baking Baking Bauers Vapor 2.7 at home?

[PatagonianSkater 0]

Hi everyone! I'm back to skating after A LOT of years. I bought myself some Bauer Vapor 2.7 in Sweden (I'm from Patagonia Argentina).

I have two rinks in the small town I live, but no hockey shop. Thing is, in Sweden they offered to bake them; but after doing an awful service on sharpening (I had them sharpened twice, they mauled my blades and couldn't do a hollow either), I had them reserviced in Frankfurt with no problems.

Skates feel comfortable enough without baking them (and I've only used them twice), but I do notice that the skate in itself seems to really need baking (mostly for tying the upper eyelets).

HERE'S MY BIG QUESTION: (and I could really appreciate advice from people who's had or knows someone with the same exact model).

I've watched several videos on how to bake at home. But the thing is, the boot having many cosmetic details on shiny plastified black 'leather' and the parts that are 'chrome' coloured. Am I gonna mess those up?

I would bake them on a towel or a tea towel, so they don't come in contact with any metal part of the oven, but my fear is that, softening the boot in order to be moulded, these cosmetic parts become damaged or changed in any way.

Mostly because since I live 15000kms away from any hockey store, I have to take a 13 hour flight to Germany or Sweden to buy my skates. Imagine I would like these skates to last as much as possible, and also to stay as pretty as they are already!

Thanks for any input!

[puckstopper 16]

It's easy enough to bake your skates at home as long as you have a convection oven.  I've done two pairs of skates this way and had no issues.  Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you have a circular or table saw cut a 3/4" deep straight cut into a piece of 2x4.  Use the piece of 2x4 to hold your skate upright as opposed to allowing it to lay on it's side.  Lace the skate gently (75% tightness, pull out instead of up when lacing, etc...) and allow it to cool on your foot for 10 minutes.  Repeat the process for the other skate.  If you do not have a convection oven do NOT attempt this on your own as you'll heat your skates unevenly and not get good results with molding them. 

[psulion22 402]

1 hour ago, puckstopper said:

It's easy enough to bake your skates at home as long as you have a convection oven.  I've done two pairs of skates this way and had no issues.  Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you have a circular or table saw cut a 3/4" deep straight cut into a piece of 2x4.  Use the piece of 2x4 to hold your skate upright as opposed to allowing it to lay on it's side.  Lace the skate gently (75% tightness, pull out instead of up when lacing, etc...) and allow it to cool on your foot for 10 minutes.  Repeat the process for the other skate.  If you do not have a convection oven do NOT attempt this on your own as you'll heat your skates unevenly and not get good results with molding them. 

Yep.  I've done many pairs of skates using this method with absolutely no issues.  I don't even use a 2x4.  I just put the rack on the lowest level and stick the skate in the slats upright with a dish towel.

[caveman27 208]

On 1/7/2020 at 7:47 PM, PatagonianSkater said:

, but my fear is that, softening the boot in order to be moulded, these cosmetic parts become damaged or changed in any way.
 

If you bake them at the recommended temperature, those things won't get damaged. Pre-heat the oven to 175 deg Fahrenheit. Then, put the skates in. This is not really that hot, if you are into baking or roasting food. If you crank that oven to 400 degrees like it's turkey time, yeah, you are going to damage your skates.

[BenBreeg 493]

How long do you guys put them in? 8-10 mins?  I have had my Ribcores a few weeks and while I baked them at the store I think a second bake would help soon on e the cushioning has compressed.  The box says two minutes I think but that doesn't seem like it would do much.

[colins 246]

2 hours ago, caveman27 said:

If you bake them at the recommended temperature, those things won't get damaged. Pre-heat the oven to 175 deg Fahrenheit. Then, put the skates in. This is not really that hot, if you are into baking or roasting food. If you crank that oven to 400 degrees like it's turkey time, yeah, you are going to damage your skates.

Once you get the oven to the pre-heated temp, put the skates in and turn the oven off to ensure the burners don't come back on if you lose some heat while the oven door is open.

You don't want those burners coming on red hot again once the skates go in.

I've done it in a non-convection oven after pre-heating to the desired temp and turning it off. One skate at a time stood up straight (used some strong magnets on the runners sitting on a steel cookie tray) in the middle of the oven. Worked great.

 

colins

[psulion22 402]

14 hours ago, BenBreeg said:

How long do you guys put them in? 8-10 mins?  I have had my Ribcores a few weeks and while I baked them at the store I think a second bake would help soon on e the cushioning has compressed.  The box says two minutes I think but that doesn't seem like it would do much.

2-3 minutes is enough for Bauer skates with Curv quarters at the right temp.  The composite gets soft (and cools) much faster than any old construction.  I'd say the Ribcores would be good with 2-3 minutes also if they're the composite boot.  I'd suggest doing one skate at a time btw.  You get a better molding on the second skate because if you do both at the same time, the second skate has satrted to cool by the time you lace it up.

[Above40 7]

Unless you have a wood burning stove it's typically going to be pretty hard to overcook your skates at the recommended times and temps given.  In my opinion most of the numbers recommended are too conservative. Cosmetic changes are usually nothing if you use a towel under your skate but that's going to vary by boot material composition. Usually cosmetic changes happen if using a heat gun for a punch when you really need to soften things up.

As long as your oven (whatever kind) can be reasonably trusted to heat to the desired temperature, and you aren't drunk and fall asleep during the bake you're going to be fine.(in my opinion).My guess thousands of skates baked in regular gas ovens and electric all the time. Just use common sense and it sounds like you have that going for you 🙂 I preheat to ten-15 degrees over temp.and then shut off oven. once you open that door bye bye to a lot of heat.

One new thing to be very careful with is monoframe skates. If you bake those and stand at all in them you could tip the holder and never know it until too late. Probably fixable but that's a different animal altogether. I might only heat gun a monoframe boot. Pretty risky for those who like to put some weight on the arch when they are warm. Just my take.

[Sniper9 529]

Use a thermometer to ensure the peak heat is what you want it at. This way you know it won't really rise above that. Stoves get hotter than the set temp as it will go down to it's setting when it's pre heating. Once it's preheated, just wait another 5-10 to ensure it stabilizes around the temp u want. I wouldn't even bother turning it off while your skates are in there since Bauer and CCM don't even recommend having your skates in there for longer than 3-4 mins. Def not long enough to do damage esp at that temp. 

Just make sure you dont lace up tighter than 75% and don't stand/walk around until it's fully cool. I generally throw the skates in the freezer or fridge for five mins after. 

Edited January 9, 2020 by Sniper9