Pablo's Weekly Workshop Diary: 6th September 2026
🛠️ Pablo's Weekly Workshop Diary – 6th September 2026 🛼
Another busy week in the Pablo's workshop, with conversions, restorations, customer orders and even a bit of workshop tooling thrown into the mix!
🔥 First up, we've been getting more finished skates listed for sale. These Nike Bauer Flexlite 14s on Sure-Grip Rock plates are now ready for their next owner. Size 6R, professionally converted and carbon reinforced, they're another pair of rare, sought-after boots given a new life on quads.
🔥 One conversion this week started life looking VERY different! A pair of old Nike Bauer Vapor Speed boots came in wearing their usual light grey colour and covered in signatures from an unknown hockey team. We professionally dyed the boots black and mounted them onto black Sure-Grip Rock plates for a much more modern-looking setup. Finished with those bright teal Ventro Pro Turbo wheels, the transformation is huge! 🩵
🔥 We also had a pair of Flexlite 2s in size 4 come in mounted on Moxi aluminium plates. The boots have been stripped down, cleaned up and rebuilt and are now heading into the shop for sale. The question is... do we keep the Moxi plates on them, or do they need Playmakers or Rocks instead? 👀
🔥 One of the most-used tools in the workshop... our PowerDyne bearing press/puller. Not the most glamorous thing you'll see in the diary, but it makes fitting and removing bearings quicker, cleaner and considerably easier. It's one of those tools you don't appreciate until you've used one!
🔥 We received an absolutely brilliant bit of feedback from Louie after another conversion. He's trusted us with a number of his skates now, and hearing that we're the only person he'll trust to convert his collection genuinely means a lot. Even better, the Supremes involved apparently cost him just £7.50 from a charity shop! 😂 Absolute bargain of the year.
🔥 There was also some considerably less glamorous work this week. A pair of usually beautiful Flexlite 2.0 boots arrived for repair. These belong to a rink marshal at a well-known rink, so as you can imagine, they get some serious daily use!
Unfortunately, the underside of the boots had been completely ripped away with the plates, the result of the boots not being adequately strengthened before the plates were originally mounted.
There was a LOT of cleaning, preparation, repair and adhesive work required before we could even think about putting them back together. It's the work nobody sees once the skates are finished, but getting that foundation right is every bit as important as what goes on underneath afterwards.
Needless to say, they received the full Pablo's signature custom-fit and riveted carbon plate treatment before being rebuilt. Strength restored, plates securely mounted and they were back out rink marshalling in no time. 🛠️🔥
🔥 We also turned out a couple of very tidy builds this week, including a lovely pair of Bauer Supreme One05s. Classic Bauer styling, clean black hardware and white stops. Simple, purposeful and properly retro. 👌
🔥 Pink, purple, black and plenty of other Ventro Pro Turbo Refresh Packs have also been heading out. Wheels, bearings, matching laces and toe stops make these an easy and highly affordable way to completely change the look of an existing pair of skates without replacing the whole setup. They've become one of our best sellers! 💗
🔥 We've also massively expanded our Bones range this week! We've now listed ALL of the Bones bearing lines in the shop, giving you everything from the ever-popular Bones REDS right through the range for those wanting to upgrade their setup.
And if you already have decent bearings that just need some TLC, we've also got Bones Bearing Pullers and Bones Bearing Cleaning Bottles at HALF PRICE while stocks last. 🔥
Whether you're building a fresh set of skates or giving your existing setup a service, we've now got your Bones bearing needs pretty well covered! 🛼
🔥 And finally, one of my favourites from this week's bench: those old-school Bauer Impact 30s, finished with white plates, purple Air Waves and matching purple laces. That colour combination works ridiculously well against the black boots.
These sold this week and are now heading all the way to their new owner in Australia! 🇦🇺💜
Another week that pretty much sums up what happens at Pablo's: old skates coming back to life, customer conversions, complete builds, repairs, parts orders and plenty of dirty work behind the scenes to make sure the finished product is done properly.
A huge thank you to everyone who ordered from us this week, sent skates in for conversion or repair, bought one of our finished builds or recommended Pablo's to somebody else.
And a special thank you to Louie for such an incredible write-up and for continuing to trust us with his collection. ❤️
What was your favourite from this week's workshop? 👇
See you next week for another workshop update!
Every retro skate featured in our Workshop Diary is individually hand-built in the Pabloskates workshop. Since we use pre-owned hockey boots, each pair is unique and no two builds are ever exactly the same.
Browse our latest converted skates or get in touch to discuss your dream setup only at Pabloskates.com.
Pre-Built Retro Skates - https://www.pabloskates.com/skates
Skate Parts & Accessories - https://www.pabloskates.com/parts
Custom Build Enquiries - https://www.pabloskates.com/services
Phone/WhatsApp - 00447848287929
Email - mail@pabloskates.com
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