Does profiling your skates make that much of a difference??

[happyhab*]

My son is a centre, I never knew about profiling, he's played pretty much 2 seasons with out of the box skates, I get them sharpened every couple of weeks. I was told to get them profiled and the guy said it will make a big difference in his skating in terms of acelartion. Is there any truth to this??

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[AIREAYE]

Profiling simply changes how much blade is in contact with the ice when skating. A lower radius (7-9') means a more rockered blade with less of it being in contact with ice. Generally, that could lead more 'agility' at the expense of 'stability' (though I think it has more to do with adjusting for technique) whereas a higher radius (10-11') means the opposite.

It takes getting used to, though many people's skates naturally become rockered as they are sharpened more and more (more steel taken off each time over time). Most stock skates have either 9' or 10' radii on them (current Bauers all have stock 9'). Constantly changing between radii will drastically shorten the lifespan of your steel so if your son wants to try a profile, he should know that it will take getting used to.

 

[Stickmata]

What he said. It will only affect his skating if you change the profile from what it is now. I'd start by finding out what radius his skate has now.

 

[Jarick]

It will if you know what you need.

The first time I got my skates profiled, I noticed no difference. I was on Vapors which were neutral pitch and had a 9' radius.

When I got my Grafs, they were pitched on the toes and had an 11' radius. My feet were far more stable yet my balance and turning were way off. I tried to adjust for a couple months but got them profiled to match the Vapors, 9' with neutral pitch. My skating instantly improved.

 

[AIREAYE]

I just want to add: don't get confused between 'pitch' and 'profiling'. Pitch changes your angle of attack/lean while profile changes the amount of blade-ice contact.

 

[johnny1976]

How much difference does the pitch of a skate make? My son is having trouble with his quick starts, he can't quite get up on his toes and get those few short strides to get him going. He has a very long stride and is one of the faster kids out there, but it seems he is always playing catch up.

Would changing his pitch to a more forward one help a little or should I just leave it the way it is?

Sorry to kinda highjack your thread happyhab

 

[hyster110]

there is definitely a difference between bauer and all the other blades. bauer skates come factory with a 9 foot radius while all others (unless you have the tuuk runners) will come with the 11ft runners. this means, the lower radius on your skates, the more agile you will be on the ice

i am using a pair of Graf 709s at the moment but my first pair of skates (the grafs are only my second) were bauers. now when i switched to the graf, my stability on the ice increased and my skating ability improved greatly. i had to use my old bauers for a game a little while back and the difference was night and day. with the bauers i was more agile, and had the ability to make quick turns, and such;

 

[Jarick]

I always thought profiling referred to the entire process of shaping the blade:

Pitch - putting you on your toes, heels, neutral
Radius - how rounded the skate blades are
Rocker - additional rounding on the toe/heel

 

[kilowatt]

Honestly, I think that making sure you have the right cut depending on your size is more important than profiling your skates, which can dramatically reduce the life of your blade. If you are getting your skates profiled, MAKE SURE the person doing it knows what they're doing.

 

[AIREAYE]

I always thought profiling referred to the entire process of shaping the blade:

Pitch - putting you on your toes, heels, neutral
Radius - how rounded the skate blades are
Rocker - additional rounding on the toe/heel

You might be right Jarick, we've always referred to profiling as I posted above though. Not sure what other shops do, but it's definitely safer to refer to them separately.

 

[adaminnj]

I always thought profiling referred to the entire process of shaping the blade:

Pitch - putting you on your toes, heels, neutral
Radius - how rounded the skate blades are
Rocker - additional rounding on the toe/heel

you are correct.

 

[1dude]

So I was turned onto profiling by a prior equipment manager more than a few years back....this really helped my skating. I've used noicing for a my last radius...you can email them what you are looking for and get a great response for their recommendation. you can mailing your blades away....i'd recommend going with a dual profile and fbv....it's worth the shot....if it doesn't work go back to your regular set up

http://noicingsports.com/skate_radius_profiling.html

 

[Jarick]

If someone watches you skate and makes recommendations and knows what they're doing, that can help your game. Otherwise it's a crap shoot.

 

[nyk16]

I play beer league hockey and have 3 sons all of who play hockey. I tried profiling a while back and it just felt wierd and didn't work for me.

A word of advise for profiling for kids: keep in mind that skates usually come new out of the box "unprofiled". So if you decide to go down the profile road, your son/daughter will soon become used to profiling and you will then have to change the blade on every new pair of skates you buy. That's ok for one child but if you have more than one and want to hand the skates down, it will become unusable for the next user.

 

[Stickmata]

I play beer league hockey and have 3 sons all of who play hockey. I tried profiling a while back and it just felt wierd and didn't work for me.

A word of advise for profiling for kids: keep in mind that skates usually come new out of the box "unprofiled". So if you decide to go down the profile road, your son/daughter will soon become used to profiling and you will then have to change the blade on every new pair of skates you buy. That's ok for one child but if you have more than one and want to hand the skates down, it will become unusable for the next user.

Not sure what you mean by 'unprofiled'. Every skate blade has a profile, it's just a question of what it is and whether it is best for how that person skates and the position they play. Skates with too long a radius are no fun to learn on. And it takes 10 minutes and $15 to change the radius on a new blade; small price to pay to improve new skates. My Grafs come with an '11 radius new and there is no way I could play on that. They turn like a supertanker with that radius.

And you do know that you can just replace the blade when you hand the skates down, right?

 

[Stickmata]

I always thought profiling referred to the entire process of shaping the blade:

Pitch - putting you on your toes, heels, neutral
Radius - how rounded the skate blades are
Rocker - additional rounding on the toe/heel

I've always thought of the blade work (radius/rocker) as the profiling process.

 

[Gino 14]

I always thought profiling referred to the entire process of shaping the blade:

Pitch - putting you on your toes, heels, neutral
Radius - how rounded the skate blades are
Rocker - additional rounding on the toe/heel

You are correct.

 

[Jarick]

I've heard new skates may not have exactly matching profiles out of the box, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. With how they are made and how the steel is cut, I'd have to think they are pretty close.

Still, every time I buy new skates they tend to do a longer initial sharpening to put an exact radius on the blade. A good sharpener would take care of whatever you need, and from there you can make adjustments down the road.

 

[Gino 14]

Still, every time I buy new skates they tend to do a longer initial sharpening to put an exact radius on the blade. A good sharpener would take care of whatever you need, and from there you can make adjustments down the road.

Are you actually getting the new skates profiled or just sharpened? The initial sharpening will take time since the blades are not "pre-sharpened" for a number of reasons. If you are actually getting them completely profiled, then it's a matter of how drastic a change your new profile is from that of a manufacturer's stock profile.

I agree that the new runners supplied with skates will have matching profiles, they are machine cut and match with a few thousandths of an inch.