Ice hockey is a popular sport played all across the world. Using skates and maintaining them can be a hassle and quite expensive if you don’t know how to sharpen them. Sharpening skates at home can be quite cost-effective if one is a regular player and has the correct means and method of doing so. Despite this, it is important to employ proper skills and the right equipment while cleaning expensive skates. A general guide to sharpening hockey skates at home is given below.
Materials and Tools We’ll Need
Skate Sharpening Kit
A skate sharpening kit includes a sharpening stone or a honing guide, a deburring tool to remove extra material from the edge or surface, and a skate holder. You can get these kits at any nearby sporting goods store or even online.
Hollow Gauge
The hollow gauze tool helps you measure the depth of the hollow you want to achieve on your skate blades. If we draw a complete circle formed by the hollow of the skate blade, then the radius of the circle will be one-half of its width.
Rag or Towel
We need a rag or a towel to clean and wipe the skates.
Steps for Sharpening Hockey Skates
Secure the Skate
Before starting cleanup, the skates should be placed securely in the skate holder or vice grip. This step will ensure that while sharpening the skates, they won’t move and remain stable.
Select the Hollow
Before sharpening the skates, we have to determine the depth of the hollow we want to achieve. This is typically measured in fractions of an inch, such as 1/2 inch or 3/8 inch. The hollow gauze we used to measure the desired depth.
Honing
The sharpening blade or the honing guide is used to sharpen our skates. You should gently guide the stone or guide along the length of the blade. The pressure applied must be consistent and you should maintain a steady speed during the task. While doing the task, you should start from the toe of the skate and work your way to the heel, making several passes. The stone should be kept level. It should also maintain the chosen hollow depth.
Check for Sharpness
After a few passes, you should check the blade for sharpness by running your fingertip lightly over it. We should be careful to not cut ourselves. If it is sharp, then you’re doing it right! If not, we should continue with the blade or blade until it does.
Deburring
The deburring tool is used to remove any burrs or rough edges from the blade. This ensures that gliding on ice would be smoother.
Clean the Blades
Using a clean, dry rag cloth to wipe off the metal shavings or debris from the blade is an important step. This is because it helps the blade to maintain its performance.
Repeat for the Other Skate
The aforementioned process should be repeated for the other skates so that both of them are evenly sharpened.
Test on the Ice
After cleaning and sharpening our skates, we should always take a few laps around. This is to test the skates and make sure that they feel good and comfortable. This should be done before any game or practice.
Conclusion
Sharpening skates by ourselves requires focus and skill. Practicingng is important as it will help us gain experience with skate sharpening and achieve consistent results. If you’re unsure if you’ll be able to manage the task at home, we can take them to a professional skate store or a sports shop that helps to provide skate sharpening to get consistent results.
