How sharp do ice skates need to be?
Your hockey skates should be sharp enough to ensure the blades have bite and allow you to turn and stop with confidence. Sharp edges mean that the inside and outside edges of your skate blade are razor-thin, clean and without burrs or nicks.
If you notice nicks or gouges on the skate blades, it's time to get them sharpened. A quick test for a sharp edge is to hold the skate upside down, place one thumbnail on the edge of the blade and gently pull down and away from the blade on three or four parts of the blade.
Generally skates should be sharpened every 20-40 skating hours. This depends on a few different factors such as how many times a week a skater is on the ice, which elements the skater is working on, and the build of the skater.
Skates should typically be sharpened after 8-10 hours of use on an indoor rink. This timeframe shrinks when skating outdoors. If you find yourself struggling to skate smoothly or falling down doing a typical skill you'd be comfortable with it is a sign that you may need to get your blades checked.
While your skates can never be too sharp, they can certainly be too dull and that can take a whole lot of fun out of the game. For those skaters who do feel their skates are too sharp at times, we recommend reviewing our post on selecting an ROH. You should experiment with a slightly shallower radius.
Glide and bite are determined by the amount of blade cutting into the ice. 1/2 inch is our standard hollow, a 3/8 would provide more bite, a 5/8 would provide less bite.
Most skates are sharpened by cutting an arc in between the two edges, known as the radius of hollow (ROH). This is measured in inches. Hockey player and goalie skates are often sharpened with a ROH from 3/8” up to 1-1/2”.
New skates are not sharpened, so you will need to get them sharpened by a trained sharpener, and then re-sharpened every 15-20 hours of ice time – to keep them in tip top condition by removing knicks and deformaties in the metal edge.
If you can learn how to use a skate stone, you can properly sharpen your skates at home. Note that this isn't so much a way of sharpening skates as it is a way to fine-tune things after you've made a couple passes on your blades using an appropriate machine.
The rule of thumb is to sharpen ice skates after every 15-20 hours of use. This is typical for athletes who play hockey or figure skate multiple times on a weekly basis. This consensus is based on a few factors: First is how the skates are being used.
Do skate blades get dull over time?
It's not over till it's over
This definitely varies by the material of the blade and the skater both. So that's rule of thumb for a skater doing a bit more advanced moves than your average learn to skate skater. But that depends on preference and how conservative you want to be. Blades do wear down by sharpening.
If a player's skate chatters as the stop occurs, it means the player's weight is too much on the heel of the skate! Weight will be applied equally on both skates with the feet shoulder width apart or slightly wider in the hockey stance position. The head is up with two hands on the stick.
The normal range for this is ⅜” to ¾”, although higher or lower hollows are occasionally seen. Typically, skate shops will do 1/2”, 5/8”, or 7/16” hollow as a default if they aren't given any specific instructions.
Ice Skate Care and How To Know When They Need Sharpened
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.
No one should ever skate on dull or unsharpened blades. Your skating edge will help you turn and maneuver, as well as keep your balance.
Just Got My Skates Sharpened And Now I Can't Stop Or Turn!??
The Importance of Sharpening
Better grip: Sharper blades grip the ice better than dull ones. This means a sharp blade can help you stick figure skate landings and make sharper turns. Consistent performance: Regularly sharpening your skates allows you to find the sharpness that helps you perform best.
The most common skate sharpening radius we see for ice hockey players is a 1/2″ inch or 5/8″ inch cut.
Skate Sharpening & Skate Care
Skates need to be sharp even if the skater is young. Most often children's skates require sharpening every 2 months depending on how much they skate.
What profile should I get on my skates?
what profile is best? A smaller profile (7′) will make less contact with the ice than a larger profile (13′). Less ice contact (7′) allows for greater maneuverability and acceleration, but also digs into the ice more than a larger profile (13′), which means slower top speeds and increased fatigue.
In this video, the Penguins' equipment manager talks about Crosby's skate sharpening preferences. Around 3:44, he mentions that Crosby used to prefer a deeper hollow, but now uses a 1/2" hollow.
5/8 (Shallow) grind is what most figure skaters skate on. This gives you a good flowing edge and has little friction on the ice.
You can get your skates sharpened anywhere from 1/8th of an inch to one inch. 1/8th would be the sharpest, and one inch would be the least sharp. The majority of pros use something with a shallower hollow, but preference does widely vary.
Allow at least six hours to break in new skates.
It takes time to break in a new pair of figure skates. It is best to break the skates in over several skating sessions. You will need to skate in the new boots for a total of at least six, but up to eight, hours.
- Consider the skates' primary use (ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, recreational, etc.). ...
- Consider your skill and experience level. ...
- Consider how often you'll use the skates. ...
- Think about your foot size. ...
- Do some research on different brands. ...
- Go for the Goldilocks fit.
Let them sit for 24 hours. The adhesives need to set again. If you absolutely have to, you could skate after a 12-hour cooling period, but that is not recommended.
Using A Hand Stone to Adjust The Sharpness of Your Figure Skates
How, Why and When to sharpen your figure skates - YouTube
Fortunately, most minor rusting can be removed using elbow grease and a professional skate sharpener. Examine the blades. If the only rust is along the U-shaped groove at the base of the blade, take the skates to your local skate shop for sharpening.
How often should I ice skate?
Recreational figure skaters should aim for at least 3 times per week on the ice, no less than 2. No more than one of these times should be on a public session. Also try to avoid taking to long of or too many breaks from skating.
So, how often do players in the NHL get new skates? It varies from player to player. Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning says he uses a new pair of skates every ten games. Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks said he used to get a new pair of skates four to five times a season.
