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Today, I went to an ice skating rink, for the first time in a few years. Believing in my previous years of speed skating, I went ahead feeling pretty confident, despite renting hockey skates.
I went on the ice.
I immediately felt the skate slide sideways, offering no support unless I had my feet in an angle...
After a few laps, I sat on the benches and examined my skates, and the blades were absolutely flat.
Because I was used to speed skating, which had a single, sharp edge to the blade, I was horrified to find that these skates had flat edges.
I stared at the rest of the people skating around just fine until I realized...
None of them were wearing rental skates. Everyone had a pair of their own, except a few people skating awkwardly on the ice because of the weak support the rental skates offered.
Needless to say, I did not enjoy skating that night. Perhaps it's time to buy my own pair...
First blog post ever.. Go easy on me 
 
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Hm, that sucks that the rental skates were total crap. Do you have an old pair or anything? I'd imagine it would be expensive to buy a pair, unless you go ice skating often. I've rented skates a few times but never noticed whether they were crappy because I haven't skated before. If it's just a support issue, can you wear an extra pair of heavy socks?
u gotta skate
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Mentioning support, I'm talking about the blades and how they tend to slide on ice if I don't keep them at an awkward angle. Apparently, I'm the only one noticing this compared to the others who have never skated on anything but the rental skates too, since my buddies didn't have a problem at all.
Don't have an old pair
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Sounds like you just aren't used to hockey skates? I've heard similiar things from people who have only worn speed skates or figure skating skates. Shouldn't be flat though, but a curve with an edge on each side of the blade
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That sucks man, but you're considering doing what you need to do to skate.
you gotta skate
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Calgary25951 Posts
Used skates are cheap, like $50-$75 + $5 to get sharpened? Pretty good investment. I don't skate too often but I've had my used pair for several years and they're still great for me.
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Osaka27089 Posts
Usually if you have a pair that haven't been sharpened you can just ask them to sharpen them right? Otherwise it is impossible to skate.
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Hockey skates have a different blade but that's not your problem.
Rental skates are notoriously dull. I've seen other people who slide sideways on the ice because of this. Sharp hockey skates don't have this problem, even though the blade has 2 edges instead of one. This is supposed to make it easier to stop on a dime with the skates, and also makes them easier to sharpen.
Rental skate blade= U (very dull, will slide sideways)
Hockey Skate blade= |_| (if sharp, won't slide sideways)
Speed skate blade= V
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First of all let me just say: You gotta skate.
Second of all, try buying a used one, like Chill said. I see ones for like twenty dollars and they're still very good.
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Ive had a similar experience...its really awful when your muscle memory kicks in and the skate just doesn't do at all what its supposed to.
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On February 25 2012 15:51 attwell wrote:
Hockey skates have a different blade but that's not your problem.
Rental skates are notoriously dull. I've seen other people who slide sideways on the ice because of this. Sharp hockey skates don't have this problem, even though the blade has 2 edges instead of one. This is supposed to make it easier to stop on a dime with the skates, and also makes them easier to sharpen.
Rental skate blade= U (very dull, will slide sideways)
Hockey Skate blade= |_| (if sharp, won't slide sideways)
Speed skate blade= V
That's false.
Speed skate blade: |_|
Hockey skate blade |^| (or something like that lol)
I have done quite a bit of speedskating and always sharpened my blades myself.
The hockey blade is designed for short, quick turns. It slides around easily and is a nightmare for speedskaters to skate on. You can't "angle" the skates too much or they will lose grip.
Basically, buy a cheap pair from ebay or ask for a sharp pair next time you rent (tell them you have a background in speedskating and they'll hep you).
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As far as I can remember, I'm pretty sure the speed skate blades were shaped like a V. The problem I had was that the skates were catching on their flat side (and also losing their grip on ice and I will slip) when they were angled perpendicular to the ground, so I had to always skate making sure my skates weren't perpendicular to the ground.
Basically, problem was that it was shaped like a |_| , and I would have to avoid having the _ section of the skate having direct contact with ice. I don't understand how you're supposed to skate with a "dull" U-shaped skates at all...
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EPT
