Start Your Season With An Edge, And Keep Your Blade Sharp!

Skating season is upon us! And with the new season  comes a fresh, newly painted skating surface! It is exciting at this time of year to see everyone showing off their hard work from the past few months. It is great entertainment to see what the operations staff’s have done with their red lines, logos, how many logos, painted or synthetic, etc. It is all wonderful to watch it develop and watch everyone 'borrow’ ideas from other facilities and incorporate them into their own Michelangelo! 

Everyone has been busy painting and we have been busy getting the ice resurfacers ready for the season. Watching industry colleagues display their works of art on the ice helps motivate us to go that extra mile when servicing your ice resurfacer, because we want our talent of getting your machine ready to roll to show as great as your ice surface itself! 

There are many factors that go into the resurfacer creating a great sheet of ice and one that comes to mind after a service call last week is the blade.  While servicing a resurfacer last week we were prepared to install a newly sharpened blade, as pictured here.   











Well . . . uh . . . no sir!  Couldn't do it!

We understand that most skating facilities are limited on the number of vendors available to sharpen their resurfacing blades, and this makes it all the more important for you as a knowledgeable facility leader to take the time to talk and even instruct your blade sharpener about the importance of the sharpening! 

The blade is to be ground to the manufacturers recommended angle and the most important part of the sharpening process is that the blade must be hand honed. Hand what? Follow this link to listen to the grandfather of ice resurfacers, Don Schlupp Sr., explain how a blade is to be sharpened.  Now follow this link to watch what the hand honing process includes. 

Remember, ice is the second hardest thing to cut after a diamond, so make sure your blades are sharp! If you are having issues with your resurfacer blades give us a call! We would be happy to discuss the ins and outs of the blade and provide the help you need to show off your work of art! 

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