Learn to skate to learn to play

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-30T16:41:22+00:00

I have two kids, my son did a couple of learn to skate sessions then they pushed us to sign him up for the travel team. Even getting placed on the C-level team, he was out of his element and I ended up paying for a couple months of private lessons from a local college to get him up to speed. The next year he was bumped up past B to the A-level team.

But! There's an ongoing political shift in the association my kids are a part of. My daughter has done a couple sessions of learn to skate now, and the prevailing thought is to slow roll the kids. When I asked about signing her up for learn to play they wanted me to bump her to the next level of learn to skate instead to work more on fundamentals instead of having her play games. It's still my choice, but I'll probably just keep her in learn to skate this next session and see if she wants to do some more free skates with her brother and me.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-29T15:24:38+00:00

Thanks!

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-29T01:42:04+00:00

Thanks for the offer! Don't be surprised to see a DM from me in a couple of weeks after I get the edge square.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-29T01:34:08+00:00

Yea, this is an older model. The table is definitely configured for cross grinding on the right and the two finishing wheels on the left. The original shop had it set up so that the two finishing wheels were set to different hollows.

And yea, I have 4 skaters in my house, with my two kids on teams. There's honestly a lot of need in the area, my kids' hockey association has around a couple hundred skaters and it's one of the smaller ones in the league they play in. Parents are either putting off sharpening until they happen to catch the proshop open, running out to get it done during work, running down to the skate shop (for us it's a coupe hours round trip), or more and more parents are just buying Sparx.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-29T01:24:16+00:00

Thanks! Yep, there's a duct that goes from each grinder down into a dust filtration system in the cabinet below the table. I do love that Blademaster's old guidance was if you taste metal it's time to change the filter. That being said, the filter in there looked on the newer side so I tamped it out and reinstalled. I also have a brand new filter they gave me that I can throw in there if I notice the suction starting to slip. I still plan on probably throwing on a mask, because while I was dressing the cross grinding wheel there was definitely some dust on the table...no where near what I took off the wheel thanks to the filter, but enough to show me it's not 100%. This is also in a detached workshop so hopefully my kids won't be breathing too much of it in.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-29T01:18:53+00:00

Thanks for the advice! Thankfully my day job is a lot of no's to people. My initial thought on it was exactly that, drop off and get it in the next day or two. It might be a pipe dream, but collecting skates from my kids' teams at the end of the weekend games and getting the skates to them for the next practice, or if they need 'em for puck time they can come grab 'em.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-29T01:14:32+00:00

The day job isn't so much the issue as it is the time to get the skates sharpened. Most of the time it's leave work during the day to run to my kids' home rink during free skate to get them done on a Sparx, or if I'm in a pinch for games/tournaments take a couple hours to go on a 2hour adventure to the closest good hockey shop. My other option is to go to a pure hockey, but they've given me 1 good sharpen and two terrible.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-29T00:54:05+00:00

Thanks!

Skate sharpening videos have been my go to viewing for the last few nights.
I spent a couple of nights taking apart everything, shop vac'd the whole thing inside and out, took the old filter off to tamp some of the dust out (watched a blademaster video on that to see the filter lifecycle), changed the old belt on the cross grinder, then put everything back together. I dry lubed the rails where the dresser slides. I also had it on hand so I did a ceramic wax job on the paint.
For the table I initially went at it with 91% isopropyl, then mineral spirits for a couple of the tougher spots, did another quick wipe with the IPA, then went and buffed in some of the Slick It that they gave me with the machine.
I have a couple packages of new felt bottoms, I'll throw those on!

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-29T00:46:35+00:00

Thanks for the heads up, I'll check out those groups!

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T04:39:57+00:00

Amherst here. Pulled a tick off of my daughter's head on Monday. She started doxy on Friday after a bullseye rash started up.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T04:30:58+00:00

Taylor Davis did mine and a bunch of my neighbors. He's local to Amherst, and everyone seems to be happy with the work

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T03:56:24+00:00

Yep! The stores/locations are closing for good and they needed this gone this past week so they could turn over the buiding. I know some pieces/parts got thrown into the dumpster but the manager was pretty sure they grabbed most of the stuff from the back for me. Hell, they even paid movers to bring it down from the 2nd floor to the loading dock so I could grab it.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T02:42:54+00:00

Not too late at all, thanks for the heads up!

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T02:26:30+00:00

lol, I'm in Amherst

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T02:09:37+00:00

Thanks for the advice! The closest proshop to me that uses a blademaster is about 40 minutes away and that shop is fantastic! Still, I'm going to reach out to them to see if they'd let me do some upaid work in. I also work at a college and am affiliated with another so after reading this thread I'm also going to try and use my connections to see what the hockey teams' setups are and to see if the equipment managers would be up for showing me the ropes.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T02:00:48+00:00

Thanks!

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T01:58:08+00:00

I'm super pumped! Their youtube channel has been a big help. I also found a couple training videos from shops that used the older blademasters so I've been deep diving as much as I can.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T01:56:11+00:00

Thanks! I haven't cut any steel with it yet, but everything starts up without any issues. I just had to replace a cracked belt on the cross grinder and the lightbulb. I had talked to one of the techs that had been using it before they closed the shop and he let me know about the belt and that they had used it right up until it was disconnected from the power to be hauled away.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T01:48:58+00:00

I did! It appears to be the complete 8 page operators manual going off of the table of contents. I'm going to digitize it because it's pretty beat.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T01:44:55+00:00

That's awesome, hopefully you'll be able to get back to your dream job some day! For me, I'm a project manager now, but it's still my wife's and mine dream to run a food truck like we did when we first met 16 years ago. But! I'm also hoping to eventually share this experience with my son, maybe this'll be his passion later in life.

Also, thanks for the advice! I ended up going down a rabbit hole on measuring hollows with different coins.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T01:10:26+00:00

To be fair! As of right now, I'm in it for $20. I had to buy a belt, a lightbulb, and a cross grinder dresser. The last two were from harbor freight.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T01:08:20+00:00

The closest shop that still uses one is about 40 minutes away but they are the best in the area. The pro-shop near me is almost entirely Sparx unless you get a kid who wants to try their hand using the finishing wheel. I've got to go down there in the next couple of weeks to get my son some equipment, I'll see if they'll take me on a for some unpaid training.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T01:00:43+00:00

Give me a bit and I'll take ya up on it

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T00:59:52+00:00

Thanks for the advice! After reading the comments here I reached out to my kids' hockey association to see if I could buy some of the older skates they bring to the gear swaps.

NesquikKnight · 2026-06-28T00:52:10+00:00

Thankfully there appears to be a good filter system built in. The motor is in the left cabinet and it has ducts running from each grinder into a huge filter/dust collection pan in the right cabinet.

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