How to Bake Hockey Skates: 11 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow (2024)

FAQs

How do you bake skates Wikihow? ›

Pre-heat your oven to 175 °F (79 °C).

To get the skate material to loosen you need to heat it so that the molecules soften, but the materials don't come apart. 175 °F (79 °C) is the ideal temperature for this process as it won't be hot enough to melt any plastic on the skate. Use an oven thermometer if you have one.

The process involves heating the skates at a high temperature, followed by tightly tying the laces with the foot inside the boot. After the player sits with the bottom of the blades against a soft surface for about 15 minutes, the boots will have molded to the shape of player's feet.

Some skates will come with specific instructions regarding temperature and time of baking. If not, you'll find home-bakers recommending anything from 175 to 210 degrees Fahrenheit. Once it is preheated, turn it off. Bake for three to four minutes, unless the manufacturer specifies a time.

Let the skate keep cooling and the materials harden again. It's recommended to wait 24 hours before using them but if you are in dire need of using them, putting them in your freezer for an hour can help speed up this process but you should not use them for 12 hours at the very minimum.

In general, higher-end skates can be baked, while you probably shouldn't bake low-end skates. Subjecting lower-level or recreational skates to the temperatures required for heat molding can cause the materials to break down faster, decreasing the skate's ability to provide support and shortening its overall lifetime.

Heat Molding Skates – You can heat up skate boots with a hair dryer (be careful to do so evenly and to not damage the leather with too much heat). Once they're nice and warm, wear them laced for about 5 minutes as they cool and the leather will better mold to your individual feet. Skate in Them!

Can You Bake Ice Hockey Skates More Than Once? If you have a higher-end model, you'll get away with heating them three or four times. So, if you find that the new form is not all that comfortable, repeat the steps and try again. You should leave at them for at least 24 hours before heating them again, though.

Heat and Bake

One of the most popular in-store adjustments involves using heat. If they prefer not to do it at the store, some people use a hair dryer, which can be applied to the boot of the skate for 2-3 minutes before trying the skate on to mold it to their foot.

After the process is complete, it is recommended that you wait a full 24 hours before skating in them. Following the heat molding process, if you still have any type of pain in your feet while wearing your skates, it could mean that the fit of the skate does not match with the shape of your foot.

Place a large skillet over medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil. Once the oil is hot, gently place the floured skate in the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the bottom starts to brown.

What is the best temperature for ice skating? ›

A temperature of 17 to 23 degrees F is considered good “hard hockey ice,” while 24 to 29 degrees F is considered good “soft figure skating ice.” Harder ice allows for faster skating and smoother, less snowy playing surface making the puck slide much easier as well.

First things first, you can bake your skates in your own oven at home. However, I wouldn't suggest it (nor would Glen), because you can ruin your skates if you don't know what you're doing. Glen uses a cold oven, which puts every piece of the skate to about 200 degrees and makes it very mold-able.

Each time you bake a skate, it can accelerate the breakdown process of the skate. Most modern skates are meant to only be baked once or twice. Anything further can start doing more harm than good. The materials that are molding to your foot might not harden up the same way.

A rule of thumb is for every 15 to 20 hours of ice time, but let's go beyond the basics. The biggest factor is how often you skate, hence the rule of thumb based on ice time. It's not unheard of for some players to sharpen their blades before every game, and others once or twice a year.

Turn the oven off before placing the skates inside.

Use the oven mitt to place the skate inside the oven, and make sure the skate is not touching anything but the baking sheet. Close the oven quickly to keep the heat trapped inside. Let the skates sit in the oven for approximately five minutes.

The general rule is that by the 5th or 6th skate, you should start to feel a noticeable difference in the level of comfort- and it only gets better from there, so just hang on.

Heat molding your boot:

Place boot upright, sitting on the rack or baking sheet, center rack, center of oven, leave in the oven for 10-15 minutes (CHECKING ON THE BOOTS EVERY MINUTE PAST 10 MINUTES), Check it, by squeezing the lower ankle area, should be soft/pliable, if it is soft go to next step.

Turn on the oven on 80 degrees Celsius (~175 F) and open up the skates so they are loose and open. Some people choose to remove the laces before baking, especially the waxed ones. However, there should be no issues.

Skate Baking:

Baking hockey skates with heat moldable linings will give you more of a custom fit. If you buy your skates at Play it Again Sports, we'll bake them for free. All other skates are baked at a charge of $20.

Heat molding skate boots is essential to making a skate fit properly and make the skate more comfortable from the beginning for the skater. It allows the leather in the heel to open up for a better fit in the toes. It also helps to press down the toe box of the box widening the width area.

Can you mold skates more than once? ›

Most modern skates are meant to only be baked once or twice. Anything further can start doing more harm than good. The materials that are molding to your foot might not harden up the same way.

Baking hockey skates with heat moldable linings will give you more of a custom fit. If you buy your skates at Play it Again Sports, we'll bake them for free. All other skates are baked at a charge of $20.

Yes, you can rebake hockey skates.

However, it is important to use the correct type of material and heat the skate so that it reaches a consistent temperature throughout. Rebaking Hockey Skates can help to fix minor problems with them and make them last longer.

Can You Bake Ice Hockey Skates More Than Once? If you have a higher-end model, you'll get away with heating them three or four times. So, if you find that the new form is not all that comfortable, repeat the steps and try again. You should leave at them for at least 24 hours before heating them again, though.

Can you bake hockey skates after wearing them? If you've just worn your hockey skates, be careful not to bake them. Soak them in cold water for a few minutes, then preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and remove the heel and binding with a knife. Place them on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

Some hockey players choose to heat mold their skates at home in the oven, and others take them to a pro shop. But we say, don't try this at home: you can ruin your skates or even injure yourself.

In addition to causing a width issue, as discussed above, skates that are too long can also result in these sort of problems: When too much growth room is given length-wise, in addition to sliding to the inside of the boot, the foot will also slip forward and back, making it difficult for the skater to balance.

How tight should hockey skates fit? Hockey skates should be snug, but not uncomfortably tight. When unlaced, your toes should just barely touch the toe cap. When standing in your skates with them fully laced, you want your heel snug in the heel pocket, so your toes have a bit of space at the end.

A temperature of 17 to 23 degrees F is considered good “hard hockey ice,” while 24 to 29 degrees F is considered good “soft figure skating ice.” Harder ice allows for faster skating and smoother, less snowy playing surface making the puck slide much easier as well.