Have you ever wondered how you should be caring for your Sharpies (skates)? Are you looking to get maximum wear out of your boots and performance out of your blades? Well, you’re in the right place. I had the opportunity to sit down and discuss best practices with the owner of Home Ice, skate technician, fellow skater and coach, Aislinn Munck-Owen. Here are her best tips and tricks to keep your two best skating buddies in great shape.

Daily Care (or each time you skate)

Despite the fact that skaters spend hours practicing on frozen water, your skates aren’t big fans of being wet. They are happy to work as hard as you do during your sessions but ask to be fully aired out and dried afterward.

Be sure to completely loosen your boot laces before you remove them. Carefully dry the outside of the boot, the bottom, and the blade to prevent water from seeping in and ruining a boot or lessening the integrity of the blade. Place the soft guards or soakers on for storage. Many of the newer lightweight skates also come with a small tab to place around the top 1-2 hooks to help keep the shape of the boot during storage. It’s also not a bad idea to spray a bit of witch hazel/essential oil into each skate to keep them smelling fresh. I personally make my own mixture but you can purchase a pre-made one as well. Beware of sprays with lots of chemicals or additives as they can be harsh on the material inside your boot but most importantly on your skin as skating socks are typically very thin.

Weekly Care

It’s a good idea to take a couple of extra steps at the end of the week, especially for those who skate 3+ days. Those steps include completely removing the boots from their bag or suitcase to fully and completely dry out. Sprinkle a bit of baking soda in each to keep them fresh. Check the screws around the blades to make sure nothing has loosened. Before you pack them back up into your rink bag be sure to tap out or vacuum up the baking soda.

Monthly or Semi-monthly Care

This next segment of care and maintenance will vary depending on the number of hours you skate and factors such as skating level and personal wear and tear on equipment. But it’s a smart choice to take a more thorough look at your skates during this timeframe. One of the first things you’ll want to do is think about having your blades sharpened. Over time (the hours spent on the ice), your blades will become dull and you’ll find it more challenging to hold an edge. While each skater has a personal preference, some general guidelines include: For the stainless blades such as Paramount or Matrix, these blades tend to hold a sharpening a bit longer but as a rule of thumb, you’ll want to sharpen somewhere between 35 – 50 hours of use. For the traditional blades, they typically need sharpening between 20 – 35 hours. Again, these are guidelines and will vary depending on the skater, general preference, blade type, and condition of the ice skated on, etc. You do you.

1/2”, 5/8”, 3/8” – we are talking about the hollow on the bottom of the blades. So which number is best? Here’s your answer, there isn’t a best number nor should the hollow necessarily change over your skating career. There are skaters who have gone all the way to the Olympic podium without ever changing their hollow depth – true story. This is something best handled by conversations with your coach if you are feeling your skates need to be different and with your skate tech. If a change is necessary it’s best to go slowly with this to preserve the blade but most importantly to make sure the skater is comfortable with the change. Did you know changing the hollow can affect your knee bend or make you feel a bit ‘stuck’ to the ice?

Finally, human or machine? Artificial Intelligence and machines are doing some amazing things but they’re not quite ready to tackle the art of blade sharpening yet. Strong advice – please keep figure skates out of the sharpening machines. They simply can’t get things as accurate as your skate technician can.

While skate shops can get busy, many are more than happy to book you in for regular standing appointments. For example, if you know based on your skating you are a ‘once a month-er’ for sharpening, why not ask if you can pre-book your appointments a few months in advance so it’s already on the calendar?

So, your skate tech will take care of the sharpening but the other item to look at during this timeframe are your boot laces. Think about how much pressure your laces are under, every knee bend, push forward, jump landing, etc., they are helping to hold your foot securely in your boot. Over time laces stretch out and become less efficient not to mention possible frays from wear or having a blade graze it on a jump landing. It’s really good practice to change out your laces at least every 2-3 months.

Before a Competition or Important Skating Event

It’s always a good idea to make sure your laces aren’t too old or worn, you’ve checked the screws on your blades to make sure nothing is loose, you generally look over the skates for nicks on the blades and ask yourself if they are in need of sharpening. It’s best to plan ahead for this one as you’ll want a minimum of 2-5 hours of skating after a sharpening and before your event to make sure everything is in order and your skates feel comfortable like they do during practice. (For more travel related information see the post on traveling with skates)

Accessories, Fix-Its, and Final Thoughts

Finally, how you tie your skates for each session will have an impact on your boots and your skating. Too loose isn’t good but too tight isn’t either – be like Goldilocks and go just right (snug on the foot, tighter at the ankle, and some breathing room at the top hooks so you can maintain a nice ankle bend on the ice). While we typically associate Bunga pads with helping break in new skates many skaters continue to use them because they like the feel of more ankle support while still ‘leaving room at the top’.

Use your hard guards to walk around in. Most rinks have rubber flooring but you still never know if you’re picking up dirt or someone’s spilled snack. (I’m looking at you raisins and gummy bears)

Once your skates are packed up and in their bag you’re all set, right? Well mostly but please consider where your skate bag is being stored. Too cold and you’ll have a hard time properly lacing them up, too warm and you can actually alter the shape. Remember many of us have our boot heat molded for a more custom fit but we wait until they are fully cooled down (2+ hours) before we actually use them. If you accidentally forget your skates in a hot car, please don’t skate in them for several hours.

While this may sound like a lot of care, remember The Sharpies really are your besties once you hit the ice!