Skate blade geometry infographic

[Bill_S]

Here's a page that I created for an upcoming talk about boots and blades at my local rink.

It's a PDF showing ROH, rocker, blade length measurement, and a few simple descriptions of how they might affect skating performance and feel. It's nothing really advanced (i.e. no mention of spin rocker), but could answer basic questions posed by newcomers to the sport.

If you have a use for it in your own club, snatch a copy now before I retire. My web space goes away then, and so will this file.

http://www.afterness.com/skating/images/skate_blade_geometry.pdf

[skategeek]

Nice!  Good info, and I really like the layout/design.

[jbruced]

I think all coaches should be giving this to skaters above the age 10 and to the parents of any skaters under the age of 10. Thank you for posting this.

[Loops]

excellent graphic!  Thanks!

[AgnesNitt]

I just want to mention that in my humble experience, a 1/2 ROH is considered a normal recreational hollow.

I've skated with a 3/4 inch hollow--that's getting into figures territory. I don't know if I'd call that mild. It's just aggressive in another direction, and mostly suited for figure skating ice. 3/8s is for hard hockey ice. and greater than 5/8 it can be hard for a skater to keep an edge on hockey ice.

I'd hate to see some unknowing parent saying 3/4 for a beginner, when that's actually pretty hard to skate with on hockey ice.

[rd350]

Nice graphic and info!

[Query]

Very clear diagram! 

[OmegaGMT]

Bill_S and others

can you comment on ROH and its advantage on  simple maneuvers,  tighter maneuvers,  and in-place rotation

and

the use of 2 and 3 rockers on a single blade  ie a 8', 27', 12' as on a pattern99 if I am correct on the numbers

remember I am a old and grey ballet skier trying to understand your sport - learning to recognize the jumps is killing me