getting your blades done with a radius - it takes a bit to get used to BUT the amount of increased maneuverability is amazing.

Good luck, Dan. I'm sure you'll have fun. I hung up my skates years ago. Later, my daughter, who had skated in school, convinced my wife to join a women's league. She did OK considering no on-ice hockey experience--figure skates only, as a kid.
Last resort: my last time on the ice was driving a Zamboni.
Last last resort: I never had one, so new boat next year will be christened "Hat Trick", and I will finally have one.

Descant,

Great story!!

LOL at...

“ my last time on the ice was driving a Zamboni.”

That is hilarious!...😂😂😂

Dan

I tried it out, didn't like it, so I went to the flat bottom V
worked for my style of skating

This thread makes me want to skate again! I got back on the ice a few years ago, but the ice time availability for overweight suburban dads is so late, I couldn't make it work with school. Games ran from 10-11, which meant I wasn't showered, settled down, and in bed until close to 1 most nights. I just can't run on 4 hours sleep anymore.

Dan, those look like some sweet skates. After ending my illustrious career with some intramural play at UML back in the 90's, I made the foolish decision to trade my Bauer Supreme 7000 Customs for skis...that never saw use. Easily in the top ten worst decisions I ever made.

Enjoy, buddy!

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..... ambulatory care walker fitted w/ 4 vinyl tips
 

You know what makes an excellent training tool for learning how to ice skate?

Well, what makes an excellent learning tool for learning how to ice skate is ......

.... an ambulatory care walker fitted with four vinyl tips. Walkers are made so the height of the four legs is adjustable to the individual ice skater.

.....you remove the large rubber tips or two small wheels and replace them with FOUR VINYL TIPS that fit very tight. Vinyl crutch tips or caster tips are sold locally at Heath's Hardware in Center Harbor and the vinyl does a much better job of gliding across the ice than a rubber tip, plus they have to fit tightly, too, so they will stay on permanently.

The difference between vinyl and rubber is that vinyl glides across the ice with less friction than a rubber tip. Vinyl is almost without any friction on the ice, and you can really fly around a rink, fast, while supported by the four legged support stand as you learn your ice skating ability ..... weeeeeooooooo!!!

You and your walker go get out on the ice and do drills ...... going forward, backwards, circles right, circles left, circles right-backwards, circles left-backwards, repeat & repeat & repeat & repeat ..... using a walker to get better skating skills. You can use the walker with one arm extended like an out-rigger for circles-backwards to improve your level and do what had not been doable, previous, through repetition.

It goes a long way to enable learning to ice skate, and ice hockey is all about being an excellent, strong ice skater who can out-skate the other guy.

.................

Besides it being a trainer support tool for the high energy, hockey player who wants to be a better ice skater, the walker with vinyl tips goes good for any skater, young or old who wants the extra security from taking a fall on the ice. These vinyl tip walkers work very good for older 70-105 year- old-skaters who have maybe lost some of their ice skating skills along the way ........... SCORE ONE for that 105-year old, Bobby Orr wannabee ice skater armed with a vinyl tip walker! ... :D:laugh:

I remember those, they have a VERY stiff all composite boot but I am not sure if you were aware those were one of the first ones that you could have heat molded to your foot which greatly reduces if not nearly eliminates breakin. Those were in the day the top of the Bauer lineup.

These days most skates that are not in the typical cheapo box stores have a heat molded boot. The last pair of skates I bought were Mission's and when I bought them they did that for me. I figured that the first few times on the ice would be tough but they were comfy from day one. It's pretty amazing.

Hung mine up a long time ago, too!
 

Still have my Super Tacks w/Tuuk 2000 blades- 1980!. My understanding, later, was that the black, plastic blade frame/mount (which was hollow) was susceptible to cracking when hit by a puck.

I worked at a VERY busy rink in Darien, Ct. Home ice to four high schools and the largest youth hockey program in New England. Saturdays started at 5am with the little guys (all dressed, with skates already on (rubber guards). The day's schedule allowed for 4-5 hours of ice time. Public skating at noon (or 1:00?) so, make quick ice, sharpen 100 pairs of rental skates (you think we need masks now?) and wait for "bleeders" who fell!

The NY Rangers sometimes used our ice for preseason practice before the Playland ice went in at Rye. Some of those guys were freakin' huge!

Ya! Make perfect ice- the crowd loved you- chant your name! Screw something up- berate you like you'd killed one of their own! DON'T FORGET TO CHOP THE ICE WHILE IN PROGRESS!!!

I still use the Zamboni pattern when mowing my lawn- two times around the perimeter, once down the middle, then one pass on each opposite side till done.

OK--no interest in hockey since Orr went to Chicago--but I LOVE THAT. Imagine being so good at something that appears to be so simple and seemingly common that people mail you their blades from thousands of miles away? It's like being the world's best bread baker. Respect