The Blade Doctor™

YES! The Blade Doctor hand-held skate sharpener will sharpen your skates. It works because the Universal Blade Slot actually grips the sides of your skate blade to insure that the high quality sharpening stone is centered with your skate blade. (A centered stone means level edges.)

In addition, the Blade Doctor can easily interchange the sharpening stone that fits your current blade hollow. (Look further for understanding the blade hollow.) The most common sharpening preferences by professional sharpeners are 1/2" and 3/8” radius hollows which can be accommodated by the Blade Doctor. (Look further to figure out the blade hollow of your skate.)

The actual sharpening process takes less than three minutes and can be done anywhere, anytime and by almost anyone.

Many times during the course of the season every parent, player or coach will have dull skates. They will forget to sharpen their skates; will be out of town and away from their usual skate sharpener; will need their skates sharpened and the sharpener will be closed; or will be too busy to get them sharpened.

Don’t let this by you! Be ready with the Blade Doctor.

Every skater has a different preference about the feel he/she likes from their edges. We recommend using a starting point of 1/2” radius and finding out if the skater likes that feel or if they prefer more “bite” from their edges, such as a 3/8”. A professional grinder will change the hollow quite easily. Do not try to change your hollow using a Blade Doctor.

The hollow of your skate should be determined by a skater’s personal preference and style of skating. Generally, a defensive defenseman will prefer a deeper hollow, such as a 3/8” radius, to help move opposing players from in front of the net or while digging pucks out of corners. An offensive defenseman will generally prefer a shallower hollow, such as 1/2” radius, for good solid edges but more speed and glide.

Forwards that are shifty make sharp turns, and frequent starts and stops will prefer deeper hollows, such as 3/8” radius. Otherwise, it is recommended to use a shallow hollow (1/2 ” radius).

First, hold your skate upside down and place a quarter flat on the blade (See Illustration).

Next, look down the blade at the quarter and check to see if your quarter looks level or if it is tilted. If the quarter is tilted, you have a high and low edge. This will not keep a good edge as long as a level edge.

Having a tilted edge can significantly impact a skater’s performance. If this occurs, get your edges leveled by a professional sharpener.

If your skates feel too sharp when you first skate on them after a sharpening, then the person sharpening your skates put a deeper hollow on your skate than you prefer. (Look at the “Determining Your Hollow” section).

If this happens, ask the grinder what hollow was put on your skates or use the chart on the “Determining Your Hollow” section to find the hollow on your skate.

If you skates are too sharp, carefully run your skates along a wood stick or wooden bench. Be careful not to rub them on steel, plastic or glass.

It is easy to determine the current blade hollow using a penny and your best eye judgment.

First, flip your skate upside down so the skate blade is facing up. Secondly, hold your skate at eye level and look down the skate blade. (See Illustration) Thirdly, pinch a penny between your thumb and pointer finger so it is upright and facing you. Next, place the bottom curvature of the penny in the skate blades hollow holding the penny upright. (See illustration) Finally, look at the bottom of the penny to see how the blade follows the curvature of the penny. (A penny is equivalent to a 3/8” radius hollow)

If the curvature of the penny looks like it “fits” snugly in the hollow of the blade then the blade is a 3/8”. If the penny can be slightly rocked back-and-forth between the blade edges your hollow is shallower than 3/8” and often a 1/2” radius hollow. If the penny touches both edges and light can readily be seen between the bottom curvature of the penny and the blade hollow your skate has a deep 5/16” radius hollow.

Edges become dull for many reasons. First of all, harder ice surfaces, such a natural ice or “pond” skating will dull your edges faster. Secondly, and most important, be careful where you walk. Cement and aluminum are very bad for skates, but so is the rubber mat in the lobby and around the rink. Sand, rocks and debris are “tracked” in from the outside and settle on the mats. This is very tough on blade edges.

Treat your skate blades with special care. Use skate guards when necessary and only walk where you need to. Skating on good edges all the time will educe the risk of injury and improve your game.

Nicks are created when skate blades come into contact with metal, other hard objects, unclean locker room floors or dust particles on the ice sheet, to name a few. If you keep your skates in your hockey blade without guards on them you are risking some damages to your edges in the car, etc.

Smaller nicks will not hurt your edges if the rest of your blade is in good condition. However, with any nick it is a good idea to use a side stone on the outside of your edges to clean up any burrs or pieces of metal that have resulted from the nick.

In addition, the Blade Doctor will remove metal debris from the inner hollow of your skate blade to maintain sharp edges. If your blades have a large nick or several smaller nicks in the same area, it is time to get them sharpened.

Other common words to describe a skate’s rocker are the profile, radius (not to be confused with radius hollow) and rocker.

The rocker of your skate is the curvature or shape of the bottom of your blade from toe to heel. (See illustration) The most common rocker size is a 9ft radius. This offers speed and stability. A larger rocker, like a 13 ft is used for players that would like more speed and glide. A smaller rocker, like a 7ft is used for players that want more foot speed and turning…but his does reduce speed by having less blade touching the ice.

The most common are 9ft and 11ft. Goalies tend to have a 26ft or 28ft rocker, which is basically flat.