The Essential Guide To Caring For Your Skates

Keeping your skates in great condition is the key to ensuring that every stride, spin and stop is executed with precision, regardless of whether you’re a competitive figure skater or charging down the ice in a hockey match.

Proper skate care not only enhances your performance at the rink but also extends your skates' life. Here’s how to keep them in top condition:

Caring For Your Blades

Your skate blades are in constant contact with the ice while you’re out skating, so it’s crucial that you look after them when you’re off the ice.

• Protect Your Blades: Walking on concrete, metal, or debris on blade-safe surfaces can chip and damage your blades. To protect them, always wear hard guards when you’re off the ice.

• Dry And Store Correctly: Once you’re done skating, remove any snow or debris from your blades and dry them as best you can with a heavy cotton towel. Don’t store your skates in the hard guards, as trapped moisture will rust your blades. Instead, use soft fabric soakers to protect them in your bag. If your soakers have got too wet on the way home, make sure you take them off so you don’t store your blades in a damp environment. 

• Check Them Regularly: Make sure you check the screws that hold your blades in place and keep a screwdriver handy in your skate bag in case you need to tighten them on the go. 

• Keep Them Sharp: Keep a log of your blade sharpenings and make sure you stick to the sharpening schedule that is right for you — it will be different for every skater, depending on your ability and preference. 

Maintaining Your Boots

Your boots are just as important as your blades out on the ice, and looking after them properly will mean you get the most out of your ice skates. 

• Unlace Completely: When you’re ready to take your skates off, always loosen your laces right down to the toe box. It’s a little extra work, but it makes your skates easier to get on and off and allows them to air out properly. 

• Keep Them Dry: In case it wasn’t clear already, moisture is the enemy of your skates. After each skating session, thoroughly wipe down both the inside and outside of your boots to remove as much moisture as you can.

• Keep Them Cool: Try to avoid leaving your skates in hot places like a car or near a radiator, as these high temperatures can make them brittle or even alter the heat moulding. 

• Don’t Store Anything In Them: It’s tempting to shove your gloves in your skates so you don’t lose them, but try not to put anything in there that blocks air circulation. 

• Keep Them Clean: You can use a soft cloth with mild detergent and water to clean your boots. If they have leather soles, you should apply beeswax after ensuring the soles are completely dry to help your soles repel moisture. 

Lacing Your Skates

Proper lacing is key to the longevity of your skates, so it’s important that you get the technique right.

• Loosen your laces all the way to the toe box and place your foot in your boot. 

• Once your foot is in, you can tighten the bottom half of the holes.

• Pull the laces snugly for the holes across the instep so that the boot and tongue wrap and support your foot evenly.

• You can keep this consistent level of tightness by putting a knot in the laces here before moving onto the hooks.

• Hook your laces over the hooks to lock your ankle into place, leaving some give in the top of the boots to allow your knees to bend on the ice. 

• Tie up your laces with a secure bow, and then double knot the bow to keep it in place for your entire session on the ice. 

The general rule for lacing your skates is to lace tightly where movement should be minimal and more softly over areas where flexibility is needed. This means that you want to lace softly across the toes, tightly across the top three eyelets and first hook to lock your heel into place, and then softly again across the top hooks. 

To get the right amount of tightness without having to just use your fingers, get yourself a lace puller. This handy tool makes it super easy to get the perfect tightness in your laces.

You will be able to tell whether your laces are done properly, as you should feel your shin leaning into the laces across the tongue, and your foot should feel secure and supported. Once you’re off the ice, you can check your boots to see that there should be grooves in the leather where the laces have pressed in.

If your laces begin to deteriorate, it’s time to replace them. Always make sure you’ve got a spare set of laces in your skate bag — the last thing you want is to cut a session short because your lace has snapped! 

Edea Skate Lacing

If you use Edea skates, you’ll need to lace your boots slightly differently, using the out-in lacing method for better hold. This lacing method helps your laces to lock themselves into place, meaning they’re less likely to come loose and will keep pressure even across your foot.

Breaking In New Skates

Your skate care starts from the moment you pick up your new pair of ice skates. It’s not the most comfortable process to go through, but a properly broken-in skate will help you take your game on the ice to the next level.

• Heat Moulding: If your new skates are heat mouldable, take advantage of this and get your skates baked. This helps you to get a more custom fit for your unique foot shape. 

• Lacing Your New Skates: For those first few sessions with your new skates, try not to lace too tightly. Leave the top hook unlaced, but if you need the extra support, use an elastic hair tie over the top hooks. As the boots mould to your feet and the laces stretch, you can start adjusting the tightness of your laces.

• Take It Slow: It’s tempting to push your new skates to see what they can do, but while you’re breaking them in, go easy on them. If you’re a figure skater, try to limit the number of jumps and spins you perform in them until they’re fully moulded to your feet.

Maintaining Your Skates For The Long Haul

With a bit of proper care and maintenance, your skates can help take you to the top of your game. Need any equipment to help you look after your skates? Take a look online or visit us in-store and chat with our expert team, who can give you personalised advice on how to get the most out of your skates.