Need Info for MK "AB Special" Blades

[treesprite]

Could not find info on internet, and eBay seller never responded to my message. The ad only says they were only used once and that they go for $600.

Since the start bid was only .99, I figured I would bid on them without the info. Won for $1.25 plus $15 shipping.

If they are actually good blades and have a 7' rocker, I will try them out when I get them. If not, I'm only out about $16. (It beats the waste on the Graf Lausanne blades I got a couple years ago but never used... they are sitting in a box of junk).

 

[overedge]

I went and looked at the listing on eBay. I'm a little suspicious that the ad says these blades originally sold for $600, but I can't find a mention of this AB Special line of blades anywhere on the internet.

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

It looks like they are very old blades: http://lafsc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/lawlessitems.pdf The ones in the photo, can the be skates for figures? They are so flat and the toe pick is really small?

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

Okay, I found this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Whi...381585?hash=item53ff972711:g:iLAAAOxy86RSZH1C You can see the type of skate that was out when that blade was made by comparing the mk logo. It's pretty old fashioned - the height, the black painted heel and the wood guards.

 

[overedge]

Okay, I found this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Whi...381585?hash=item53ff972711:g:iLAAAOxy86RSZH1C You can see the type of skate that was out when that blade was made by comparing the mk logo. It's pretty old fashioned - the height, the black painted heel and the wood guards.

Wow, for $129 I would expect the seller to at least have a picture of the blades without the guards on!!

 

[treesprite]

This is the ad:
http://m.ebay.com/itm/MK-Sheffield-...cial-/272669466077?txnId=0#vi__app-cvip-panel

Boots were still made high topped when I was a teenager, but because some of the blade models are still being used today that were used with boots like that, I wouldn't write off blades from that decade (boots yes, blades no). I think the main reason boots had to start being made shorter, is the advancement of triple and quadruple jumps.

 

[treesprite]

The manufacturer never e-mailed me back, and I still can't find anything on the internet.

However, when I was looking for something in the pro shop here, I discovered a pair of MK Pros with the logo like the one on the eBay blades. The blades in the shop had no date on the packaging to know when they were made, but the blades are identical to ones with the newer logo.

Given the above information, maybe I can assume that the blades I'm getting off eBay are not so old that they would be of lesser quality or less useful based solely on age. In that case, it will be an issue of condition, skill level for those blades, and rocker size.

Regardless of anything else, of the rockers aren't 7 ft, I am 99% sure I won't use the blades. I hope they turn out to be useful.

 

[treesprite]

I finally, just a moment ago, found one reference to someone having Reidell Royals with MK AB Special Blades, posted during this past year (on Quora q&a). So, I now know they are the type of blade I could use, but I need to know the rocker.

 

[treesprite]

I was just reading something about the change to laser cutting blades, making rockers and profiles more consistent. These were probably made before that time, and blades made before that can vary greatly from one blade to the next even within the same model.... an 8 ft could have been anything from 6 ft to 10 ft depending on the exact pair of blades. I wonder if the cutting method has any relationship in time period to the logo change on the blades.

 

[treesprite]

Finally, some information. I was told by a skate tech who has been around longer than the hills, that the MK AB Special is the MK Phantom but with dance toepicks.

I guess that means I won't be using them, because the toe picks are not good for jumping and I want to be able to jump. I can either keep them for when I'm too old to do freestyle, or sell them to someone else.

The seller should have listed them as dance blades. The pictures made it hard to really tell the size of the toe picks. I could tell they aren't figures blades, but it didn't occur to me that they might be for dance. I only bid with the uncertainty, because of the almost-nothing cost, so Im not really losing anything, but it would have been nice to have different blades for next to nothing.

 

[IceSlider]

I know this is an old thread but I'm posting here to give information about this blade type.

Until I very recently changed to MK Dance blades, I skated on MK AB Specials. I got these in the '90's from MK when it was still a separate company and based in Slough UK. Previously I'd skated in John Wilson's Coronation Ace as a late teen/20's.

I had returned to figure skating as an adult (30's) and wanted to focus on free style - jumps and spins which I'd not done as an ice dancing youth! I got them on the advice of my then coach Hilary Green.

I'm not surpised these are considered more "dance blades" in the discussion here, Hilary's competative discipline was Ice Dance. That said, they're good for jumping and spinning and I was focusing on free style. I took some coaching sessions from freestyle only coaches in this period too and these blades were definitely up to the job.

As for the blade itself, these are high quality blades, side honed with an awesome edge quality, so the comparison with the Phantom seems right. Although I've now swapped to dance blades, I absolutely loved skating on AB specials and won't part with them .

The skate tech at my new rink who sharpened them recently and who'd not come across them before, said they were almost like a parabolic to work with.

Side honing, if you look carefully at some of the pictures in the links in this thread you can just about see that the blade isn't flat on the side but has a contoured runner (the blade part) that makes it lighter and contributes to the edge design.

This contour concaves in, starting below where the stanchions meets the runner to a deepest point mid runner width and widens bach out at the edge. This "valley" runs the length of the runner from just behind the pick right to the end of the tail.

This blog has a good description and diagram of side honed blades https://scarletskater.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/choosing-figure-skating-blades/ .

This wikipedia page also references side honed blades:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_skate

I think there are probably better choices of blade if you're starting new but if you come across these blades at a decent price second hand and they've still got blade life in them, they're a lovely blade to skate on.

I think they'd do early freestyle jumping and spinning, field moves at any level and early ice dance. The tail length is the main downside for ice dance, it limits the close footwork (as the scratches on the sides of my blades, where they've clashed can testify too!).

As for discontinuation, my guess is that these were dropped when MK was bought by HD Sports, who also own John Wilson. and the combined product lines for both MK and John Wilson were rationalised.

I'm not sure when that happened, just that they were still available in circa 1993/4. More info about HD Sports and their brands are here: http://www.hdsports.co.uk/about-us

As for original cost, I know mine were quite expensive at the time, probably in the range of the higher level MK and John Wilson blades and I remember they were a step up from Coronation Ace.

$600 seems way too much to claim this blade sold for new. If they were selling them today they'd probably retail new for between $450 to $550, if they were in the Phantom/Gold star bracket and based on the current prices for those blades.

That'd also be about right as a "step up from Coronation Ace" when these are currently retailing at around $220 (standard blade) and Phantom/Gold Star/Pattern 99 are the next price points for standard blades types in those ranges.

I hope all this helps.