I’ve posted previously on my Instagram account about how I use my Sparx to get an “inside high” cut on my goalie skates. Often times I get comments about how bad Sparx is and how it can’t even sharpen an even edge… but the whole point of the “inside high” cut is to have uneven edges. Since I had so many people asking me how to do it, I created this guide on YouTube going over the steps. I highly suggest watching the video as it will explain a lot more than just follow the steps in this article.
What is an “inside high” cut?
To start off, I should explain what “inside high” is and why I use it and suggest it. This is for all intents and purposes a misaligned sharpening that gives the inside edge of the steel a higher edge than the outside edge. For goalies, this is beneficial since it gives more bite when in the butterfly pushing off, more bite when stopping in a slide, all while having less bite on the outside edge when shuffling across the ice. Generally speaking, goalies are standing and skating more on their inside edge than outside, so having this edge be sharper allows for more bite while allowing the outside edge to not grab into the ice when moving laterally.
Can any sharpener do an “inside high?”
I was introduced to this sharpen by a local goalie who worked at a local hockey store. Once he moved away I lost my local reliable sharpener and while I attempted to get a similar cut again locally I was met with inconsistent results. Once I started working at a hockey store myself, I quickly found out which sharpeners could be trusted with this cut and would do a consistent job. Once I left that job it became too difficult to get a consistent sharpening and I would have to drive too far to guarantee the results I wanted… So I ended up buying a Sparx so I could do the sharpening myself!
Speaking of Sparx (affiliate link), I am part of the Sparx Ambassador program, which gives me a discount code and link that gives me Sparx rewards to help pay for my grinding rings. So if you want to support this website and my YouTube channel you can use the code hockeyreviewsca on the Sparx website when buying a bundle to get a discount and help me pay for rings. I owned a Sparx for about 3 years before this program came about, but figured I’d join the ambassador program since I use the machine all the time already and highly recommend it.
What about Bauer Prosharp Advantedge?
Before I begin the steps, I have been asking and searching how you can do this sharpening on a Bauer Prosharp Advantedge. While their influencers couldn’t give me an answer, you can misalign the wheel which SHOULD give you similar results to this guide. But I haven’t been able to test it myself and the process isn’t as easy since it doesn’t have an alignment visual tool to see how misaligned the machine is. For the Prosharp Advantedge, you need to use their Allen key to unlock the alignment nut, then adjust the nut, relock the alignment nut and sharpen the skates. I can’t comment on the number of turns or how this ends up working, but theoretically it should give you the same results.
Steps for “inside high” with the Sparx
Step 1: You must first “misalign” the Sparx, this can be more accurately done with the “Optical Alignment Kit” which I show off in the video. If you have the “BEAM” with the Sparx, you will have to just move the alignment with the “Alignment Driver” and check the results at the end. I generally suggest doing 10 clicks to start and if you want even higher you can go further.
When adjusting the Sparx alignment, turning the “Alignment Driver” to the right moves the ring and wheel AWAY from you and the front of the machine. Which will create the edge closest to the user to be the high side.
Step 2: Set up your first goalie skate onto the Sparx and adjust the ring contact points to their correct spot. I generally start with my right skate here with the toe pointing to the LEFT. Since we moved the “Alignment Driver” to the right and thus pushed the wheel and ring away from the front edge, we want the inside edge of the right skate to be high and putting it closest to the front of the machine will create the high side. I suggest watching the YouTube video here as I give some tips on how you can angle your steel to help minimize the pick at the end of the steel that can be created when using a Sparx.
Step 3: Sharpen the steel like you normally would, because I sharpen my skates after about 2 skates I end up only needing 2 passes to get the edge and sharpening that I want. But this will entirely depend on how often you sharpen and how bad the edges are.
Step 4: For the second skate, and in this specific example my left skate. We end up pointing the toe to the RIGHT since we need the inside edge to be the edge closest to the front of the machine. Set this skate up in the same manner as what was explained above and sharpen like stated in Step 3.
Notes:
You will need to deburr the steel the same way your normally do. NEVER use a Sweet Stick on the steel after sharpening as it ruins the edges, see this excellent thread on Mod Squad Hockey discussing it. If someone wants to use a Sweet Stick to get a specific feel, they need to adjust their hollow until they get that feeling.
I have seen people in the past mention how doing an “inside high” sharpening ruins your edges quicker if you hit posts because of the higher inside edge. The enter blade is either 3mm or 4mm wide, with the edges being millimeters off of each other in terms of height… it is EXTREMELY hard to just get a single edge on the post when driving into them. The difference this misalignment will cause in height is negligible when hitting posts, and you’ll need to sharpen your blades anyways after hitting posts hard.
Hopefully this article and video was helpful in understanding how to use a Sparx and get an “inside high” edge for goalie skates. I highly recommend people try the inside high cut, and unlike a profile it doesn’t really grind away steel to get it back to a tradition sharpening.
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