T-Blade Ice Skates

T-Blades are a recent development manufactured by the German company "t'blade GmbH" as an alternative to the traditional steel blades found on most hockey skates. They are sold on top-end hockey skates such as CCM's Vectors and Pro Tacks and Graf Skates or can be installed onto any skate boot.

Instead of sharpening the blades, T-blades are replaced when worn out. T-Blades stay sharper much longer than a traditional skate blade. As stated on the manufacture's website "Compared to a conventional skate sharpening, the t-blade runner lasts 4-5 times longer." This balances the cost of buying T-Blades versus sharpening a normal blade because the normal skate must be sharpened regularly. This same concept keeps a skater's stride more regular over time because a normal skate blade tends to become uneven on the inside and outside edges after prolonged use and re-sharpening.

The T-Blade Runner or blade itself is held to the skate chassis by a stabilizer and six screws which require a special three-pronged wrench. Unlike traditional skate blades which consist of a single piece of steel, the T-blade is made up of strong plastic material that has only a 1 mm steel blade at the bottom, making it lighter (30% lighter). The thin blade featured in T-Blades heats up faster from friction and has a better glide to it (40% increase). T-Blades have a very distinct sound when cutting into the ice, they are louder and have a bit of a scratchy sound. The blades are sold pre-sharpened, the concept being that the harder the steel the better and longer it will hold its edge and that repeated sharpening softens the edge of a blade and it loses it ability to stay sharp. The fact that edges are precision-made by machines is appreciated by some skaters, since one does not have to rely on a human operator to apply edges on the skates' blades. On the other hand, this is possibly why T-Blades are not very popular among professional players, because of the skill level of equipment managers at that level. T-Blade have now started to produce there own skates

T-BLADE WEBSITE