How to Sharpen Speed Skates

You'll need a speed skate sharpening jig, a flat stone at least 8" long (12" is best), honing oil and a small de-burring stone. You could also use a diamond stone and water. You'll want to have some towels handy as it can be a bit messy. Always inspect your blades for damage before you start. Look for nicks, dents, flat spots in the radius or visible changes to the bend. Even minor nicks can propagate into catastrophic cracks if not addressed. Eyeing blades on end will show most imperfections immediately. Have your blades checked with a radius/ curvature gauge if you see any problems and have them corrected by a suitable blade mechanic. Note any flat spots or excessive rounding caused by sharpening. At a minimum they should regularly be compared to a master radius template. Also look for reflections off the edge showing rounded or a stripped edge. With normal unassisted vision you will be able to see reflections from very small problem areas.

Check the skates for sharpness by lightly drawing the back of a fingernail down, perpendicular to the edge at a shallow angle. If the edge is sharp, you'll see a tiny amount of fingernail shavings on the edge. If you don't, the edge is dull. If your edge is sharp, your nails will shave easily with a very light force applied. Note that certain areas may be still quite sharp while others are dull. Your left edge typically wears most but dulling other areas will provide you with valuable feedback in potential flaws in your skating technique.
Place the skates in the jig. Make sure the blades are as vertical and parallel as possible. Push the ends of the blades the long way against the stop in the jig if it has one, or use a hard object such as a burr stone to even them against the end of the jig clamp. Tighten the jig's clamps securely. If your blades are matched in height, it is best to let them sit down on a solid shelf of the jig rather that raise them to a set height. Doing so will eliminate the possibility of one blade slipping down in the jig clamp.

You are ready to start sharpening.

Add some honing oil or water to the stone. Place the stone flat on both blades so that the long axis of the stone is perpendicular to both blades. The long axis of the stone must always be perpendicular (90 degree angle) to the blades at all times during your stroke. Going straight back and forth will wear grooves in most stones or wear out sections of your diamond stone. Work a slight x cross pattern diagonally instead of straight back a forth with the coarse stone. Once you have formed a burr on the entire blade you will straighten your pattern more and more with each finer step you move to in stone grits.

Use only a few pounds force on the stone and always attempt to apply even force through the entire stroke going the full length of the blades. Blades will also deform under excessive pressure causing rounding and uneven square ness of the edges. Have your blade radius checked by your club mechanic or anyone with a gauge often at first and at least annually after you are confident in your sharpening. Have them re-rocked as needed and we do not recommend you attempt to re radius your blades by hand without access to a precession radius gauge.
Repeat this diagonal motion ten times and then start grinding along the opposite diagonal. Do not use a figure eight pattern! This will wear the top and bottom of the figure eight much more than the centers. Add oil or water as needed and keep grinding until a burr has formed along the entire length on both edges of each blade. Do this by scraping the point of a finger nail straight up the side of the blade until your fingernail catches slightly as it reaches the edge. Make the last few passes with the stone parallel with the blade length. Switch to your fine stone and with a much straighter x pattern repeat the process until all the groves from the coarse stone are gone. Your final passes should be straight back and forth again parallel with the blades. This will leave the micro-groves in the blades running the length of the blade which will make them fast on the ice. If you’re interested in super finishing, read up on MasterLap™ finishing system. Typical finishing stones are harder and can take the extra abuse of the straighter pattern.

Some recommend de-burring the skates in the jig. We do not recommend this as the exposed blade edge with a burr is one of the most hazardous items most folks will ever encounter. We recommend removing them from the jig and place your blade side on the edge of a table. If available use a Burr-Master skate de burring tool in place of your burr stone. With the burr stone place your burr stone flat on the side of the steel part of the blade and run it along the blade length a few times to stone down the burr. This will turn up a slight top burr on the face of the blade. This is mostly insignificant but can be virtually eliminated by a quick secondary pass with your finishing stone. Inspect for edge sharpness, reflections and for any residual burr. If ok they are ready to skate.
Put on blade soakers or other protective socks to prevent inadvertent damage from handing. Never store skates in the walking guards. They hold moisture next to the blade and will cause damaging rust to form on high quality bi metal tool steel blades in just a few hours. If you are going to store the blades over the summer, coat them with oil or Vaseline and store them in a dry closet, not in a damp garage or basement. Make sure to use walking guards off the ice and only step on bare blades on clean ice. To preserve your edges, don’t hockey stop or snowplow unless it's an emergency. Keep a towel in your skate bag and dry your blades until they are bone dry, as soon as you get off the ice. Don't put the wet walking guards back on again and remove the skates from your skate bag and oil them as soon as you get home.