Sharpening Your Skates to a Radius Every goalie gets their skates sharpened to a certain radius so that they know the feel of what skating is going to be like every time they step on the ice. Even the ones that just get them sharpened by the team equipment manager still get the same every time even if they don't know what it is. The way radius sharpening works is that the sharper the skate the smaller the radius. For Example: If you get your skates sharpened at 1" then the circular shape in the blade, if you extended or extrapolated it, would be a circle with a 1" radius. If you get your skates sharpened at 1/2" the "cut" would be a little deeper into the middle of the blade and when extrapolated the circle it would make would have a 1/2" radius. There has always been a myth about goalies needing dull skates to be able to slide around and move around the crease easily. However, this is not the case. Goalies need sharp skates to make precise skating movements quickly. No goalie in the NHL uses dull skates because they all have to make precise quick movements by getting quick pushes. A young goalie or a beginner may want to start with a bigger radius around 5/8" or closer to an inch because it is easier for the weaker skaters to skate in. However if you are a good skater then it is recommended that you start out with 1/2" radius and go from there. 1/2" gives you a solid edge and allows you to get a solid push, and 3/8" are very sharp, making it tough to shuffle because of the resistance but if you need a quick push laterally 3/8" will do the trick. Try out different radius’ 1/2", 7/16”, 3/8", 5/16” and see what you like. Another suggestion is to have them sharpened but ask not to have the blades honed after being sharpened on the wheel. Honing the blades after sharpening on the wheel “folds” the blade edges inwards and makes them sharper.