Hockey Skate Blade Thickness - inches (mm)
The accepted 'rule of thumb' regarding the thickness of a player's blade is  .110 inch; however precise measurements have proven that significant variances between brand names exist and surprisingly, within the same brand and model.

Keep in mind that blade thickness is a major factor regarding "BITE" into the ice.
The thinner blades require skaters to use a deeper radius of hollow in order to produce the same bite.  
                          Example:       A goalie that normally used a 5/8" ROH sharpening switches from traditional goalie skates
                                                 to the KOHO or RBK thinner Thrust blades;   in order to get a similar bite angle with the thinner blades,
                                                 the goalie would now have to opt for a deeper 1/2" ROH sharpening.


PLAYER BLADES
Graf       --->      NT3000 - 0.116      NT2000  -  0.116      
CCM      --->      Prolite 3 - 0.112      SLM1000 - 0.110      SLM 6000 - 0.114     
Easton   --->      RazorBladz - 0.115     
Bauer    --->      Tuuk Custom - 0.119    Lightspeed 2 - 0.114   Turbo - 0.125     
Mission --->       0.122  (old 3-bolt system)     


GOALIE BLADES
Graf - 0.166      CCM - 0.160      Bauer - 0.160     
RBK - 0.160      Thrust Blade (RBK & KOHO) - 0.131     

                                                            ** Above thicknesses represent a mean average over a minimum of 15 pairs measured recently **
                                                                     *  Additional blade thickness data will be added upon measurement confirmations. *
Fraction to Decimal
1/4  -  0.250
3/8  -  0.375
7/16  -  0.4375
1/2  -  0.500
9/16  -  0.5625
5/8  -  0.625
11/16  -  0.6875
3/4  -  0.750
13/16  -  0.8125
7/8  -  0.875
Skate Blade Geometry
* The research and development of this chart and calculator was completed by Chuck Wright *

Skate Blade Bite-Angle and Radius of Hollow Calculator

This page deals with the sharpening geometry of a blade for ice skating. The subjective "strength" that a skater feels from a blade is a function of the "bite angle", which is 90 degrees less the angle between the side of the blade and the hollow, measured AT THE EDGE. This bite angle is a function of the radius of hollow (ROH), the thickness of the blade, and any deviation from the center of the blade of the path of the grinding wheel, as illustrated below.



Typical skate dimensions are shown in the diagram.

This calculator allows you to explore this relationship.
Enter a value into any field and the other field values will be recalculated when you leave the field.

Blade Thickness (inches).

Change the Blade thickness to calculate BITE angle (ROH constant).
Check this box to hold the bite ANGLE constant and recalculate the RADIUS of hollow instead.

Bite Angle L-Edge Bite Angle R-Edge
Center Line Error (Should always be Zero)
Radius of Hollow (see fraction to decimal chart)