The Importance of Sanding Before Mounting

Sure, your brand-new boots look perfectly all right, but before you mount your plate, there are a few things you should know first. Even the finest custom made boots available are seldom level between the heel and sole, nor are the heels aligned with the rest of the boot. You can see this if you place the straight edge of a ruler, for example, across the heel and sole. When the straight edge is level and even with the heel, it pulls up from the sole or only touches at one point, or vice versa… but it won’t level on both surfaces at the same time. This simple step shows you why sanding the heel and sole is necessary to achieve the flat, even, parallel surface you’ll need for a firm, accurate plate mount. (Remember, to make allowance for the rivets which protrude through the top of the plate on some skates.) After you’ve sanded the heel and sole, you’ll want to use your straight edge again to check if they are level with one another, and to determine if any further sanding is required. Quite clearly, if you were to omit the important steps of sanding and alignment you would get an inaccurate plate-to-boot mount that would eventually distort and twist the plate or boot out of shape because of uneven stress placed on one or the other.

Once sanding is completed and your plate rests flatly on your boot, you are now ready to proceed with these easy to follow mounting instructions.