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Ice skates are metal blades attached underfoot and used to propel the bearer across a sheet of
ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
while ice skating. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. These skates required a pole with a sharp metal spike that was used for pushing the skater forward, unlike modern bladed skates. Modern skates come in many different varieties, each suited to specific conditions or activities. People across the globe wear skates recreationally in ice rinks or on frozen bodies of water, and skates are the standard footwear in many sports, including
figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...
,
bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...
,
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
,
ringette Ringette is a winter team sport played on an ice rink using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. While the sport was originally created exclusively for female c ...
,
rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey-sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pi ...
, rinkball,
speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marathon speed skat ...
and tour skating.


History

According to a study done by Federico Formenti,
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
, and Alberto Minetti,
University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...
,
Finns Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these cou ...
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 Finnish Lakeland or the Finnish lake district ( , "Lake Finland", ) is a large landscape region in central eastern Finland. The hilly, forest-covered landscape of Lakeland Finland's lake plateau is dominated by drumlins and by long sinuous es ...
. Finland has about 187,888 lakes, which separated villages from each other. To travel between villages, the Finnish people had two options: to take a longer route around the lake, or to find a way across the frozen surface of the lake. The earliest known skate to use a metal blade was found in
Fennoscandia __NOTOC__ Fennoscandia (Finnish language, Finnish, Swedish language, Swedish and ; ), or the Fennoscandian Peninsula, is a peninsula in Europe which includes the Scandinavian Peninsula, Scandinavian and Kola Peninsula, Kola peninsulas, mainland ...
, and was dated to 200 AD. It was fitted with a thin strip of copper folded and attached to the underside of a leather shoe. Starting in 1976, during excavations of the city of
York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
, UK, 42 pairs of
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
-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. The Viking invasion of York took place on November 1, 866. This would suggest that bone ice skates were being used in England from the ninth century. William Fitzstephen, writing in the 12th century, described the use of bone skates in London. The following seems to be an
Early Modern English Early Modern English (sometimes abbreviated EModEFor example, or EMnE) or Early New English (ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transit ...
translation of the
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
original: In the 13th century, the Dutch revolutionized ice skating by sharpening the blades of ice skates, which were made of steel at the time.


Types of ice skates

There are five main types of ice skates: the figure skate, the ice hockey skate, the bandy skate, the racing skate, and the touring skate.


Figure skates

Figure skates are used in the
sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...
of
figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...
. Unlike hockey skates, they have ''toe picks'' on the front of the blade, which 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 Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...
and the leather is very stiff to provide ankle support. In addition, the figure skate's blade is curved, allowing for minute adjustments in balance and weight distribution. The base of the figure-skate blade is slightly concave, or "hollow ground". The hollow, which runs the length of the blade, creates two edges, which come in contact with the ice. The forward part of the blade, the toe-rake, is saw-toothed and is used for jumps and spins on the toes.


Ice hockey skates

Ice hockey skates are used for playing the games of
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
and
ringette Ringette is a winter team sport played on an ice rink using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. While the sport was originally created exclusively for female c ...
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. Skates used in competitive ice hockey and ringette rarely use molded plastic for the upper boot, as this results in limited mobility.


Ice hockey 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. The material used to make the boot of the goalie skate historically was a harder synthetic material than regular hockey boots. 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 radius of hollow is the most common and standard sharpening for most players, the standard radius of hollow for goalies is .


Bandy skates

Bandy skates are used for playing the sports of
bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...
,
rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey-sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pi ...
(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. The blade is generally an inch longer than the hockey skates, allowing for higher speeds on the large
bandy field A bandy field or bandy rink is a large ice rink used for playing the team winter sport of bandy. Being about the size of a football pitch, it is substantially larger than an ice hockey rink. History Originally, bandy was played on naturally froz ...
(also called a "bandy rink). The Russian bandy skates have an even longer blade and a very low cut shoe. 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. While the design of the modern ice hockey skate allows for sharper and faster maneuverability, modern bandy skates allow for more distance to be covered at a higher speed.


Racing skates

Racing skates, also known as speed skates, have long blades and are used for
speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marathon speed skat ...
. 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. For better turning ability, racing skates may have a radius, from for short track to for long track. Racing skates have a completely flat bottom. There is no hollow, only a squared off bottom with two edges. This improves glide time, by not cutting into 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 long with a radius of curvature (or rocker) of about . The blades are from 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. Thus, these skates are often called ''kluunschaats'' in the Netherlands. 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''). Some bindings require special boots like ''telemark'' ski boots with a "duck-bill" shaped toe, others, like the Multiskate, have padded adjustable straps that will attach to most hiking boots. 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. There are several makers of these skates in Sweden, Netherlands, and Finland. 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. ''Nordic skates'' are also used in Winter triathlon races.


Historical wooden touring skates

Before 1870, most touring skates had a wooden foot-plate which was attached to the boot with leather straps. Examples were the ''Gillbergs'' skate from Sweden, and the ''Stheemann'' "wooden Norwegian" from the Netherlands. Even earlier, in the years 1870 to 1900, there were very similar models made in North America, like the ''Donaghue'' from the U.S. In 1875, the , a design in which the blade extended several inches behind the heel, was introduced in the Netherlands. It was popular with both tour skaters (both casual and competitive) and sprint skaters (), and remained popular until some years after the Second World War.


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 A Wellington boot, often shortened to welly, and also known as a gumboot, rubber boot, or rain boot, is a type of waterproof boot made of rubber. Originally a type of leather riding boot adapted from Hessian (boot), Hessian boots, a style of m ...
' by skaters who own their own equipment because of their appearance and their reputation for giving the wearer
blisters A blister is a small pocket of body fluid (lymph, Serum (blood), serum, Plasma (blood), plasma, blood, or pus) within the Epidermis, upper layers of the skin, usually caused by forceful rubbing (friction), burning, freezing, chemical exposure o ...
. People who own their own skates may further reduce the risk of blisters by adding a friction management patch to areas inside the skate that could rub or chafe.


Double runner

Also known as twin blade skates, cheese cutters, bob skates, or bobby skates, these skates are worn by young children who are learning. The double blades increase stability and help the child to balance.


See also

* Inline skates * Roller skates * List of shoe styles


References


External links


Ice Skates Virtual Museum

History of Canadian hockey skates
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ice Skate Sports footwear Skate Skate Figure skating equipment Articles containing video clips Finnish inventions