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| Left skate, lace, candle; A still life Haiku question; Will it stay tightened? |
I'm talking about skate laces not my hair. Try as I might, my left skate in particular gets loose after about 30 minutes of skating. This is most annoying as the 30 minute mark is just about the time that ancient leg muscles get warmed up. I talked with the owner of our rink's Pro Shop about this (he's a hockey player) and he recommended waxing the laces with a little candle wax. I've done a little google search snooping and there's a fair bit of posting both pro and con about waxing skate laces to keep them tight, but only in reference to hockey skates. Is this a bad idea for figure skates? It seems there's only one way to find out. So your ever faithful diarist shall, for better or worse, test this idea to see if it's sound advice or a brain fart. It seems counter-intuitive but who am I to question the council of professionals--at least until I've tried it? Stay tuned.
I've never heard of wax for figure skates but it could work. Also, if you use nylon laces you could switch to cotton. They are less slippery. Same concept really. You could also try slightly thicker socks. I can tell the difference between one layer of thin tights and two!
ReplyDeleteI have Jackson skates and I believe the laces are a cotton/poly blend. Our rink stocks Riedell laces, and I've bought a pair to keep in my skate bag as a back up, but after a bit of google snooping it seems that they also are a blend of cotton and "something". Do you know of a good internet source for 100% cotton?
DeleteAs for socks, that's another example of how males in figure skating are an under served minority existing below the marketer's radar screens! Women have several good options for their feet but I've never found socks for men that were (a) thin enough for good blade feel, while (b) smoothly slipping over my maleolar slipos socks and not bunching them up. So I stole a pair of my wife's trouser socks. I may have to blog about that. Maybe I just haven't looked in the right shops...
What I may do is experiment with eliminating the slipos gel tubes which I slip over the trouser socks, (above the ankles to avoid lace bite). Maybe the squishy gel tube thingies are contributing to the laces working loose after 30 minutes or so.
Gel sleeves ... Yes, that could be the problem. I have found that if I wear the sleeve UNDER the sock it doesn't move as much (and when it moves it does feel like the boots are loose). You might also experiment with having the sleeve as low as possible, while still protecting your leg as needed. When mine are up too high above the top of the boot they ten to loosen the boo
ReplyDeletet. Sorry for the partial post but for some reason it froze up on me. Finally, I know a lot of male figure skaters who raid their wives' hosiery for suitable sockage! Try two pairs of trouser socks and see if your boot stays tied better. Oh, about the laces, my Klingbeils came with cotton-y laces. Maybe not 100 percent cotton, but they don't slip as much. You could contact Rainbo Sports as they seem to have a lot of accessories.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips. I've already tried wearing the gel sleeve under the sock this morning--still had to come off the ice at about the 30 minute mark and retighten--but at least my back edges are approaching testable ;-) The wax on the laces was not the answer either. I'll next try double trouser socks, but I'm beginning to wonder if this loosening is caused by the boots shrinking just a tiny bit as they drop from home room temp (~68 to 70 degrees) to rink temp (~45 or so)? You would think that my hot, sweaty feet would compensate for that...
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the boots shrinking enough for you to notice, but my thought is they would get tighter if they shrunk and not loosen. I guess it's possible. Had some other thoughts -- and I am making the assumption that the loosening is happening "up top" (the hook area) vs. below the hook area. One more thought ... try a different lacing pattern for your hooks. Instead of passing the lace under the hook and then around to the top, pass it over the hook and then around to the bottom. I have heard that is a more "firm" way of tying them. I can't tell the difference myself but you might. Also, do you tie a half knot at the place where the eyelets end and the hooks begin before lacing the hooks? That will also "hold" better. Finally, you can try creative lacing patterns such as tying the second hook from the bottom, then the first hook, then the top hook. Varying your lacing pattern can keep the tongue of your boots from breaking down (and may keep them tighter as well).
