Ice Skating Guide: Equipment, Maintenance, and Ankle Strength

Strengthening your ankles is essential for stability and preventing pain while ice skating. Learn how to manually sharpen your blades, remove rust, and properly break in new figure skates for a comfortable and high-performance fit on the ice.

How to Remove Rust From an Ice Skate Blade

Published Jul,08 2011 | By Emily Beach

Rusted ice skate blades prevent you from enjoying your time on the ice and may even make it impossible to skate. Poor maintenance and skate storage causes moisture to corrode the metal coating and even the base metal underneath skates.

How to Break in Figure Skates

Published Jul,08 2011 | By Emily Beach

Figure skaters need plenty of ankle support to perform difficult jumps and spins. To ensure the feet are properly supported, skaters use boots made from multiple layers of leather.

Emily Beach works in the commercial construction industry in Maryland. She received her LEED accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council in 2008 and is in the process of working towards an Architectural Hardware Consultant certification from the Door and Hardware Institute. She received a bachelor's degree in economics and management from Goucher College in Towson, Maryland.