Choosing The Right Figure Skating Toe Pick | MK Blades

[@Tie-h7y]

Since the early 1900s, toepick designs have changed very little. There are different toepick styles like straight cut, cross cut, and diagonal cut, all of which are over 100 years old. For instance, cross-cut toepicks appear in early skate patents, such as one from 1915 by George Browne. Despite their age, these designs are often marketed by manufacturers as offering different benefits to skaters. Cross-cut picks are claimed to provide superior grip, straight-cut picks are said to dig deep into the ice to increase jump height, and other styles are promoted for quick picking, stability, or momentum. However, when these toepicks were invented, figure skating was very different, and most of the jumps we know today hadn't been invented yet, or were performed in single rotation. For example, in 1936, William Blochinger described his cross-cut (or zig-zag) toepicks as being useful for both braking and jumping without unnecessarily digging into the ice. His design aimed to reduce resistance- (not to improve the grip), protect skaters' clothing, prevent falls, and be self-cleaning, with priorities other than jumping. Basically, the benefits attributed to different toepick styles today, such as increasing jump height or improved momentum, are largely creative marketing claims with no scientific backing and differ significantly from their original intended purposes. I am studying the history of ice skating, and I am also a coach and judge.

[@linkchen8245]

Illia has John Wilson Gold Seal blades, not MKs.