- Joined
- Jan 9, 2017
- Country
Like others mentioned above, be VERY picky about who you let sharpen your blades - they are EXPENSIVE and you shouldn't let just anyone sharpen them. We had a bad experience with a new pair of skates bought from a reputable retailer where they didn't sharpen one blade and my skater literally went flying across the ice....the coach checked and was like "ummmm....there is no edge here." Bad sharpening is a safety issue!
Like cl2 we stick to a schedule more or less and sharpen after 20 hours (my kid somehow manages to nick the blades a lot and so we have to sharpen frequently). My skater likes SHARP blades and has no problem going out right after a sharpening....when we've not sharpened in time I do get a "mom, my skates feel slippery" or there is some difficulty executing certain elements.
I think the brand/type of blade (and type of steel) also has an impact on how often they have to be sharpened.
Our skate tech keeps telling us that we need to learn how to check the sharpness of the blades with our fingers/fingernails, but I usually have trouble distinguishing when they need a sharpen....maybe my fingers are toast from doing too many dishes...LOL. 20 hours seems to work for us unless there is a bad nick and then I bring them in earlier.
One thing to keep in mind is that sharpening more frequently than you need will decrease the life of your blade. If you are skating a lot or the blades suffer abuse (e.g. from pond skating) this may be unavoidable, but just keep in mind that the blades do have a finite life.
I make my skater wear hard guards (both for safety of others feet and for longevity of the blade) to protect them. I see a lot of kids running around at the rink with nothing protecting their blades and I wonder what their blades look like....
LOL I was going to mention the "checking with fingernail" technique in my previous post but didn't want to confuse anyone with trying to explain it. 
