Brown spots on my skate blades.
 

So after hockey, I forgot to bring my towel and didn't wipe my blades completely dry, because they're still cold, and moist still forms on them a bit. I would have to wait like 15 mins of constant wiping if I wanted them completely dry... anyway, I wiped them down with toilet paper as much as I could, put on plastic guards, threw them in my bag and drove home (30 mins). I take them out of my bag and see tiny brown spots on the bottom of my blades. The sides are fine though. I didn't think rust could develop so fast...

Logically, they look like they could come off with a bit of skating, but I'm not sure...

Now the question, should I just go for a skate and the rust will wear off?
Get them sharpened again? (I just sharpened with about 1 hour of usage) or am I screwed with rusted blades? They are just small brown spots though. Maybe like only 4 or 5 spots of brown distributed along the bottom of my blade. And would those spots grow in time if not dealt with properly? As in the rust begins to eat away more steel?

sides are usually fine from rust..i think the sides have sort of protectant from rust.
Next time u sharpen them, the dots will go away.

Next time, or next few times...don't use the skate guards and see what happens. I remember my bottoms used to rust whenever i put my skate protectors on....i had those bulky rubber ones.

Wierd. Had it happen to me when I was playing Pee-Wee hockey but never since then.

I think the difference maker would be that you used a toilet paper/paper towel instead of a normal towel that night. Those suckers tend to not do a good job absorbing taking the moisture off your steel.

If I don't use my skate guards, something's gonna get hacked up in my bag or my blades are gonna get dull very fast. lol



The funny thing is... I usually forget to bring my towel and end up using toilet paper anyway. I don't have a "designated" towel I leave in my bag for skates. But this is the first time it has happened. I guess it's time for me to get a designated towel...

So I should just leave it as it is? And just wait until I sharpen my skates again next time?

happened to me, no biggie. if it's on the sides or you don't want to wait to sharpen just take a piece of sand paper and sand off the rust. worked for me (y)

what kinda skates you got?

Hmmm. Not too sure on this one. In my case, I would wait as I play almost 5 days a week and have to sharpen on either a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

However, I do remember that you only play once a week. So it's hard for me to foresee when your next sharpen would be. If you sharpen between 5+ games, that means you wouldn't be seeing a skate techie for a month and a half to 2 months.

You know what you could do. Just call Cyclone Taylors and ask. It's a simple question with a quick answer so I don't think they would mind. That's why the put their contact # on their website. For info ;).

It is rust, but not a big deal. Next time you skate, that brown spot will go away.

it chicken pox ahhhhhh...its just rust dude

It's just rust. It will go away with a sharpen.

If I were you I would just go out and buy a 99 cent towel, or better yet find an old cloth lying around at home. I dry my skates as soon as I take them off and then I wipe the blades again when I hang my stuff to dry when I get home and I never see rust spots.

+1. Exactly what I do.

Buy some skate soakers. They will soak up the excess water as well as protect your bag from your skate blades.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...nL._AA280_.jpg <--- cute!
http://www.prolineskates.com/acatalo...ladecovers.jpg

i use the kind of skate guards that absorb any extra moisture that might not have been taken off with a towel wipe

but yeah, just use any cheap towel, or if you're really desperate, just use the towel you use on yourself

yeah hes right get some soakers. they work as blade covers so nothing in your bag will get torn up. but the thing is , you have to take em off when you get home and wipe all the moisture off.

hey man
try putting some wd40 on em......just spray your fingers and run them over them....will prevent rust...the lady who does my skates told me to do that when same thing happened to me....hope this helps.

Try washing the skate blades with luke warm water after you play. Then towel dry. If the blades are cold from the ice, they still have moisture from condensation.

But don't really worry about those spots as they are just rust stains. Even if you let the skates sit like that for a period of time, a skate sharpen will remove all of it.

You shouldn't have to do anything to your skates other than drying them with a towel. If you take well enough care of your skates they won't rust.

If you forget to bring a towel with you to the rink, just use your hockey socks to dry your blades off. If you're careful enough you won't cut into the sock. When you get home dry them off with a proper towel and hang to dry.

Thanks for all the helpful responses. I didn't expect to get so many. lol

I never thought about that using my hockey socks... good idea.


haha, those are the exact same skates I have.

A good towel (I use a microfibre towel since I bought a ton at Canadian Tire on sale long time ago lol) and skate soakers will do the trick, just wipe the blades down again when you get home and the blades have warmed up some.

If you're really paranoid though... you can wipe your blades down with a bit of household oil. I've never bothered, personally. Any rust on the edge will scrape away next time you hit the ice.

oh snap...not sure if its been mentioned or so....

You don't want to store your skates with ANY kind of skate guards on. If you hang em, great, take off the guards.

If you lay them, lay them on top of a dry towel or skate mat.

Thats a good source of rust, storing with guards on.

Just remember, (and I've seen this done before) Skate soakers do a good job protecting your skates in the bag, but do little outside the bag. That means, unlike the plastic skate protector, don't walk around on skate soakers on hard surfaces.

Especially since some rinks rubber flooring are old and concrete like. Burnaby Lake rink & Minoru Ice to name a few.

Crap, totally forgot about Sportcheck's family savings event yesterday (and on Wed). I could of got some skate soakers.

I have a sports tree to hang my equipment up when I'm at home.

Don't worry about it dude. They're so inexpensive, they're not one of those things that you don't really need to go out of your way to find a deal for.

http://www.cyclonetaylor.com/accesso...ateaccess.html

Here's a quick reference to their cost: Senior Skate Soakers $6.99 CDN.

I'd say, give or take a few dollars, just go to the most convenient hockey shop, rink pro shops, or even walmart for that matter.

^ oh, I thoguht they were like $15 or something.
Maybe I looked at the price wrong the last time I was at Sportchek