Contouring

By Bill Harris

Contouring, rocker, radius, shaping, cag-one profiling, is the terminology used when discussing the amount of skate blade in contact with the ice surface during the different stages of the skating process This section of the skate sharpening manual will deal with that topic.

The system we use is called “custom radius”. This consists of 7’, 9’, 11’ or 13’ templates and a special skate holder with guide wheels which follow the template to create the correct radius on the blades for fast smooth turning; and by adjusting the lie of the skate to the individuals skating style, which will balance the skate for maneuverability and control.

The most difficult task of “contouring “is to determine the customers specific needs. Most are unaware of the proper skating position and therefore will need some guidance to help determine their particular needs. Skate blades can be shaped to help improve both turning ability and stability. If the skate blade is not properly contoured the skater will experience muscle fatigue and reduced power for shooting, passing and skating efficiency.

Before contouring a skate blade it must be understood what the blade does to help a skater perform the necessary maneuvers. A hockey player must be able to perform four basic functions, accelerate, glide, turn and stop. Each function uses a different section of the blade. When standing upright a skater should be evenly balanced and comfortable. Contouring shapes and balances blades to match the skater’s natural stance and style.

In the acceleration stage the skater must lean forward, bend the knee and put pressure on the mid to front portion of the blade, forcing it against the ice and extending the leg outward and back continuing to push the toe into the ice as the leg and foot fully extends. (This is the reason that speed skaters are now using the “Clap Blade” the back of the blade comes away from the boot to allow the blade to remain in contact with the ice during toe extension). While one leg is in the acceleration stride, the other leg is in the gliding position.

During the gliding stage the weight of the skater is centered over the mid section of the blade, which should be the longest radius on the runner.

When the skater is turning or doing crossovers the maximum pressure is applied on the outside leg of the turn, the inside leg provides stability and additional power. This pressure is applied to the mid and rear area of the blade. If a tighter turn is required the weight goes completely to the back of the runner and more pressure is exerted against the rear portion of the blade runner.

When the player wants to stop, both feet are pivoted quickly 90 degrees to the direction of motion. Most of the pressure is on the inside edge of the outside skate and the outside edge of the inside skate .The body pressures are applied to the mid section (largest radius) of the blade. The muscles in the legs apply a force against the edges of the skate blade and the amount of pressure needed to stop is directly related to the distance the player wants to stop in. The amount blade surface area is a factor but not as important as the strength and balance of the player. Other factors to consider are the depth of hollow grind in the skate blade, plus e hardness and surface condition of the ice.

Today’s skate blades are actually ground to contain three different radiuses’ to allow for the natural movements of the legs during the skating process. The centre of the runner is ground to a 9ff. radius 5ft, at the front to allow for power on the push off and7ft. at the rear to allow for better balance on power turns .This has resulted in increased maneuverability, stability and speed. These radiuses’ must be located correctly to give maximum control to the specific skater’s style while minimizing muscle fatigue.

The smaller the radius the smaller the mount of blade that touches the ice, and therefore the easier it is to pivot. The less the blade is in contact with the ice the less stable and the slower you will be. The longer the radius and the flatter the hollow the faster you will be able to skate. The correct radius is a happy medium between maneuverability, stability, speed and control.

The best way to understand and to explain this is to look at speed skate blades. These blades are extremely long and have little or no hollow and therefore have a larger surface area in contact with the ice for a longer period of time, which creates speed. However this causes a big problem with maneuverability and therefore you need to reduce the amount of blade on the ice. The idea is to create a balance between speed and maneuvering.

The position of the centre point of the radius is called the lie of the skate blade. This is determined by the posture of the skater, and their skating style. When the skater is in his/her proper skating position he or she should be directly on the high point of the radius. By moving the high point of the radius back slightly towards the heel, this will force the knees to bend slightly. If this point is too far back the skater is constantly falling forward which will result in muscle strain. Moving the high point too far forward forces the legs to lock into a upright rigid position.

The proper lie will improve your lateral movement, reduce fatigue and enable the skater to switch between forward and backward skating smoothly and easily.

Skates that have been contoured offer their users many advantages. By uniting basic kinesiology with precision machining (using templates) we are able to offer the following advantages; Proper Balance (for different skating styles), Increased Stability, Reduced Fatigue, Increased Speed, More powerful Turns, Improved Lateral Movement and Improved Agility.