Ice skates have a rich and fascinating history, evolving from rudimentary tools for traversing frozen landscapes to specialized equipment for various sports and recreational activities. The journey of ice skates reflects human ingenuity and adaptation to challenging environments.
According to a study done by Federico Formenti, University of Oxford, and Alberto Minetti, University of Milan, Finns were the first to develop ice skates some 5,000 years ago from animal bones. This was important for the Finnish populations to save energy in harsh winter conditions when hunting in Finnish Lakeland. Finland has about 187,888 lakes, which separated villages from each other.
Map of Finnish Lakeland, where early ice skates were crucial for winter travel.
Early Skates: Bone and Metal
The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. The earliest known skate to use a metal blade was found in Fennoscandia, and was dated to 200 AD. Starting in 1976, during excavations of the city of York, UK, 42 pairs of Viking-era ice skates were found at Coppergate; the majority are made from horse leg bones, although cattle leg bones were also used.
The bones were cut flat and polished on one side and drilled with a hole at one end. A leather thong, held in place by a wooden peg, was inserted into the hole to attach the skate to the wearer’s ankle. William Fitzstephen, writing in the 12th century, described the use of bone skates in London: "when the great fenne or moore (which watereth the walles of the citie on the North side) is frozen, many young men play upon the ice, some striding as wide as they may, doe slide swiftly..."
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An example of an old Norse bone skate.
Modern Skates: Specialization and Variety
Modern skates come in many different varieties, each suited to specific conditions or activities.
Figure Skates
Figure skates are used in the sport of figure skating. Unlike hockey skates, they have toe picks, also known as toe-rakes, on the front of the blade, is saw-toothed. The blades are usually made out of stainless steel or aluminium with a steel runner. The toe pick has a variety of uses, but is most commonly used for certain jumps in figure skating, such as the Lutz jump and toe loop, or starting a backspin.
Figure skating boots are typically made of several layers of leather and the leather is very stiff to provide ankle support. The base of the figure-skate blade is slightly concave, or "hollow ground".
Choosing The Right Figure Skating Toe Pick | MK Blades
Figure skates are designed for precision and artistry.
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Ice Hockey Skates
Ice hockey skates are used for playing the games of ice hockey and ringette but are occasionally used for recreational ice skating alone. Each individual skate consists of a boot, laces, blade, and a blade holder. The boot is generally made of molded plastic, leather (often synthetic), ballistic nylon, or a thermoformed composite material.
Each skate blade has two edges. Similar to figure skates, the blade is hollow ground in cross section, creating two edges that contact and cut into the ice, allowing increased maneuverability. The blades are sharpened with round-edged grinding wheels that create the two edges. The wheels grind out a hollow semi-circle along the length of the underside of the blade, forming the sharp edge on each side.
Skate blade sharpness is measured by the thickness of the round-edged grinding wheel being used, the smaller the radius, the sharper the edge will be. The sharpness chosen by a player is based completely upon preference, not player size or level of play. While a one-half-inch (13 mm) radius of hollow is the most common and standard sharpening for most players, the standard radius of hollow for goalies is three-quarters inch (19 mm).
Goalie Skates
The skates used by goaltenders are cut lower in the ankle than a normal hockey skate and the boot sits closer to the ice for a lower center of gravity. The boot itself is encased in hardened plastic, called a "cowling", protecting the toe, ankle and heel from the force of the shot puck. The blade is usually longer and has less rocker (curvature to the blade) to make it easier for the goalie to move side to side in the crease. Goalie skates lack a tendon guard.
Unlike regular hockey skates, goalie skates are usually protected by a synthetic material covering the toe-part of the skate. This is to prevent damage from the puck. The blade of the goalie skate is not as useful in turning as regular hockey skates, because the blade is rockered less, thus making turns slightly inconvenient.
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Bandy Skates
Bandy skates are used for playing the sports of bandy, rink bandy (bandy variant), and rinkball. The boot is generally made of leather (often synthetic) and often excludes tendon guards. The boot style for bandy skates is lower than the ice hockey version and often doesn't cover the ankles.
The bandy skate is designed with the intention of preventing them from causing injury to an opponent due to its long, and relatively sharp angled blades. Bandy blades are sharpened differently than those on ice hockey skates with the bottom part of the bandy blade which touches the ice surface being flatter and generally excluding a hollow.
Ice hockey blades are sharpened in a manner that creates two side edges which make contact with the ice. As a result, and by comparison, sharp cornering and "tight turns" which are maneuvers that can be achieved using the design of an ice hockey skate are not achievable on bandy skates.
Racing Skates
Racing skates, also known as speed skates, have long blades and are used for speed skating. Short track racing skates have a longer overall height to the blade to allow for deep edge turns without the boot contacting the ice. A clap skate (or clapper skate) is a type of skate where the shoe is connected to the blade using a hinge.
Racing skates have a completely flat bottom. There is no hollow, only a squared off bottom with two edges.
Speed skates are designed for maximum velocity on the ice.
Touring Skates
Touring skates (or Nordic skates) are long blades that can be attached, via bindings, to hiking or cross-country ski boots and are used for long distance tour skating on natural ice. The blades are approximately 50 cm (20 in) long with a radius of curvature (or rocker) of about 25 m (82 ft). The blades are from 1 to 1.5 mm (0.04 to 0.06 in) wide, with a flat cross-section.
The length and long radius of the blades makes touring skates more stable on uneven natural ice than skates with shorter, more rockered blades. Since tour skating often involves walking (kluning) between lakes or around sections not suitable for skating, the removable blades are an asset. With most modern models of skates, the blades are bonded to the bottom of an aluminum foot-plate.
A binding for a specific type of boot is mounted on the top of the foot-plate. Traditionally, the bindings held down both toe and heel of the boot (fixed-heel). Since the early 1990s, models have been designed for mounting free-heel cross-country ski bindings to the skates, and thus attach matching ski boots to the skates. The free-heel models give the equivalent effect as the klap skate form of speed skates.
Although mainly used for non-competitive touring, nordic skates are sometimes used in marathon speed skating races on natural ice, such as Vikingarännet (The Viking Run), a long-distance tour skating event in Sweden.
Recreational Skates
Inexpensive skates for recreational skaters usually resemble either figure skates or hockey skates, but recreational ice skates resembling inline skates with a molded plastic boot are also available. These recreational skates are commonly rented from ice rinks by beginners who do not own their own skates. In the non-American English-speaking world, they are sometimes called 'death wellies' by skaters who own their own equipment because of their appearance and their reputation for giving the wearer blisters.
Twin Blade Skates
Also known as twin blade skates, cheese cutters, bob skates, or bobby skates, these skates are worn by young children who are learning.
Summary of Skate Types
| Skate Type | Description | Common Use |
|---|---|---|
| Figure Skates | Have toe picks and stiff leather boots. | Figure skating. |
| Hockey Skates | Made of molded plastic, leather, or synthetic materials; hollow-ground blades. | Ice hockey and recreational skating. |
| Goalie Skates | Lower cut around the ankle, with a hardened plastic cowling. | Ice hockey (goaltenders). |
| Bandy Skates | Lower boot style, long and relatively sharp angled blades without a hollow. | Bandy, rink bandy, and rinkball. |
| Racing Skates | Long blades, completely flat bottom; clap skate variants exist. | Speed skating. |
| Touring Skates | Long blades attachable to hiking or cross-country ski boots. | Long-distance tour skating on natural ice. |
| Recreational Skates | Resemble figure or hockey skates; may have molded plastic boots. | Recreational skating. |
| Twin Blade Skates | Also known as bob skates; designed for young children. | Learning to skate. |