General Skate Care

Taking care of your figure skates is one of the most important things a skater can do. After every use, wipe down the blades and soles of your figure skates with a towel or chamois to prevent rust and mildew. Use absorbent soft blade covers or soakers to cover your blades in your skate bag. Wear hard guards when walking around the rink but never ever leave the hard guards on your blades while in your skate bag. This causes water to remain on the blade causing rust. Be careful never to walk on concrete without hard guards on your ice skates. Doing so can dull your blades and cause nicks and scratches which drastically shorten the life of your blades.

In order to keep your figure skates clean, there are a few different options available. Many skaters opt for boot covers, which can be purchased in a range of colors. Other skaters, especially those on synchronized skating teams, cover their skates in Sk8Tape, which is specially made not to damage skating boots’ leather finish. If done properly, you cannot tell that a pair of skates has been taped. You also can always polish your skates with Spray Polish to cover up any marks. Lastly, absorbent boot bags can be used to protect your figure skates while in your skate bag.

Blade Care

Along with standard care, the Rainbo experts suggest having your blades sharpened every 40 hours of skating.  It is VERY important to make sure that your blades are sharpened by a trained and experienced figure skate technician. Unfortunately, many rinks and pro shops only have equipment and staff set up to sharpen recreational or hockey skate blades. Figure skate blades are much different than these blades.  One poor sharpening will ruin a pair of figure skating blades and can cause serious injury on the ice.