Curiosity Question: Sharpening Ice Skates

[Sharperthansticks]

This is just a curiosity question, because I don't see myself ever doing it, but I've never seen anyone on here talk about it, so I thought it might be edifying to at least know a little about it: Does anyone on here sharpen ice skates? If so, what do you use -- stones? WorksSharp with grinding attachment? (I don't think you could mount the ice skate in a KME.) What grit do you sharpen to?

 

[Tuna]

I've only ever sharpened hockey skates, but I assume all ice skate blades are similar. The blade does not come to a single apex in the same way that knife blades do. There are two edges on a hockey skate blade, commonly referred to as inside and outside edge (relative to the skater's foot). If you watch a skater closely you will see they are almost always on either the inside edge of their skate or the outside edge. The way they are sharpened is by grinding out a grove along the length of the blade, so if you look closely from the toe or heel it will form an upside-down "U". All skate blades I've ever seen done were on specialized skate sharpeners, and I don't recall any grit progression or anything like that.

Extending the upside-down "U" formed by sharpening will end up as a circle of some radius. I know that skaters have a preference for a groove that is from a larger or smaller radius grinding wheel, and if I remember correctly it depends on skating style, whether the player wants maximum speed/agility or wants to glide further between each stride.

 

[Mr.Wizard]

As far as I know speed skates don't have a hollow, but a flat edge; an infinite radius of hollow one might say.

 

[HeavyHanded]

Ones I've seen done were on a wheel that left a slight concave the length of the edge, this being hockey skates.

Speed and figure skates I'm pretty sure are done with a flat surface, there are jigs that can be used with larger bench stones. Norton India stone is a common choice as are DMT plates. Deburring is done with a carbide block, I'm sure there are other methods as well.

Maintaining the correct amount of "rocker", the overall arc of the skate blade in profile, is important.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

There are some informative videos out there on sharpening ice skates. I came across one or two of them a while back, when searching for info on Norton stones. Ice scates are somewhat a niche market for Norton's sharpening line. Don't know if they still do, but they even offered a kit of stones marketed for the purpose at one time.

Here are a couple of example tutorials from videos out there, the first of which is actually sponsored by Norton, BTW. Searching on Google for videos using the string 'ice skate sharpening' should help you locate some more. As can be seen in the video, special jigs are used to hold & properly align everything for what otherwise looks like pretty simple & quick sharpening.

 

[chiral.grolim]

There are some informative videos out there on sharpening ice skates. I came across one or two of them a while back, when searching for info on Norton stones. Ice scates are somewhat a niche market for Norton's sharpening line. Don't know if they still do, but they even offered a kit of stones marketed for the purpose at one time.

Here are a couple of example tutorials from videos out there, the first of which is actually sponsored by Norton, BTW. Searching on Google for videos using the string 'ice skate sharpening' should help you locate some more. As can be seen in the video, special jigs are used to hold & properly align everything for what otherwise looks like pretty simple & quick sharpening.

Yup, a special jig to hold the blades vertical and position the stone horizontal between them, but they are just establishing 90' angles. That is for speed-skates. A hollow/concave grind is used for figure and hockey skates - really sort of a hollow/concave chisel-grind for each edge of the skate - to thin the edge for improved cutting nto the ice = increased grip. They have special jigs to do this, but a DIYer with a dremel in a stand and steady hands can run a skate over a spinning bit and cut the concavity between the faces and then de-burr the flats.