A skate blade sharpening system comprising: electronic circuitry comprising sharpening control circuitry configured to control operation of the grinding component and perform sharpening operations, and a grinding component coupled to a motor for rotation, the grinding component configured to translate longitudinally relative to a bottom edge of a skate blade, the grinding component having an outer surface dimensioned and configured to sharpen the bottom edge of the skate blade during a sharpening operation, characterized in that the grinding component comprises an identification tag having interface circuitry configured to communicate with the electronic circuitry of the skate blade sharpening system and memory including a usage location configured to store a usage tracking value; and the electronic circuitry further comprises: a transceiver configured to communicate with the interface circuitry of the identification tag and to read from and write to the usage location; and usage control circuitry configured to: write, using the transceiver, an update to the usage tracking value based, at least in part, on usage of the grinding component during sharpening operations; read, using the transceiver, a current usage tracking value from the usage location; and control operation of the sharpening control circuitry for sharpening operations based, at least in part, on the current usage tracking value. electronic circuitry comprising sharpening control circuitry configured to control operation of the grinding component and perform sharpening operations, and a grinding component coupled to a motor for rotation, the grinding component configured to translate longitudinally relative to a bottom edge of a skate blade, the grinding component having an outer surface dimensioned and configured to sharpen the bottom edge of the skate blade during a sharpening operation, characterized in that the grinding component comprises an identification tag having interface circuitry configured to communicate with the electronic circuitry of the skate blade sharpening system and memory including a usage location configured to store a usage tracking value; and the electronic circuitry further comprises: a transceiver configured to communicate with the interface circuitry of the identification tag and to read from and write to the usage location; and usage control circuitry configured to: write, using the transceiver, an update to the usage tracking value based, at least in part, on usage of the grinding component during sharpening operations; read, using the transceiver, a current usage tracking value from the usage location; and control operation of the sharpening control circuitry for sharpening operations based, at least in part, on the current usage tracking value. a transceiver configured to communicate with the interface circuitry of the identification tag and to read from and write to the usage location; and usage control circuitry configured to: write, using the transceiver, an update to the usage tracking value based, at least in part, on usage of the grinding component during sharpening operations; read, using the transceiver, a current usage tracking value from the usage location; and control operation of the sharpening control circuitry for sharpening operations based, at least in part, on the current usage tracking value. write, using the transceiver, an update to the usage tracking value based, at least in part, on usage of the grinding component during sharpening operations; read, using the transceiver, a current usage tracking value from the usage location; and control operation of the sharpening control circuitry for sharpening operations based, at least in part, on the current usage tracking value.