• Bring your skates to Cambridge Ice Arena
• Ask any member of staff about leaving your skates for Rich@TheRink
• Fill out the form with your details, indicating what depth you require
• Leave the form and skates with staff, taking the receipt portion
• Make payment for the service
• Once you receive a text that the service has been completed, pick them up!

If you have your skates sharpened regularly (within 2 months of the last sharpening) you will benefit from a discounted rate!

When you drop your skates you'll join the queue. We have the option of while you wait (in person), or priority sharpening (jump the queue) for a surcharge. When we cannot take in any more skates due to our storage being full, you can still make use of while you wait service, but priority sharpening is not available.

In addition to arranged While You Wait service, we also offer sharpening by post. Please ask us for details.

New blades out of the factory or shop typically have a very basic grind and in our experience often not level - sharpening new blades takes longer and consumes more materials.

Skates that have become rusty or with damaged edges need extra care and attention - a lot more time and materials.

If you're not sure whether your blades need new blade sharpening or reconditioning please write a note on the order form for us to contact you specifically with our determination.

We use a BladeMaster machine with our own developed microscopic inspection and measurement tools and software to give your skates that extra special treatment. Our set up means:

• No under- or over-sharpening. Edge to edge accuracy along the whole length of the blade
• All rust pockets removed - even the ones you cannot see with the naked eye
• Adjustment to smaller than the width of a human hair
• Level edges, every time

There's a lot of hype about Sparx sharpening machines. We'd like to address a few things:

You'll need to sharpen your skates 160 times before you start saving money with Sparx.

At current retail prices, Sparx machines costs over £1,000, and each ring (good for around 40 sharpenings) is around £67.

Comparatively, sharpening at TheRink costs £8.50 per sharpening.

The break-even point between the two is around 160 sharpenings.

But you also miss out on professional expertise!

When you have you skates sharpened by someone who truely understands the mechanics of both blades and sharpening machines, you get unrivaled experience resulting in the best outcome. Being able to counteract the effects of bent blades, nicks, misaligned equipment and understanding blade profiling, you will consistently get better results from a seasoned skate engineer, such as at Rich@TheRink.

If you're thinking of getting a Sparx, borrowing someone else's Sparx, paying an individual to sharpen your blades on their Sparx, or offering skate sharpening using a Sparx machine, consider the following:

• Are they/you insured for unintentional damage to the skate, or injury resulting from poorly executed work?
• How condident are they/you on the differences between blades, steel, depth of hollow and blade profiling?
• How do they/you guarentee the edge-to-edge quality of the result?

Avoid these issues - have them sharpened professionally.

While home-sharpeners offer convenience, it's not as convenient - why?

• If you're able to leave your skates, you don't even need to transport them home or to another location. Just drop them at the arena.
• The skates never leave the arena. Pick them up any time!
• If you're not able to leave them, contact us, as we may be able to offer a while you wait service (before or after your regular session).
• Plus you have the benefit of on-hand expertise, to talk about any issues you're having with your skates.

Experience - quality - advice - and all the other services required to service your boots to a professional standard.

Sometimes we become very busy and it takes slightly longer to sharpen your boots. Your boots never leave Cambridge Ice Arena - you can collect them for skating and drop them back without losing your place in the queue.