INFO ABOUT OVEN BREAK-IN. I hear so many things on “Baking” items in these blogs and I NEVER see anyone fully describe the “SAFE” process. I would like to add my Knowledge. I play myself and have 3 boys in travel hockey, 1 of them is a AAA Goalie. I have found that baking ANY quality skate is fine and because of my costs, I have purchased a lot of skates used for my kids when younger at used equipment places. I found that the people that sell used skates back to these places are the people that have bought high end skates in the first place, or at least most, so I can usually get a high quality pair of skates for about 1/3 the price. The issue buying them there is that they have NO SKATE OVEN. So, I have become an expert on “Home Cooking” and have not had an issue, but there are steps that must be performed.
Now, I have heard about baking the Goalie Glove and have done this on the latest purchase, which is a Reebok P4 Senior Pro Trapper, which closes 100% out of the box and is EXTREMELY flexible to start with, but baking improved this Glove. My goalie is only 12 and he can close the glove easily and fits him fine. While shopping for gloves recently at Front Row Sports in Thorold, ON, the guy told me that they are now charging $35 to “Bake and break in Gloves”. I didn’t buy it there, but it made sense to me. I will also tell you that playing in these spring tournaments, there is a lot of waiting in between games and the equipment ends up sitting in the locked car for hours where the temps probably reach 130 degrees anyway. Which means you are baking your equipment at 130 for 3 to 4 hours anyway.
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My oven minimum setting is 175 deg. F, so that is the temp that I ALWAYS USE.
1. Remove all racks except for 1 at the lowest position.
2. Turn on oven to desired temp, (I use 175 deg. F)
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3. let oven prewarm to that temp. Mine beeps when it hits that temp, THEN LEAVE THE OVEN STILL ON AT THAT SETTING FOR 15 MINUTES AT THAT TEMP WITHOUT ANY EQUIPMENT IN IT!!! This will make sure that all internal parts of the oven are actually 175 deg. inside.
4. while the oven is warming, get a large cookie sheet out line it with a hand towel so that the towel ONLY is inside of the edges of the cookie sheet. set your glove or skates on the towel that is in the cookie sheet and wait for the pre warm step above to be completed. ( I hear most don’t use the towel, but it makes me feel more comfortable)
5. After the 15 minute warm, AND THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART!!! *** CAUTION*** ***TURN OFF THE OVEN***!!!!. The reason for turning it off is so that the heating element doesn’t “CYCLE BACK ON”. If you leave the oven on, the element will probably cycle back on at some point while warming and that is what will “Cook or BURN” the equipment that is in there. *** CAUTION***THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP!!!
6. At this point, quickly place the equipment in there and close the door. I leave it in for usually 6 to 7 minutes. PLEASE USE A TIMER!!! This may be the part that you want to expierment with. I always get worried that something bad will happen and I usually leave it in for 5 minutes the first time, put the skates on, and then decide I can leave them in for a little longer the 2nd time. I have found that 7 minutes seems good and has NEVER caused me a problem.
7. Take the skate out of the oven, (turn the oven back on to keep the temperature at setpoint), then put them on your SOCKED feet and tie them gently, snug but not to tight, I have heard of eyelets falling out from being too soft, so I NEVER tie them very tight. Let them cool on the feet for 10 to 15 minutes while sitting in a chair. I will wiggle my feet around every once in a while. I don’t think that it is a good idea to walk on them because the plastic that holds the blade is now softer also.
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7 A. For the goalie glove, I used the exact same steps as above, but I just had my son put on the glove and open and close it about 100 times. what was funny for the glove was that it closed fine to begin with, (it was rubber banded from the factory), but it didn’t open as far as we would liked it to, but after the oven, it opens great and still closes all the way.
8. I repeat this same cycle 3 times. I have read that you shouldn’t skate on the skates for 24 hours after doing this, and I have always followed this advice, so I don’t know what would happen if you skate on them sooner. After taking the skates off after the 3rd time, I then tie the skates gently closed all the way up while they cool overnight. With the glove, there isn’t any supporting plastic inside, so I don’t think this waiting period would matter.
The main thing to remember, DO NOT EVER HAVE OVEN ON WHILE EQUIPMENT IS INSIDE!!!!! Earlier in this post, there is a reference to a pic of a “Blackend Glove” I didn’t look at the pic, but I guarantee you that the element turned on while the glove was in the oven. Make sure to stand by the oven and watch the entire heating process the whole time, 20 minutes is a small amount of time to spend for your safety and your valuable equipment.
I have done this with a brand new $459 dollar Trapper, as it made sense to me from my past expierience with skates. I feel the results were better with the Trapper than they have been with the skates. The Glove is INCREDIBLE!!!
I have only done this once recently with the glove with incredible results, but have probably HOME BAKED skates over 15 times.
I hope this clarifies the baking process for anyone trying it, but please use caution with equipment in an oven in your home.
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Category: HOW
