Sharpening skates

[D'z Nutz]

How often should skates be sharpened? We got our skates sharpened last year and only went once since that for probably an hour or two. We just checked them and they seem pretty dull now. Of course, I'm not a regular skater, so I don't know if that's normal wear or what. How dull should it be before it requires a resharpening?

There's also a tiny layer of rush on the blade. I'm guessing that's because we didn't wipe down the blades after skating?

[TEAMFaint]

Do the old fashioned finger nail test. If it is scraping off your fingernail cleanly then it should be fine, however if it grinds against the fingernail and sorta hacks it off, its due for a sharpening.


I had my skates sharpened after every 3rd game, but keep in mind that was rep hockey and pretty aggressive skating.

Casual skating/beer league sorta deal hockey I'd recommend every 4th game or so. Really it depends on the skater/skates/blades.

[D'z Nutz]

Originally posted by TEAMFaint
Do the old fashioned finger nail test. If it is scraping off your fingernail cleanly then it should be fine, however if it grinds against the fingernail and sorta hacks it off, its due for a sharpening.

Thanks! Yeah, it scrapes my fingernail pretty cleanly, so I'm guessing it's okay.

[95EagleAWD]

Wow... I sharpen my skates after every game, and very aggresive sharpening too.

Can't stand having dull skates.

[Maddog55]

Yeah sharpening is as personal as taping your stick. I would go 3 maybe 4 games max. And I always got a custom "radius" for my sharpening...real deep grove (small radius). It depends on a lot of different factors.
A heavier skater wont need them as sharp. A little kid first learning should have them very sharp..otherwise the blades slide all over the place.
And skating on outdoor ice, or worse yet, pond ice..will chew them up real fast.
I'd say your average skater shouldn't do anymore than 5-10 sessions on normal indoor ice.

[5.0]