Growing Blades
At the Wasatch Speedskating Club pack races last night, lots of low-key, laid back racing.
I’ve been working so much, I need this to get SOME kind of ice feel back. 14 days till US LT nationals begins, and although I finally have new blades that are absolutely outstanding, It has been a month since I could skate fast on the long track.
So I have lost my top speed, as well as my medium speed too. Oh well…
But seriously, I realized that now I have a “critical mass” of old Viking blades too trashed to be skateable. What should I do with these?
I am thinking maybe wind chimes? Candleholders? Any creative ideas would be appreciated.
It’s too bad blades can’t be planted, like tulip bulbs under the snow, and new fresh skates bloom over the summer, like this photo I took in a Napa Valley vineyard last July.
Filed under: from home
you could always use them in marathon skating. not on your feet mind you, but you could carry them.
“back, back I say!”
something tells me that nobody would mess with you.
I really do like the wind chime idea though, i think it would be very creative. You could cut the tube at different points while keeping the blades intact to make different tones.
hope you find your fast soon,
I’ll see you at nationals
-the crash
You can always donate the blades to a less fortunate speed skater or a person that is looking to try speed skating for the first time. Having loaners on hand can really help out and perhaps help grow, our speed skating community.
these blades are really unskatable, completely trashed.. I am a lifelong skater, and they almost toss me into the wall..
the pair I just retired was twisted one direction in the front & another in the back.
I had to put short track angled shims between the boot & clap to get the center even remotely square to the ice.. then they bent MORE, and were totally unstable….
crash, that is a GREAT idea, & I could have used them last night, as I got kicked in the shins twice!! I could strap them to my hands and look like Wolverine from X-men
That’s a sweet picture of the blades!
Start working on a sculpture? There must be some place at the oval that it could be displayed…
Take a “texas longhorn” approach. You know the guys that ride around in texas in their big trucks with a pair of longhorns strapped onto their grill. Nobody messes with those guys. Just strap your blades to the grill of your car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cherbert/80429682/
hahahahaha!!
omigosh… matt… I just almost fell out of my chair laughing…
awesome idea..
I’ve always had a Viking bumper sticker on my car, I never thought about putting REAL BLADES on my car, but…. yeah!!!
I had a student take the adirondack approach with his trashed skis and he made a mint off the chairs he made …maybe you should encase them in clear acrylic and sit on them?
Well, if you take the four blades you could make legs for a little table to put pictures on…or just a piece of decoration in the house. You would just have to figure out a way to make the bottom stable, and the table top could just be a piece of glass.
send them to the only guy in the country that can fix any blade I know e-mail me and I will let you know who that is ask any Minnesota skater who it is and they will all say the same, problem he’s been out of skating for awhile but I heard he is back and in the best shape of his life and is working on skates again
I know who it is, and in his day was one of the best pack skaters I have ever seen . He could draft like no one I have ever seen, his starts were one of the best out there… Yes he is skating again, saw him in germany earler in the year and he is in shape like icemaniowa said…38.49 500 for a 49 year old I guess isn’t that bad… I’ve had him fix skates that I thought were junk and you couldn’t tell the were bent or twisted when he was done and never charged me a thing for the fix
You can make all kind of great stuff with ski’s, like a chair, or even a device that allows multiple people to take a shot. However I’m struggling to think of something similar that wouldn’t send you to the hospital for stitches. Maybe melt them down and make a paperweight.
chandelier? lawn ornament?
Use them to make a mobile! Hang old boots from the ends!
Make a picture frame. Find a local machinist, have them grind off the arm mounts and heels, cut the ends off at a 90 degree angle, and weld them all together. See if they can install some clips on the back to hold the glass into the frame. Take the frame to a power coating company and have it dipped and coated (they can protect the runner surface so it’s not coated). That would be a very unique piece of wall art.
Andrew,
I was asking myself the same question just yesterday. I was cleaning up my room (that looks like seven people are living in it) and noticed that my collection of trashblades had grown to six pairs. And I absolutely have no new destination for them.
But I have some suggestions:
-Sharpen them like a knife so it will be use in and around the house.
-Let a local man cut your name out of the blades end use them as a doortag (If that is the right word).
-Use them to reinforc parts of your car, bike, house or anuthing that need reinforcement.
Hopefuly one of my suggestions is found useful.
greetings from the Netherlands!
This is fun! OK, here’s my idea - attach them blade-side-in on doors, hook up the clap mechanism to a latch, and use them as doorknob replacements. (Um, but also work in some release so when they break, you’re not trapped!)
or they could be a spring loaded DOORKNOCKERS!!!!
you just cut a slot in the center of the door, glue the blade into the slot… and people can pull open the clap and let it snap back into place as a doorknocker!!!!!
of course, maples would be better for that a Vikings, the maple clap really packs a whollop onto your foot (or door) compared to Viking.
So, do you want my old Maples? I think Vikings are louder, though.
newbie here looking for locations & advice on trying speedskating (more or less first time). Why do I think I prefer a frozen lake? (do you call that natural ice ?) What I can say for sure is that I tried the oval at Powerhorn Park (Mpls) long ago, and it was great. Now I’ve been playing with nordic skates along Mhaha creek, I’m kinda getting it, and I have the bug for more. Actually, I want to get outta here for New Year’s, and I think there must be some awesome sites in MN, MT, Canada, CO, maybe even Dakotas and WY. Can someone give me a tip ?
Sorry for posting something not related to the thread. Need to do more reading. Thanks.
suggestion: use the blades in an ice candle (5-gallon variety). I put all kinds of stuff in the pail, pre-freeze, and get some great results. the steel would accentuate the fire & ice thing nicely.