SHARPENING
SKATES TOOL

— The skate goes here, right here. It's got these long blades. The boot hangs here, and this thing has to go right here. You have to move it somehow, so that the blades are balanced, and so that they are exactly parallel to one another. Without this they don't swing about. Yeah that's right, it has to move along this thing here. This all stopped when I was fourteen. I did it for five years. These things go here, like this. And where does the skate go again? Let me try to remember how this works. Ah, OK. So this all here is drawn back, then these things are raised up, this thing here. Then the blade has to be secured, and that's done with these here. There's a special circle on ordinary sharpeners that moves them so that they don't knock together. This thing is raised, touches the blade, and then they balance themselves. And the same thing here. Then you take it away and the skates get sharpened. First it's done with a rough blade, then with "ilich" which is kind of like a fine sandpaper. The grain is really small. Then you smear that "ilich" with oil and sharpen again. Then you take off the rough edges with a bit of "ilich", and then you're ready to go. Because you can't skate with dull blades.