What if I don’t have a scribe?

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Bev

You can pace out a circle using bladelengths or steps. Mark the center of your eight and measure eight to ten bladelengths or about four paces. Make a mark. This is the center of your circle. Measure eight to ten bladelengths or about for paces further along the long axis and make a mark. Measure eight to ten bladelengths or about four paces to either side of the center and make more marks. Now you have four marks on your circle: one at the center, one at the top, and one at each side. Connect the dots to make a circle. Repeat for the other side.
If you want to be very accurate, calculate the ideal radius of your circle in inches (1.5 times your height) and measure the length of your blade. Divide the radius by the length of your blade to get the number of bladelengths to use.

Posted in FAQ | Tagged | 1 Comment

How big should my circles be?

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Bev

Ice

In general, the diameter of the circle should be approximately three times the height of the skater. To set your scribe to the right length, calculate your height in inches and multiply by 1.5. A skater who is five feet tall should use a setting of 60 inches times 1.5 = 90 inches, or a little more or less depending on personal preference. Judges seem to like big circles, so if you’re unsure, make them bigger. This table of figures circle sizes will spare you the math.

For loops, the diameter of the circle should be approximately the height of the skater. That means if you are five feet (60 inches) tall, you should set your scribe to 30 inches. Generally, standing with your feet as far apart as they can go without too much difficulty is about the right radius; you can pivot around one foot and draw with the heel of the other to get a reasonably close loop circle. The loop itself should be about one blade-length wide and 1.5 blade-lengths long.

Roller

Roller skaters use standard figure circles painted on the floor. For circle figures (the big ones), the standard diameter is six meters (19 feet). For loops, the standard diameter is 2.4 meters (eight feet).

Posted in FAQ | Tagged , | 1 Comment

There are no patch sessions near me! How can I do figures?

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Bev

Look for poorly attended freestyle and public skating sessions. These may be early in the morning or in the middle of the day, depending on the time of year and your local rink culture. Then, go and do figures. The conditions are less than ideal—people will probably skate right through your patch—but you’ll be able to do more than you expect.

Posted in FAQ | Tagged | Leave a comment

Blades for figures: Where to get them

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Bev
Special blades designed specifically for figures are no longer made, but some stores still have old ones in stock. If your local skate shop has been around a while, it may be worth asking if they still have any. Here are some places that you can try. The models to look for include MK Silver Test, MK Gold Test, Wilson Figure, Wilson Comet Test, and Wilson Pattern 88.
  • People on the Compulsory Figures Project Facebook group may have blades they’re willing to part with
  • EBay occasionally has patch blades for sale
  • Midwest Skate Supply, Novi, MI, has lots of patch blades available to order online
  • Lake Placid Skate Shop, Lake Placid, NY, had some unused Comet Test blades available in 2015
  • Simply Skating Consignment, Wyomissing, PA, had a few pairs of patch blades in stock as of June, 2019; models include Silver and Comet Test
  • The Skater’s Edge WNY, Buffalo, NY, had about 10 pairs in stock as of February, 2019; models include Gold, Silver, and Comet Test and Pattern 88 in sizes 9, 9.25, 9.33, 9.5, 10.25, 10.5, 10.66, and 11 inches
  • The World Figure Sport Society, Lake Placid, NY, has many patch blades available
  • You can always have a pair made by asking your skate sharpener to remove the bottom toe pick from a pair of freestyle blades and giving them a patch sharpening
For general information on equipment, see the base post.
Posted in Blades | Tagged | Leave a comment

Blades for figures: Notes and specifications

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Bev

The toe pick on a patch blade. Note that the bottom pick is missing and the chrome relief goes all the way to the front of the blade.


Patch blades (blades that are designed specifically for figures) are not the same as freestyle blades. They lack the bottom toe pick and that they are sharpened to a much flatter radius of hollow. Both of these are modifications that can be made to existing blades: you can make a pair of old freestyle blades into patch blades by grinding down the toe pick and giving them a patch sharpening.

Sharpening blades for figures is a bit different from sharpening them for freestyle because the radius of hollow is so large. Patch hollows start at one inch and go all the way up to three or four; freestyle hollows  are typically around half an inch. With large patch hollows, there is little margin for error, so an experienced skate technician is essential.

If you don’t want to have two pairs of skates, you can ask for a combination hollow (typically around 3/4″) for both figures and freestyle. This was commonly done by low-test skaters back in the day. It will probably feel very strange if you’re used to an ordinary freestyle hollow, though.

Specifications

Blade name Manufacturer Rocker radius Factory ROH Notes
Comet Test Wilson 8.5 ft 1 in Matched for use with Coronation Comet; polished hollow.
Gold Test MK 7 ft 1 in Contoured radius toe pick; hide-honed; special hollow grinding. Essentially Phantom (freestyle blade) without the bottom pick.
Pattern 88 Wilson 7 ft 1 in Available as one-piece blades or set of sole and heel plates. Blades can be detached and changed.
Silver Test MK 7 ft 1.5 in Parallel; contoured radius; shallow ground edge; based on MK Professional blade.
Wilson Figure Wilson 8 ft 1 in Small pyramid tooth. The low toe pick leads to this blade being mistaken for a freestyle blade.
Futurist Wilson      
Futurist T Wilson     Toe pick as Wilson Figure.
RF 66 Perfecta      

Sources: Alice Berman, Skater’s Edge Sourcebook (Kensington, MD: Skater’s Edge, 1995), 47 and John Misha Petkevich, The Skater’s Handbook (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1984), 40-41. The italicized text has been added, and the notes on Pattern 88 blades have been combined from separate entries for the full blades and the fittings.

For general information on equipment, see the base post.

Posted in Blades | Tagged | Leave a comment

Boots for figures on ice

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Bev
Any old boots should work. The trick is that they need to be soft enough to let your ankle bend from side to side. New, stiff freestyle boots don’t allow this.  Back in the day, people used to use their old, broken-down freestyle boots for figures. Now, there are four main options:
  • Use a pair of old boots that you’ve retired
  • Scour eBay and skate shops for a pair of old boots, used or new, that fit
  • Get one of the pairs the World Figure Sport Society has available
  • Have a pair custom-made for figures by your favorite boot manufacturer
  • Look into roller boots, which are just like boots made for ice skating but much softer
For general information on equipment, see the base post.
Posted in Boots | Tagged | Leave a comment

Equipment for figures

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Bev

You don’t have to have special skates for figures, but they can help you skate them better.

It used to be that every ice skater had two pairs of skates, one for figures and the other for freestyle, and a scribe or a scribe to share. Some skaters (namely, Dick Button) had a third pair of skates for loops. The specialized equipment that was once used for figures on ice is no longer readily available.

Roller skaters may have even more skates, with separate pairs for circle figures (the large ones) and loops. Since figures are still fairly popular among roller skaters, roller equipment is easier to come by.

The posts in this category describe the specialized equipment used for figures and where to get it.

Posted in Equipment | Tagged , | 5 Comments