ReplyDeleteSoon after I hit the send button I began to wonder about that shrinkage phenom. Being slightly dyslexic I got it just backwards! Heat change might be part of the equation but as you point out probably a minor player.
DeleteYes, I tie a surgeon's knot at the lace transition point between eyelets and hooks. I'll keep experimenting with lacing patterns in the hook region. There's a world of difference in blade feel once I get the laces where I want them--so much so that when I return to the ice I need to skate a lap before getting back to work. It's like the difference between driving a pickup truck and a sports car.
My final thoughts on this -- perhaps your boots just don't quite fit right. Any lacing will loosen up over time and so you can accommodate a slightly large boot by tying tighter, but then when the laces loosen you will feel it because the boot is actually too big. If this is just happening on one foot I'd suspect that one foot is slightly smaller than the other (which is true for most of us). The double trouser sock might be enough to take up the slack. Or you could put an orthotic in the boot that loosens. I have one very thin "superfeet" orthotic in my right boot only. Even though my boots were custom, the right boot always felt slightly looser to me, even when I first laced it. The orthotic took up the slack (I replaced the insole that came with the boot with the orthotic otherwise it would have taken up too much room).
ReplyDeleteOK, my final theory --- if your boots are fairly new (and I think they are), they may still be going through a "break in" period. That means they are still a bit on the stiff side and not completely molded to your foot. That could mean the foot is moving around in the boot more than it should, causing it to loosen. If the boot is also slightly too big in addition to being stiff, this could definitely cause the problem. While breaking in boots it's normal to re-lace frequently. If this might be the case, are your boots heat moldable? Getting the boot to conform to your foot as much as possible can help.
I'm all out of ideas!!!
Thanks Terri, I bought my boots last January and due to the broken arm have only logged about 100 hours in them; and yes they are heat moldable. And yes again, the left boot in particular is the one that loosens the most. The manager in our Pro sizes boots to the smaller foot with the idea that the boot for the larger foot can always be stretched and punched out. I'll try double socks or an insert in the left boot and see if that cures the problem. If not, perhaps that boot can be reheated. Thanks again for the great input.
ReplyDeleteHi George,
ReplyDeleteI tried waxed laces but I didn't like them, they actually kept my boot too tight and me feet fell asleep. It made me realize that as you bend and straighten your ankle there is a need for the laces to slide around a little to accommodate the change in ankle position. I still have the laces (I give them to you except that they are white...). As I break in new boots, I do find I occasionally have to re-tighten them. I also have Jacksons like yours but they are 3 years old so I'm past that phase.
As far as socks, I have a nifty pair of polypropylene socks that I use for cross country sking (under thicker wolly socks on very cold days). They are perfect for using with skates as they are thin but really conform well to the shape of your foot with out wrinkling. They also wick away perspiration and keep your feet a little warmer. I've seen them at running supply stores as well.. runners are usually very particular about what they have on their feet and you could probably get men's sizes here as well.
Lori
Hi Lori: I've tried the home made version of waxed lace thing without any improvement. I've also tried Terri's suggestions with super feet inserts placing the Jackson ones and double socking. I see small improvements but not total elimination of the problem. My next gambit will be to see if the pro shop will reheat my boots while I wear just the thin trouser socks. Afterwards I'll slip on the slipos malleolar sleeves, the trouser socks and then lace the skates up in the hopes that I'll have a rock solid fit.
ReplyDeleteFinally I'm still searching (so far without luck) for a source of 100% cotton laces. When I tighten the current laces, below the hooks, I sometimes see that I'm losing tension after pulling one pair of lace cris-crosses while trying to gain a purchase on the next higher cross. I think this is the lace relaxing in between pulls. I'm thinking that cotton laces would not be so quick to relax as the cotton/poly blend laces. Perhaps I'll have to make my own laces. I know from boat race experience that some synthetic lines, nylon for example, are very stretchy while others such as spectra or kevlar have less stretch than stainless steel cable.