Routine maintenance of ice skates

How to maintain ice skates?

1. When placing the skate and getting in and out of the ice rink, blade protection casings should be used to protect the blades from damage. Do not use skates on uneven ice surfaces or surfaces with gravels and cracks. After use, wipe clean the skate blades and coat a layer of oil for rust proof.

2. Glycerin should be applied to the skates before and after use in order to prevent the skates from being wetted with snowflakes and ice foam. After glycerin is coated, wipe off excess glycerin, coat a layer of shoe polish and a layer of transparent shoe polish to prevent cracking and moist mildew. By doing so, you can maximize the service life of the skates.

What should I pay attention to when using the skates?

1. When choosing skates, use feet sizes as references, neither too big nor too small. Your feet should feel comfortable in the shoes after you tie up the shoelaces.

    2. When carrying skates, do remember to cover the skate blades with protection casing. Front and rear tips of the blades should not be held vertically towards human bodies for safety’s sake.

    3. Check if there is any loosening of connection parts before use, such as loose rivets. Only when the loosening parts be fixed can the skates be put into normal use.

    4. Any collision with others should be prevented in order to protect people from harm and to avoid damage to the skates.

    5. During sliding process of speed skating, lean your body forward, use the inside blades to push the ice outwards. Your legs, feet and skate blades should be in a straight line after you withdraw the blades. When you are turning, the body should be tilted left-wards, push the ice with inside and outside blades with your two feet respectively.

    6, During the sliding process of figure skating, after you finish the jumping motion and falling vertically, the front 1/3 should touch the ice surface first and then spread gradually to the whole length of the blades.

    7. When sliding with ice hockey skates, do not catch or stop puck with blade holder so that you can protect yourself from harm and the blade holder will not be broken.

    8. Children and juveniles should be accompanied by parents during skating.

How to grind the blades to cutting edges?

 1. Blades of speed skates: With the blades clamped in the grinding holder, grind the blades with coarse, fine grinding whetstone grinding reciprocally till the blade edges are sharp. You should move the whetstone horizontally and vertically in the way of ∞ or ○ shaped movement. Lubricating grease can be applied to enhance the grinding effect. After grinding the blade plane, use whetstone to clean the burrs on the inside and outside edges and to make the edges even sharper.

2. Special equipment should be used for grinding the blades of figure and hockey skates. Use 6-8mm thick grinding wheels of 80-120 # grits with a radius of 8mm on the edge, to grind the blades. Cooling agents i.e. water should be used to prevent the annealing of the blades. With the aid of lubricating grease, grind the edges with whetstones of the same radius till the edges get sharp. After the circular grooves are ground, slightly wipe the edges horizontally many times to clear the burrs and make the edges smoother.