How to Bake Hockey Skates at Home

Baking hockey skates can drastically cut down on the pain, blisters, bleeding and days of sore feet that are typical of breaking in a new pair of skates. Many hockey stores do not carry ovens or won’t have the right oven for your skates. Typically Mission provides ovens to bake skates, but other companies might not allow, under warranty, the use of a Mission oven. If you are in these circumstances, you can easily bake hockey skates at home.

Things You'll Need

  • Oven
  • New hockey skates
  • Skate laces
  • Baking sheet
  • Oven mitts
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Instructions

  1. Preparing for Baking

    • 1

      Check the box that skates came in for heating instructions.

    • 2

      Preheat oven to 180F unless heating instructions call for a different temperature.

    • 3

      Lace skates so that they are loose and that laces are not pulling on the skate walls. If laces are tight, they will ruin the skate during baking. Remove the insole of the skate before baking.

    • 4

      Turn off the oven when it reaches correct temperature. DO NOT leave oven on during baking.

    Baking

    • 5

      Place skates on baking sheet and put in the oven.

    • 6

      Allow skates to heat for 8 to 10 minutes. Check occasionally during baking to see if foam is soft and malleable.

    • 7

      Remove skates from oven. Use oven mitts or grab skates by tongue because the metal eyelets of the skate will be hot and will cause several very painful and serious burns.

    • 8

      Replace insoles and place skates on feet. Make sure the heel of your foot is at the back of the skate by tapping the back of the blade against the floor.

    • 9

      Lace skates as tight as possible. Pull laces outward instead of up because pulling up will cause the eyelets of the skate to come out, ruining the skate. This damage is not covered by warranty.

    • 10

      Relax. With the blades resting flat on the floor, sit without flexing or moving the foot for 15 to 20 minutes. Do not walk in the skates while they are hot. After the skates have cooled down, remove them but do not skate in them for at least 24 hours.