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Oct 30, 2024

Turtle Creek machine reduces ice skate blade's cutting ability

The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. Conicity Technologies, in Turtle Creek, has developed a machine to increase ice skaters' performance on the ice and decrease the

The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox.

Conicity Technologies, in Turtle Creek, has developed a machine to increase ice skaters' performance on the ice and decrease the chances that a skate's blade will lacerate flesh.

In the video above, see how a normal blade and a blade put through this machine hold up against a balloon.

"The way the blades are sharpened, they use a grinding wheel down through the length of the blade, and the product of the grinding is really an unwanted burr," said William Shaffer, Conicity Technologies president.

"That burr is razor sharp," he said. "There's no really good way to get it off. The sharpening guy will take a stone, and really what that does, it just bends it out of the way so you don't feel it on the side, but it's still present."

He says he got the idea by watching NHL teams grind their blades, realizing these burrs left behind even after using a stone to smooth them were slowing players down and hurting and even killing skaters.

From professional player Adam Johnson to a teenager in Connecticut, players have died after having their throats cut by another player's skate.

Shaffer said his machine smooths that burr, making the skate perform better and eliminating the sharp edge that has been blamed for injuries and deaths on the ice.

He said the Toronto Maple Leafs are the first NHL team to use his machine, and five NCAA hockey teams are using it, too.

Shaffer said he donated a machine to the U.S. Olympic Hockey team and has a machine available to everyone inside Center Ice in Delmont and Binnes in Coraopolis.