Using A Hand Stone to Adjust The Sharpness of Your Figure Skates

[@mermaidglacia3427]

Thank you for this tutorial.

[@CoachJulia]

You are welcome!

[@Steph6Mc]

Thank you so much! I was about to go crazy on my blades before watching, good thing I watch your video first!!

[@CoachJulia]

Glad I could help!

[@edirmarierivera3249]

I ice skate and went to culinary school lol so this just reminded me of sharpening my knives lol . but i was also looking for something to maintain the sharpness in between sharpening's if that makes sense. Ty for sharing ^_^

[@K-aoss]

I use my knife stone 🫣

[@hdivivirjemmff3205]

I’m in school, but excited to watch this later :)

[@CoachJulia]

Awesome. I hope you enjoy.

[@tomciras6672]

Hi Coach, first time I saw those types of stones plus also in different grits, but it looked scarey, so I'd use safety glove if new at this. I always use an oil on my sandstone when deburring. Dull blades are only second to skates not tightened up properly to mess up my moves. Thanks Coach

[@CoachJulia]

Thanks for the tip

[@K-aoss]

Woven knife glove will suffice

[@bradleyglasson8832]

Figure skates seem to stay sharp much longer than my hockey stakes! My hockey skates have 30 hours on the sharpen and they are super easy to stop with, you can drift a long hockey stop. With the coronation ace lite after 40 hours they still dig in heaps you can feel the drag as you're skating along. If you try hockey stop on those it takes a lot of leg strength, and you stop fast af.

[@CoachJulia]

Yeah, the blades are different thicknesses and sometimes are tempered differently. This does affect sharpness and blade feel on the ice!

[@galehess6676]

I'm going to wear a light leather glove so I don't slit my palm :) and use a few wooden blocks to lock the blade into a shop vise to help give stable passes that are square to the sole/blade. Awesome!

[@robsimmons5228]

Our rinks have closed again this week in The greater Toronto Area. But this is a great tip. Thank you Coach.

[@CoachJulia]

Very welcome!

[@dufftime]

Thank you coach. I ordered the fine grit tapered stone based on your recommendation - the Amazon link to the flat stone is no longer available.

[@K-aoss]

What grit numbers are you using. Do you know?

[@DarcyWhyte]

I was just having a look at my recreational skates and they are flat, not concave... should they be concave?

[@pauli1968]

Doing this correctly, would I still need them sharpening professionally?

[@Wei1002]

Do I need to sharpen brand-new skates?

[@ginatriana1523]

Just ordered my own stones, thanks for the info...I'm an adult skater that skates about twice a week, how often would you recommend I get a pro sharpen on my blades?

[@CoachJulia]

The general rule of thumb is about every 20 hours of skating, or whenever they begin to feel like they aren’t gripping enough for you.

[@teiaperigosa]

no specifics regarding the different sides of the curved edge stone? one is obviously a wider profile than the other, but I was surprised to see no reference to this or guidance regarding the difference....

[@slkjj2611]

I'm having an issue with rust on my blades (Argo, it's definitely due to my mistreatment of them), and I was wondering if blades that aren't incredibly rusty, but have a decent amount of corrosion, are recoverable? The bottom of the blade is speckled with rust all over, and every time I search it up it shows hockey skates, so I just was curious if the same methods of rust remover + steel wool worked with figure skates 😅

[@musicianpete]

Depending on how deep the rust goes, you might be able to buff it out with hand stones. Bought my first pair of skates second-hand, was able to polish off some light surface rust left by the previous owner using these techniques with a 3/8" ceramic hone. Steel wool will scratch up your chrome something awful, but if you're good with masking tape (and careful) you can tape over the shiny portion of the blade and leave the tempered steel exposed.

[@oliviagallina8013]

Hi. Its better to take them into your local proshop, rather than asking online. Ask local rink skaters where to get your skates sharpened and the sharpener or technician can look at them and make a judgement. If they run them through the sharpener and its nice rust-less steel, you can skate on them. I can see this post was a year ago, but in case you never got an answer or are running into the same problem.

[@issacasimov]

sharpening will remove the rust at the bottom, the side can be remove with sandpaper or stone. Make sure you tape the chrome area or else you will remove them as well.

[@vanessatiger]

Hello Coach! thanks for your video! BUT..... for the hand stone.. seems Amazon don't have them now... any substituted stones we can use? thank you!!

[@rjensen2586]

I just ordered a couple from Discount Hockey

[@musicianpete]

Great tutorial! Keeping your fingers on the chromed face as a reference is a great tip. I noticed you use the thin end of the tapered stone - when it comes to "top-up sharpening", is there an ideal thickness for the rounded end in relation to your ROH?