SkateWorks - Replacing Hockey Skate Blades
Excess wear on blade or blades. Blades should be replaced if they are lower than 3/8” at the ball of foot center or heal center.
Outdoor ice can be very dirty or the dirt frozen into the surface makes the ice a strong abrasive. Blades which have been poorly sharpened often leave a weak or rolled edge that quickly breaks down leaving the skates dull.
Skates alone can cost $2,000 with new blades — and they're usually replaced annually.
The atoms will tend to migrate away from that organized edge. This is a very slow process. So, these two things mean that the answer to your question, "Do unused knives get dull?" is yes. Oxidation Logically this makes the most sence.
If you are very lightweight, a 3/8” radius is probably what you need. Light to average weight skaters typically have a radius of 1/2″ to 5/8” while heavier skaters usually opt for about 3/4″ to avoid chattering when they try to stop.
Blades are about 3⁄16 in (4.8 mm) thick and may have a slightly tapered cross-section. There are different blades for different levels of skaters which often correspond to a skater's age, size and skill level.
1) The bottom of your blade is not flat, but rather concave. (See blade cross-section figure) This creates a hollow which allows your skate to cut into the ice. If you've ever put on a pair of skates out of the box (they don't come sharpened), you've learned this the hard way. No hollow = No bite = Sore butt.
The most common radius of hollow cuts are ½” and 5/8” for skate sharpening shops because it provides the best balance between edge depth and glide speed.
Do NHL players use Fbv?
One of the first NHL teams to be using the flat bottom v skate sharpening method was the St. Louis blues, now over 20 NHL teams are using this method, quite a bold statement for a technique that just took off at the beginning of the year!
In order to allow speed skaters to take long, gliding strides, speed skating blades have very little curve compared to hockey, figure or short track skates. Edges of the blades are sharpened to a 90-degree angle for maximum efficiency during the push.
Different Types of Skate Sharpening Hollows
For example, a lighter player can benefit from a deeper hollow (7/16" or 3/8") by providing them with the ability to cut deeper into the ice. This type of sharpening provides more bite for the user, allowing for more responsive turns/stops and quicker overall acceleration.
Testing for Even Edges
Bring the skate blade to eye-level and look down the blade towards the coin. If there is a significant height difference between the inside and outside edge, it will be visible; you'll see one side of the coin will be higher than the other.
On the Ice
It's skating on natural ponds and similar that can dull your blades. Usually, a sharpening after you've skated on the pond will fix things.
A quick test for a sharp edge is to hold the skate upside down, place one thumbnail on the edge of the blade and gently pull down and away from the blade on three or four parts of the blade. A good, sharp blade will easily scrape a layer of your thumbnail, leaving the remnants on the blade.
How much do hockey skates cost? Hockey skates range in price from about $50 for an entry-level Youth model to around $1000 for a top-of-the-line Senior model.
Remember, too, you may want to replace a stick when it's not broken—it may have lost its stiffness, its pop. When a stick feels “whippy” or weak in shooting or passing, many players will buy a new stick because the old one isn't performing like it should. It's worn out—a factor that a novice may not even notice.
No one should ever skate on dull or unsharpened blades. Your skating edge will help you turn and maneuver, as well as keep your balance. The second is that people with weak ankles cannot skate. This actually has more to do with the skate, than the skater.
The blades on figure skates are sharp enough to cut the skin on a person's face and can even slice deeper, resulting in some serious injuries.
How can I sharpen my ice skates at home?
How, Why and When to sharpen your figure skates - YouTube
In order to allow speed skaters to take long, gliding strides, speed skating blades have very little curve compared to hockey, figure or short track skates. Edges of the blades are sharpened to a 90-degree angle for maximum efficiency during the push.
New skates are not sharpened, so you will need to get them sharpened by a trained sharpener, and then re-sharpened every 15-20 hours of ice time – to keep them in tip top condition by removing knicks and deformaties in the metal edge.
The harder the ice, the more often you will need to sharpen them. Softer ice is easier on the blades and is easier to skate on with dull skates as the blade "sinks" into and grips the ice better.
Ice Skate Care and How To Know When They Need Sharpened
A hollow or 'U' shape is ground into the blade to create a right and left edge. The deeper the hollow or U shape, the sharper a skate feels. The following are common sharpening measurements in order of deepest to shallow: 1/4, 3/8, 7/16, 1/2, 5/8. A sharper skate will give you more bite but less glide.
The normal range for this is ⅜” to ¾”, although higher or lower hollows are occasionally seen. Typically, skate shops will do 1/2”, 5/8”, or 7/16” hollow as a default if they aren't given any specific instructions.
Figure skating blades aren't like knives.
The blades also have two edges with a grooved, concave center. This means that the female skaters' weight is distributed over a slightly larger area than if the blades had a single, super-thin edge, like knives do.
You can manually sharpen your skates with the right tools, but doing a good job requires a precise level of skill and technique. Skate blades have two ridges, and you must sharpen both to the same level for proper performance.
Use a Hockey Skate Blade Sharpening Stone
If you can learn how to use a skate stone, you can properly sharpen your skates at home. Note that this isn't so much a way of sharpening skates as it is a way to fine-tune things after you've made a couple passes on your blades using an appropriate machine.
Can I sharpen skates with a file?
Use a flat file to file the blade from toe to heel in a diagonal motion. Be sure the file is always perpendicular to the blade. Slide the flat file across a single blade in the same direction roughly 20 times, then perform the same motion in the opposite direction. Repeat the process for the other skate.
