How many sharpenings do most blades last? (2024)

FAQs

How many sharpenings do most blades last? ›

In my experience, when blades are properly maintained and sharpened properly by a skilled tech after every 20-30 hours of skating, most skaters can get around 30 sharpenings out of a blade.

How many passes should I choose when sharpening? If you are freshening up your blades after every skate, 1-2 cycles will usually be enough. If you're sharpening your skates after every 5-6 hours of ice time, you'll typically want to run 4 cycles.

If you are using your plane frequently, you may need to sharpen the blade every few hours of use.

Step #3: Select Your Sharpening Radius

The deeper the cut, the more grip the blade will have. The shallower the cut, the more glide the blade will have. For the youth or junior player, we recommend starting with a 1/2" standard sharpening. For the adult player, we recommend starting with a 5/8" standard sharpening.

Plan to sharpen chisels before using.

They stay sharp for a long time, so plan to sharpen them about once or twice a year unless you use them very frequently. If the chisels are old or have uneven or damaged bevels, it may be necessary to reshape them using a grinding wheel before sharpening.

It's best to start sharpening your knives on that side. Get your blade to an angle between 20-25 degrees and pass it back and forth against the stone 10-15 times on each side of the blade.

So yes, you need to do both. Hone your knife weekly—every time you use your knife, if you'd like—and sharpen your knife every few months, or at least every year (depending on how often you use it, and how soon you notice dulling that honing doesn't really improve).

Depending on the frequency that you use your knife, a whetstone should be used about 2-3 times a year. This amount may change if you actively use your knife to cut thicker foods like meat and poultry. Knives used daily to cut through these foods may need to be sharpened an additional time or two per year.

The primary bevel for chisels and plane blades is normally 25 degrees (a time-tested angle). If you look at the blade diagram above its perfectly acceptable, from a sharpness perspective, to hone the primary bevel flat and hone the back of the blade flat and where these two meet you can achieve a sharp cutting edge.

With a professional sharpener using the right equipment, your clipper blades can be sharpened between 15-25 times before they need to be retired. A proper sharpener will only take off the least amount of metal necessary to get a fresh edge and will properly tension the blades when they're reassembled.

What grind do NHL players use? ›

An interesting fact worth noting is that NHL players tend to, on average, skate on much flatter RoHs than your typical recreational player. One NHL team that we are close to claims that greater than 50% of the players are at ⁵/₈” RoH and larger with many in the ³/₄”, ⁷/₈”, and 1” RoH range.

Use a flat file to file the blade from toe to heel in a diagonal motion. Be sure the file is always perpendicular to the blade. Slide the flat file across a single blade in the same direction roughly 20 times, then perform the same motion in the opposite direction. Repeat the process for the other skate.

We recommend using a honing guide like the Stanley 0-16-050 or XTrade X0900044 Chisel Set with Sharpening Stone.

The diamond stone works so well on coarse work because it cuts aggressively and stays flat. The water stone is great for putting on the final edge. For example, a coarse/fine diamond stone (325/600 grit) combined with a very fine 4000 and 8000 water stone works well for plane irons and chisels.

Apply pressure on the top of the chisel, with the surface on the plate, pull the chisel back (away from the cutting edge) towards you with a single pull. Pinch the burr with your fingertips and the waste steel should come off in a small strip.

If you're freshening up your blades after every skate, you'll get 50-60 sharpenings (or even more!) per ring (Radius Ring or FIRE Ring) and if you're sharpening your skates after every 5-6 hours of ice time, you'll get about 40 sharpenings. We like to say its about $1 per sharpening.

For your “grinding” passes, it is up to you which direction you prefer to grind, just make sure that you always end with a “finish” pass grinding with the spin of the wheel to apply a smooth finish to the bottom of the blade.

Basically, your skate “hollow” is how deep the groove is between the edges of your blade. If you hand your skates to someone for sharpening, and they don't ask what hollow you get them done to, they're probably doing them at “a half inch” (which refers to the wheel they use to sharpen your blades).