[@toblerone8797]

Hello, I have recreational skates (figure and hockey skate mix thing, I don’t know if that’s what it’s called) and no one near me can sharpen them, can I buy stones and just use those to sharpen?

[@CoachJulia]

If you have no one to sharpen them, then at least having a hand-stone will help somewhat.

[@krxstal_mxth3508]

Hi!! When i first got my skates they were recreational skates because we werent sure if my sister and i would continue (we are still skating). We have three classes a week and weve had the skates for about 3 months now. My skates are starting to really hurt and crease. How do I know when i need new skates? I told my mom but she knows nothing at all.

[@CoachJulia]

If your skates are beginning to crease, it sounds like it is definitely time for a new pair of skates. Creases mean you are no longer getting the support you need out of your boots as they are breaking down. Wonderful that you found a sport you love!

[@krxstal_mxth3508]

@@CoachJulia thank you so much!!

[@ginatriana1523]

...also...I'm just barely learning sit spin for my bronze test....have you yet made a video for learning sit spin?🙃

[@CoachJulia]

Not yet! Hopefully soon.

[@coldservings]

Are you at all familiar with the "Skatemate" sharpener that I've seen elsewhere? It looks like it might be a bit easier to use for someone as fumblefingered as I can be.

[@CoachJulia]

I am not, the type of stone I used in this video is the only type I have used/ seen used. I know there are other types out there. if you end up trying one, I’d love to know what you think!

[@emitty5469]

There are some short and long lines on my blades and I´m not sure what they are. I got my blades sharpened and have only been skating in them for 4 hours. When I try to rub the lines off they are stuck on the blade so I´m pretty sure it´s made a mark on the blade. I´m not sure if this would affect my skating, what should I do? I made a doc with a picture of the marks on my skates: docs.google.com/document/d/13ZuFVAbWL6mEEkCMAivaGxI6L4CFKGbz-bOWayU48-U/edit?usp=sharing

[@CoachJulia]

The Short lines on the bottom of your blade edge look like nicks caused by stepping on things without your guards on. This causes extra friction and will not allow you to skate as smoothly. They can be fixed with a sharpening, but you should always wear guards when not on the ice. The long ones look like light scrapes along the chrome side of your blade, they cannot be repaired, but will not affect your skating.

[@emitty5469]

@@CoachJulia Thank you for your help, they suggested me to get a stoning so hopefully that can help a bit!

[@issacasimov]

the blade were entirely chrome to prevent rust and they actually removed the chrome by hand manually after. Entire blade is carbon steel btw.

[@emitty5469]

I linked a doc with pictures of the marks on my skates in my comment below

[@CoachJulia]

Thanks!

[@sagearlington7095]

hi julia!! can you please please do a video on how to do backwards stroking with crossover end patters! it’s my last skill to pass level 6❤️❤️

[@CoachJulia]

Hey! Thanks for the suggestion! Were you talking about the US Basic Skills program level 6 or another program? I want to make sure I am teaching the correct move 😁

[@sagearlington7095]

Coach Julia, yes the US basic skills program!! thank you so much

[@K-aoss]

Please also add the top of the blade should NOT be smoothed out. It should be “ridged”

[@cuttingedgeproshops]

Noooo! Coach, I'm sorry... But That's not the right advice. I say this with all due respect, and with the best of intentions... But I came across this video after a customer referenced it because they asked me to take a stone and dull down their skates right after I freshly sharpened them. If the skater feels their skates have too much bite (Too sharp, or too sticky as you called it) the right answer is not to dull them down with a stone... Especially not by running the stone perpendicular to the edges as you did around 5:30... The answer is to speak to a qualified sharpener, they will help you choose a sharpening hollow that works better for you. For example, If a 1/2" sharpening bites too much then try a 5/8" etc... Doing what you did completely negates the sharpening and is actually dangerous and develops bad habits. If a skater feels "sticky" after a fresh sharpen, it's the wrong radius of hollow or a bad sharpening. That stone will not fix either of those conditions. Please... this is not good advice. You are correct that a stone can be used to remove a nick, or a burr in a pinch, in fact that's the whole point of having one... They are meant to get you through a session until you can get to a qualified sharpener.

[@hdivivirjemmff3205]

Early!

[@CoachJulia]

That’s right! Bonus video. 😁

[@galehess6676]

looks exactly like a gummy stone for snowboard edges.. hmm

[@Cowface]

Or, practice on a pair of rentals lol

[@CoachJulia]

Great suggestion! 😆