When you think of ice skates, images of zipping around a rink, playing hockey, or watching figure skating come to mind. But have you ever wondered where ice skates came from?
The Earliest Forms of Ice Skates
The first known form of ice skates date back to 1800 BCE. 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.
Rather than metal blades and snug boots, Scandinavians made these from horse and cow bones that were pierced with holes and fitted with leather straps. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. Flat, oily bones were tied to shoes with leather straps, allowing people to slide across the ice. These bone skates worked, but they were tricky to control-you needed a stick to push forward and steer!
Finland has about 187,888 lakes, which separated villages from each other. Of course, these skates weren’t likely used for sport as skates are now.
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.
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Evolution of Skate Design
Experts identify that sometime after 1,200 A.D., ice skates took on a form a little more familiar. The earliest known skate to use a metal blade was found in Fennoscandia, and was dated to 200 AD. While still using leather straps as a means of fastening the boots to the blade, the blades themselves were no longer made of bone.
His results showed the dramatic effect that the 13th century introduction of the metal blade had on skate dynamics. Rather, early versions of this model are made from wood over a strip of iron. The metal blade-made from iron embedded in wood-nearly doubled the speed of skates, from about 2.5 miles per hour to 4 miles per hour. “The metal blade allows control of the skate, and then you increase that control by having the skate tightly bound to your feet,” says Formenti.
As time moved on, so did the engineering of the ice skate. The next change in form came with a curl at the end of the toe. You may recognize this model from 16th and 17th century paintings.
The impact of Jackson Haines
Then, less than a hundred years later, the father of figure skating adopted techniques that had never been seen before on the ice, made possible by a new skate design that used blades attached directly to his boots. His name was Jackson Haines. Then came technique!
Haines’s tight, well-executed performances came from his experiences as a ballet dancer. His “ice dancing” awarded him worldwide acclaim. Thanks to the rise in figure skating popularity due to the efforts of figure skaters like Haines, ice skates have since been shaped to best complement the demands of the sport.
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Modern Ice Skates and Their Varieties
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".
Modern bindings on skates allow for more stability, more forceful strides and theoretically fewer ankle twists. “There is stability in all directions and that’s probably not the right way to go,” Richards says. Ankle sprains and overuse injuries like stress fractures and lower back pain are common amongst figure skaters as a result of the boot’s restrictiveness, Richards says.
Richards doesn’t think the figure skate will change much any time soon, since so little has changed in its design over the last century. “A lot of why [the skaters] are in what they are in is tradition,” says Richards.
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. 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.
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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.
Sharpening ice hockey skates plays a key factor in a player's ability to skate and players will sharpen their skates hundreds of times throughout their career. 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).
Hockey skates have gained mobility in the ankle.
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.
Speed Skates
Racing skates, also known as speed skates, have long blades and are used for speed skating. A clap skate (or clapper skate) is a type of skate where the shoe is connected to the blade using a hinge. Short track racing skates have a longer overall height to the blade to allow for deep edge turns without the boot contacting the ice. Racing skates have a completely flat bottom. There is no hollow, only a squared off bottom with two edges.
Speed skating clap skates with hinged boots allow racers to keep their blades on the ice for longer periods of time and reach higher accelerations.
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. Also known as twin blade skates, cheese cutters, bob skates, or bobby skates, these skates are worn by young children who are learning.
| Skate Type | Blade Material | Boot Material | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Figure Skates | Stainless steel or aluminum with steel runner | Leather (multiple layers, stiff) | Toe picks for jumps and spins, concave blade base |
| Hockey Skates | Steel | Molded plastic, leather (synthetic), ballistic nylon, or thermoformed composite | Hardened plastic cowling for protection, lower cut for goalies |
| Bandy Skates | Steel | Leather (often synthetic) | Lower boot style, long blade designed to prevent injury |
| Speed Skates | Steel | Varies | Long blades for speed, clap skate option with hinged boot |
| Touring Skates | Steel | Attached to hiking or cross-country ski boots | Long blades for stability on natural ice, removable blades for walking |
From straps on a bone blade to tempered steel and chrome under high-quality leather, ice skates have come a long way over the years.
We see the variation in ice skate utilization in the very makeup of casual and competitor ice skates. We at Riedell, for example, produce Eclipse ice skating blades for a range of functions and skating levels. Our high-end Eclipse Titanium blades are built to provide skaters with a lightweight feel for faster skating and easier jumping - a great choice for advanced competitive skaters. Riedell Ice has had the pleasure of handcrafting quality ice skates for every level of skater since we first began in 1945. Our boots and blades can be found throughout North America and Europe.
Even given these innovations, it’s humbling to remember that our ancestors have been hustling around on ice for at least 3,000 years.