Rink Maintenance Guide
Is a Standard Ice Resurfacer Blade Ever the Better Choice?
Not one we'd recommend, but there is a real difference worth knowing. Hard contact with concrete, a threshold or metal frozen into the ice can destroy any resurfacer blade, standard or ours, and rinks have been losing standard blades that way for as long as there have been standard blades. Carbon steel tends to have a little more ductility, so a standard blade may dent or roll where ours chips or cracks, but a dent from a strike that hard has to be ground out, and that takes much of the blade's remaining life if the blade can be saved at all. Either way the strike is what ends the blade. So the operating rules are the same for every blade and worth following on every blade: raise it before leaving the ice, look at the sheet before cutting on public-skate ice, and inspect the edge after any suspected strike.
The question this page answers
On every measure that costs a rink money, edge life, sharpening frequency, corrosion, weight and two-year running cost, stainless wins, and that comparison is set out in full elsewhere. This page is about the one argument still made for keeping a standard blade: that it is the safer choice if the blade hits something that is not ice.
What a strike does to any blade
There are two strikes to worry about. The first is the threshold: coming off the ice without lifting the blade drives a ground edge into concrete at working speed. The second is metal frozen into the sheet, a screw, a skate rivet, a piece of hardware shed from the boards, which is a particular risk on ice used for public skating and meets the edge at full cutting depth.
Either one can destroy a resurfacer blade, whatever it is made of. Rinks have been losing standard blades exactly this way for as long as there have been standard blades, and no blade material makes a threshold safe to hit at speed.
The real difference, and why it is small
Carbon steel tends to have a little more ductility than our stainless edge. That can let a standard blade dent or roll under a strike where ours would chip or crack. It is a real property, and we would rather name it than leave a technical buyer to find it out later. How any particular blade fails comes down to its alloy and heat treatment, which is why we do not put odds on it.
It is also worth less than it sounds. A dent from a strike hard enough to crack a blade is deep, and grinding a dent that deep out is not a routine sharpening: every bit of steel down to the bottom of the dent has to come off along the full length of the edge, and the blade that comes back has materially less life in it, if it can be saved at all. A light nick from a gate edge or a goal peg is a different matter, and a sharpening house can usually regrind that on any blade, ours included.
| Standard carbon steel | Our blade | |
|---|---|---|
| Threshold or concrete strike at working speed | Can crack, or dent deeply | Can crack or chip |
| Why | Tends to be a little more ductile | Heat treated for edge retention and durability |
| Recovery after a strike that hard | Heavy regrind that costs much of the blade's life, if it can be saved | Blade is out of service |
| Recovery after a light nick | Usually a regrind | Usually a regrind |
What the edge strikes, and how fast, matters far more than what the blade is made of. The difference between the columns is the chance of a dent instead of a crack, and a dent that deep still has to be ground out.
The three habits that settle the question
- Raise the blade before the machine leaves the ice. Every pass, every operator, no exceptions. This one habit removes the threshold strike, the classic way a blade is destroyed.
- Look at the sheet before cutting, especially after public skating. You are looking for metal: screws, rivets, hardware, anything shed from the boards or a skate. It takes a few minutes and it is the best defence there is against debris frozen into the surface.
- Inspect the edge after any suspected strike, before the next resurfacing, by eye and under your machine manual's blade procedure. A light nick is something a sharpening house can assess and usually regrind. A visible crack means the blade comes out of service.
All three are procedural, all three cost a few minutes and nothing else, and all three are already best practice for a standard blade. A rink that holds to them has done what can be done about this risk, with either material.
What we recommend
Run our blade, and run it under the same three rules you would apply to any blade. The risk described on this page is set far more by operating habit than by material, and a rink that lifts at the threshold and looks at the sheet has removed most of it for either blade.
The full material comparison, edge life, sharpening cost, weight and two-year running cost, is set out separately, along with what actually makes a good blade. Compare stainless and carbon steel.
Common Questions
- Can an ice resurfacer blade be damaged by hitting concrete?
- Yes, and it is the classic way a blade is destroyed. Coming off the ice at the threshold without lifting the blade first drives a ground edge into concrete at working speed. It damages standard carbon-steel blades and stainless ones alike, and no blade material makes a threshold safe to hit.
- Will a standard blade survive a strike that would crack a stainless one?
- Do not count on it. A threshold or concrete strike can crack a standard blade as well. Carbon steel tends to be a little more ductile, so it may dent instead, but a dent that deep has to be ground out along the full edge, which takes much of the blade's remaining life if the blade can be saved at all. Either way the strike is what ends the blade.
- Can a damaged ice resurfacer blade be reground and put back in service?
- It depends on the damage, and the sharpening house or the blade supplier should be the one to say. A light nick from a gate edge or a goal peg can usually be reground on any blade. A visibly cracked blade comes out of service. A deep dent can sometimes be ground out of a standard blade, at the cost of a lot of usable steel.
- What should an operator check before cutting the ice?
- Walk the sheet and look for metal, screws, skate rivets, hardware shed from the boards, particularly after public skating. Anything hard frozen into the surface meets the blade at full cutting depth. The check takes a few minutes and it is the best defence there is against debris damage, whichever blade you run.