When New Skate Blades are Defective

Let's say that you've bought new blades. Your tech mounts them, sharpens them and you go home. The first day you skate you have no control; your jumps are crap,  you fall out of your spins. The reaction of the average skater is one of the following:

1.  "My old rocker must have been flat. I'll adjust to this rocker in time."  
2.  "This is a new type of blade. I'll adjust to this rocker in time."
3.  "I need to get the blade position adjusted."

All of those might work, but there's another possibility; the blades are defective.

Oh, yes it happens.  Two skaters of my acquaintance both had defective blades in the last month from two different manufacturers.

One skater had a blade with a rocker that varied from 7 to 12 ' along the blade.

The other skater had a blade that was slightly curved in an 'S' (not straight along the length).

The luck in this  event was that both skaters had the same skate technician who caught the defects in the blades before he mounted them because he inspects all the blades before he mounts them.

In the first case he measured the rocker with  a rocker gauge; in the second case it may have been just visual inspection or simply comparing the blade to a straightedge.

If you are lucky your skate technician will check the blades before they are mounted. If you are not lucky....

Because once you've got them sharpened and mounted, good luck proving to the manufacturer it was their error.