Learn Step by Step How to Bake Hockey Skates at Home – Ultimate Guide!

How to Bake Hockey Skates at Home? – In this guide, we are going overheat molding skates also known as baking them. This can solve some of your fit issues as well as shortening the break-in time resulting in a nice customized fit.

This is not a necessary process but some players will actually prefer to break them in the more natural way whereas if you bake them too much or over bake them, it can result in a premature breakdown on the skate.

So we are going to teach you how to bake hockey skates in a nice, soft, moldable, and your own standard convection oven.

Heat up oven at 175 Degree

The first thing you need to do is preheat the oven to around 175 degrees. As the oven is preheating so make sure your skates are all ready to go in and what you need to do here is to loosen up the skates so the tongue can move out.

Once the skates did being baked, you can easily put your foot in and lace it up to ensure that you get the fit when the skates are nice and soft and heat-molded

 Turn Off the Oven

Alright, once the oven is been completely preheated, go ahead and turn off the oven which is going to ensure a uniform temperature inside it so all the materials of the boot are exposed to the same temperature with no direct heat on it.

Put Skates Inside

Place one skate on a standard baking sheet and just insert it into the oven about the center of the rack. Close it and let it bake for about six to eight minutes.

You should keep a close eye on it so it is not getting too hot or you see any of the material separating because that’s going to be a sign that’s been in there too long.

Halfway Inspection

During the baking process, you can check it to make sure that everything is getting heated up properly so open the oven and pull the skate out.

Feel the material if it is still a little stiff, in this case, put it back into the oven for a little bit longer making sure not to leave the door open too long so that the temperature inside the oven stays at that 175 degrees.

Pull Out Skates

Alright, after you hit the preset 6-minute mark, go ahead and check on the skate one more time. Now pull the skate out and you will see it is nice, soft and ready to be molded.

Let’s Try it Out!

So now open the skate tongue nicely and wide. Just gently slide your foot in and make sure the heels all the way against the back give it a few taps and also make sure the tongue is nice and square then start lacing it up.

Try to do a nice smooth job during lacing it up so you don’t need to strain the eyelets too much. Just make sure it is tight enough. After lacing up skates, let it mold and once you had done with skates laced up, keep it on your foot for about 15 minutes.

During this time, sit in a position that resembles the position that you are going to be skating on the ice rink. It will give you a nice snug fit and mold according to your feet.

Comparison Baked Vs Unbaked Skate

If you compare the baked skate with one that has not been baked, you will see a huge difference between them in terms of fit. You will feel baked one really nice and wrapped around the foot contouring to your own foot shape while the unbaked skate will be loosened and does not provide a snug fit.

Precaution

When you feel that skate is cooling around your foot and free to stand on it, it will add a little bit of width to it. Here one thing is to note that you do not walk around on it or putting too much forward flex on it may cause strain to the eyelets.

So once the skates are been on there for about 15 minutes, go ahead and unlace the skate. Take it off then relace it back up weave in an upright position and let it cool for 24 hours. This is going to ensure that all the materials have hardened and are ready to be skated on.

Conclusion

This was a quick look at how to bake hockey skates at your own home. Also, note that you look at the instructions that come with the skates to see if there are any special requirements for that particular skate.

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