Profiles and Hollows
Profiling that enhances performance.
The goal is optimal blade profiles that enhance your speed, agility, power and performance.
Blademaster Skate Sharpeners and Blademaster trained skate technicians are ready to help you find your best blade profile and consistently sharpen skates for peak performance at every game or competition!
A smaller profile such as 8 to 9 feet is excellent for agility, quick starts and stops, and quick acceleration. The downside is that you bite more into the ice which creates more stress on your joints, it requires a deeper hollow and burns more energy keeping your speed. Glide is lost a smaller profile, so you must move your feet more to keep your speed up.
Player positions that benefit from a smaller profile are ones like defense players. Quickness and agility are very important.
With a larger radius of 11 to 13-foot, glide and speed are enhanced. The larger contact area on the ice makes you dig in less, requiring a shallower hollow to achieve your desired grip level. The downside to a larger profile is that you lose acceleration and agility.
Can you have different profiles at each end of the blade?
Yes you can! Often different radius's are used at each end of the blade. This depends on the a variety of factors related to the player. Height, weight and position played are to be considered.
Blademaster Skate Sharpeners and Blademaster trained skate technicians are more than capable of helping you find your best blade profile and consistently sharpening skates for peak performance at every game or competition!
Radius of Hollow (RoH)
The size of the hollow on your skate blade will affect how the skate feels and performs on the ice.
Whether you are looking for more speed & glide or more bite & cut - Blademaster experts can help you find the perfect hollow for you!
How do I select my hollow or RoH?
As with skate blade profile, there are many factors to be considered when determining your best RoH or hollow. They include:
- player position
- player height & weight
- skating skill
- desired playing performance
Blademaster Skate Sharpeners and Blademaster trained skate technicians are more than capable of creating your best blade hollow!
Hockey Skates:
Children – beginners – 3/8”
Boys and Girls –5/16”
Men’s and Women’s – 5/8”-3/4”
Goalies – ¾” to 1-1/4”
Figure Skates:
Children – beginners –3/8”
Adults – Dance – ¼”
Adults –free skate – ½”
Children – free skate - 5/8”
For reference:
| Hollow Measurement - Imperial | Hollow Measurement - Metric | Hollow Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8 | .125 | Deep hollow - max bite |
| 3/16 | .1875 | |
| 1/4 | .25 | Popular for adults dance figure skaters |
| 5/16 | .3125 | Popular bite hollow for boys & girls |
| 3/8 | .375 | Popular bite hollow for children & beginners |
| 7/16 | .4375 | |
| 1/2 | .5 | Very common hollow for skaters & goalies |
| 9/16 | .5625 | Very popular for goalies |
| 5/8 | .625 | Popular for men & women skaters |
| 11/16 | .6875 | |
| 3/4 | .75 | Very common hollow |
| 13/16 | .8125 | |
| 7/8 | .875 | Very little hollow |
| 15/16 | .9375 | |
| 1 | 1 | Rare |
| 1-1/16 | 1.0625 | |
| 1-1/8 | 1.125 | Popular glide hollow |
| 1-3/16 | 1.1875 | |
| 1-1/4 | 1.25 | Shallow hollow, max glide |
| 1-5/16 | 1.3125 | |
| 1-3/8 | 1.375 | |
| 1-7/16 | 1.4375 | |
| 1-1/2 | 1.5 |
Learn more about sharpening techniques
Download our Skate Sharpening 101 PDF for future reference!
Read for more advanced info?
Download our Skate Sharpening for Pros pdf for future reference!
