Skate Sharpening guide basic points about which hollow or grind to get or use

by ChrisK on Oct.17, 2010, under Skating Tips

Sharpening a skate is more than just placing your skate blade against a grinding wheel. Each player has a different need for their level and style of play or skating. This short tutorial will help answer some questions about skate sharpening and help the skater determine the proper type of hollow or grind for them.

In this tutorial we will be covering

How skate sharpening works (how to on making your skates sharper) “How are ice skates sharpened” A skate is sharpened by applying a rounded grinding wheel to the blade. This causes the blade to have a hollow or groove in the middle on the blade (please refer to images provided in the video tutorial on skate sharpening).

Finding the type Cut, Hollow or Grind for you as a general ice skater, Xtreme ice skater or hockey players

Problems you may face when getting your skates or boots sharpened (offset blade as a direct result of bad sharpening technique) First, the blade must be fully inspected for surface condition, edge damage , straightness, and also the blade width (blade widths can vary depending on age, model and make of the skate and if not checked by calliper, the edges might turn out uneven…poor sharpen)

Ice rink temperature – The difference between Soft and Hard ice, and understanding how each will affect your skating. On soft ice, your edges sink deeper into the ice and slow you down and make you tire easily and lose speed. With hard ice, more edge is needed to get a good “bite” or (can be referred to as grip, although this is incorrect, it might help you understand) into the ice. If you are playing at different rinks, your skates will feel very different from one rink to another. For example, if you are playing at Rink A, which normally has soft ice, and are skating on a 9/16 hollow or grind, your performance will be good (skating ability referring to turning and agility NOT speed). If you were now to go Skate at Rink B, which has very hard ice, you likely will be slipping out and not have enough bite or “grip” but you would have more speed as less of the blade sinks into the ice (slowing you down).

4 Comments for this entry

Jedifarce
October 18th, 2010 on 5:05 am
Only thing I could add would be to say going towards a deeper hollow the following numbers are the progression of hollows I used primarily for hockey skates,

1/2 – 7/16 – 3/8 – 5/16 – 1/4

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JuvenileE6
October 18th, 2010 on 10:45 am
Thanks for your input, always appreciated. So many areas to cover when talking about different grinds, think i might post another video covering soft ice and hard ice (as that plays a big part in what hollows will benefit you while on different kinds of ice)

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Jedifarce
October 19th, 2010 on 2:41 am
No problem, the official Ice Palace terminology for ice skating conditions is always, Junk or Nice. Lol.

Here’s the thing about our rink, they only lay down water for the hockey players and figure skaters. During public, they just “smooth” it out without putting down any water, that’s when you will hear skaters say, “Ice is crappy, or junk.” Junk ice is usually hard and this is what chews up blade edges more quickly.

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JuvenileE6
October 21st, 2010 on 12:15 pm
Yer i totally get what you mean, over here we just call it hard or soft, soft being more preferable but most of the time, you’d want something between the both, As On soft ice, your edges sink deeper into the ice and slow you down and make you tire easy (good for tight turns). With hard ice, more edge is needed to get a good bite into the ice..

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