It used to be impossible to keep kids off the ice in the winter. With indoor skating rinks, it's impossible year-round now, but at least you're sure your little ones are active. Check out our guide for the best children's ice hockey skates and some tips to keep them in check (the skates, not the kids).
How to Care For Your Kiddo's Skates
Now that you got 'em, you'll have to be good to 'em. Oh, and you'll have to be good to the skates too. Here are some tips to keep the blades happy:
* Once the kid is off the ice for good, dry the blades with a towel. Envelop them in a terry cloth hug with super absorbent blade guards.
** Plastic blade guards are best for walking around, not for storing after use. These will not keep the skates dry and will allow them to rust.
* Rust is like a really bad, incurable disease. First you get the warning signs, and then it hits full-on, with no antidotes.
** With rusted blades, your kid will be slower on his or her feet. ''Not'' good for competitionor your ego.
** Early prevention can cure skates. At the first sign of rust, get it ground off so it doesn't go in any deeper. Keep the blades sharpened, and their sides stoned, too.
* When you venture out to get the blades sharpened (hopefully you've realized it's not really a DIY thing) there are a couple of things to keep in mind:
** The shop responsible for tending to the blades might use an automatic sharpener. Sounds convenient, but it could also conveniently destroy the blades. Ideally, the shop attendant should sharpen the blade ''just'' from the front of the rocker to the rear. If they end up sharpening the whole thing, the life of your blade can be severely reduced. So either tell them how to do it, or find someone else who knows how.
** Cross-grinding is pretty European and exotic, but it does take a lot of steel off of your blades.
** Go for full-service shops over others that are specifically for sharpening. You'll be dealing with more experts that way. Bonus points if they seem busy: if they're popular, they must be good, and if they get a lot of traffic and experience, they must be even better.
** As a general rule, you should sharpen skates after five hours of use.
