OMG my skate rusted and I can't belive it! wwhat should i do I forgot to take them out of my skateguards while in a rush! I'm like so confused and frustrated. Anybody have a suggestion? Please help

It depends how badly rusted they are. If it's just a light rusting the rust will wear off when you skate. If it's more severe, then I would recommend you get a sharpening. This happened to me when I fell and broke my ankle. My kindly friends wiped my blades and I got taken to hospital. It wasn't until three months later when I got my skates out that I saw the rust. I took them for a re-grind and the lady recommended that anyone leaving their skates for a while without use, should run some oil along the blades. In the UK we use WD40!

Nicki

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Which now comes in very handy pencils that you can keep in your bag.

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My other car is a Zamboni

well when i took out my skate guards I saw the rust on the bottom of my skates caused by my skate guards . I kept of wiping and getting the rust off of it. I soon later got the rust off but them saw these black stain(under all the rust) that won't come off it. Are these black stain good or bad?

To play it safe, just take them to get sharpened and your sharpener can get that off for you.

Joey: So sorry this has happened! I had no idea that they could rust until I found this board and read about it. I had wiped my blades but always stored them with hard guards. I now have taken them off! I hope you will find that sharpening will take the black off! I was horrified when I read about boot rot too! I assumed they would last forever! Now taking them out of my case too!

Best of luck to you in addressing the problem!

You shouldn't store your skates with the guards on. Guards are only for use when you are walking around the rink off the ice in your skates. Best to invest in some soakers that you can put on after you have wiped your blades dry. These should absorb any stray moisture and avoid the problem of rust!

Nicki

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Even if I skate again the next day, I take my skates out of the bag and hang them up to dry/air (inside and out) 'cause my feet sweat when I skate hard.

Fine steel wool will clean the rust off - try to not do the edges. A shapening is a good idea.

I apply Turtle Wax to new blades and try to repeat the waxing every few months. It not only stops rusting but keeps the blades from getting finger marks. A wipe of "3 In 1" or similar light oil will work better than WD-40 (which isn't an oil) to keep the ground parts of the blade from rusting.

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Urgent

Don't use steel wool!!! It is not precision enough and will undo your sharpening

A sharpening is the most comprehensive solution, although maybe not conveinient before you have to skate next

USE A GOOD METAL POLISH. The mutipurpouse type for cleaning household brass, stainless etc. In most cases, this will take off all superficial rust and even minor pitting if you go over it a few times. Apply the polish, allow it to semi dry and then buff the heck out of it.

Now for everyone else. If you ever notice you don't have as much glide, but see no obvious rust on your blade, apply some metal polish to the sharpened area and notice that your polish cloth will turn black with all the oxidation. Finish the polish and get back on the ice and you will be amazed at how fast you fly. It will feel like a totally new set of blades!!!!!!

pairman2

Sorry if any of the things I say have been said before.

But if you don't have soakers, buy some.
Also, I would go sharpen them, that makes them rust-free. Hope I helped.

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Salchow Chick
We Love You Sashie!

well thanks for helping me it really did lots for my blades. Now that I sharpened them NO MORE BLACK STAIN. YAY thanks again

Just one extra thing about soakers.

I do have them, and I wipe my blades religiously, and put the completely dry soakers on after.

BUT - if your locker is in a humid environment and there is that 1/1000th of moisture on your blades when they go in there (this could apply to car trunks as well), guess what:

RUST!

Sometimes in my locker I put the skates in without the soakers, carefully making sure the blades don't touch. But even the best skate parents have disasters. I wiped my blades for eons with my terry cloth, used a disposable paper towel after, and left the blades in the locker uncovered. I came back five days later, and guess what, more rust. Sometimes nasty weather foils us all.

However, I'm talking a skim coat in this situation, and it's true, it does skate off. It's just annoying!

tell your sharpener to do a really deep fresh sharpening to get any remains of rust off.

If its jsut a bit, it might actually come off if you just skate, but since you've left them so long...probably better to egt sharpening ASAP.

Zoomana - You do keep your skate rag that you dry the skates with in an outside pocket, right?

This is a bit arts-and-craftsy, but I have a kids' sock in my skate bag. I put in about a 1/2 cup of silica crystals and tied it shut. I never have moisture problems anymore -- even with damp clothes in the bag. (Silica crystals are the things inside those "DO NOT EAT" packets that come with wallets and bags. You can also buy them at a crafts store -- they're used to dry flowers.)

When I'm working a competition or show, I'm on and off the ice several times during the day, so I usually leave my skates on and use the hard guards. Took me a week to figure out that that's where the dark marks (pre-rust) were coming from on my blades.

I just had my blades sharpened today. Can't wait to try them out for real.

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boot rot????

Improbable, in our (normally) more gentle climate, as long as you do take good care of your skates!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

If you don't take care of your skates, the leather soles can start to rot. It causes the screw holes to deteriorate, the sole gets soggy and flexible. The screws get loose, which can be dangerous. (I once lost a blade during warmup for a competition and had to be helped off since I could only put down one foot.)

Just be sure to dry your skates after you use them, blades, soles, and boots. Waterproof using SnoSeal (or the UK equivalent) if you see the sole is soaking up water. (It gets darker.)

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I'm fussy about my skates and follow the advice I've learned from reading past threads so hopefully I wont suffer boot rot!!!!

Isk8NYC -

The skate rag lives in the locker with the skates. I always lay it out to dry after I use it, away from the boots and blades. Nothing wet touchs anything else wet. The locker is very damp, though. That's a great idea about the silica gel. I'll start saving some from my vitamins and make a sock!

LOL - I scrounged my silica from shoeboxes. With three kids in parochial school wearing uniform shoes, I get free refills every september!

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i went yesterday but had to get to work so i kept them in my bag.

today they are rusted! i thioughy i dried them up but maybe not? i put them on the window sill to dry in the sun

im going skating today but is it ok? they are blackish marks.

Skating on them is just what they need - it will clean off the black marks.

You might find it sensible to do a rough dry when you first take them off, then leave them out while you change and get ready to go, and then dry them off properly and put on your soakers just before you leave.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Go skate. If there's visible red rust, wipe it off and see if the skates feel okay. Black marks don't usually cause any problems - they're just ugly.

Do you use soakers after you skate? If not, just put a clean, dry towel in the bottom of your bag to rest the blades on after you wipe them dry. Don't keep your bag closed - let the air get in.

DBNY convinced me to start using a car chamois cloth to dry my skates. The theory is that the chamois leaves a bit of oil behind, protecting the blade further. I just started doing it for the "cool" factor.

Make sure you keep the drying cloth outside the bag -- it dries faster and doesn't smell.

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I have a 12 volt power supply that plugs into the wall, which drives a fairly big computer cooling fan....maybe 12 cm by 12 cm in size. I put the boots on the floor back-to-back (ie spread-eagle arrangement) and put the fan up fairly close to the entrances of the boot (where you put your feet in) and turn on the fan. It just keeps blowing cool air into the boots for many hours until the inside of the skate is dry.

It's a good idea to put some kind of mesh of the outside of the computer fan to keep fingers away from the fan blades. The plastic fan blades appear harmless, but when the spin very fast, they're sharp and nasty. Don't try sticking a finger into computer fan blades.......they'll give a very nasty deep cut to fingers.

hi all, i skated on them just now, felt the same, i made sure i dried them well when i got home though!

apart from that, no guards or anything, i just put them in a rucksack and I'm off. At home I just put them on the floor, blades in the carpet?