Skate Hollows
What Is a Skate Hollow?
A skate hollow is the concave groove created along the bottom of an ice skate blade during sharpening.
This groove forms two distinct contact points—the inside edge and outside edge—which engage with the ice as the skater turns, stops and pushes.
The shape of the hollow is defined by its Radius of Hollow (RoH). In traditional skate sharpening, a diamond dresser shapes the grinding wheel to the selected radius. As the blade passes across the dressed grinding wheel, that curved profile is transferred to the bottom of the blade.
A smaller radius produces a more pronounced, or deeper, hollow, allowing the edges to penetrate the ice more aggressively and generally providing more bite. A larger radius produces a shallower hollow, generally reducing bite and allowing for more glide.
Radius of Hollow is therefore not simply a measure of how “sharp” a skate is. It is one part of the skate setup that influences how the blade interacts with the ice, and hollow preference can vary based on the skater, skating style, blade, ice conditions and personal preference.
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! Common radius of hollows:
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:
| POPULAR HOLLOWS | ||
| 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!
Ready for more advanced info?
Download our Skate Sharpening for Pros pdf for future reference!
Blademaster Form Dressing - BFD Flat Bottom
Learn more about BFD Flat Bottom sharpening.