James Thomson's The Seasons was a collection of four poems, one for each season, published in the eighteenth century. Since this blog is about skating, we're interested in Winter. Winter was the first season to be published, in 1726. At that point it didn't have any skating in it. That version is available from ECCO… Continue reading Skating in Thomson’s Winter
Author: Bev
Sonja Henie in My Lucky Star
My former colleague Ann and I wrote a paper about a Sonja Henie movie. It's pretty clear what parts each of us contributed: The skating geekery is mine, and the serious philosophy is hers. Sonja Henie on the cover of Time's July 17, 1939 issue. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Cross-grinding example
I previously wrote about what cross-grinding is and why it's not always bad. Here is a photo of one of my skates showing the distinctive marks left by cross-grinding. Cross-grinding leaves many small lines perpendicular to the length of the blade. If the cross-grinding wheel is too coarse (like the one I used with my… Continue reading Cross-grinding example
Editions of Robert Jones’s Treatise on Skating
I've sorted out the various editions of Robert Jones's Treatise on Skating in a new article. As I was doing this, I discovered several new things that aren't mentioned in my edition of his book. It seemed like lots of new stuff has come online in the last few years! And now it's time to… Continue reading Editions of Robert Jones’s Treatise on Skating
Internet articles about the Xinjiang skates
This is just a list of links with some comments. It's an interesting example of how a story spreads and grows despite a lack of reliable new information. Here's the press release from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences by Zhou Ye (2/27/2023, in Chinese). It focuses on the non-skate finds and has roughly the… Continue reading Internet articles about the Xinjiang skates
Ice skating was not invented in Finland
Internet, stop saying it was. The idea that ice skates made from animal bones first appeared in Finland is based on a paper published in 2008 in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. The authors, two biomechanics researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University, measured the metabolic cost of skating as compared with walking, then ran… Continue reading Ice skating was not invented in Finland
Old bone skates found in China
This last week, the news has been full of reports on the recent announcement (in Chinese) that bone skates have been found in the Xinjiang area. The skates were reportedly found at a tomb in the Gaotai Ruins, which are part of the Jiren Taigoukou Ruins in Qialege'e, a village in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous… Continue reading Old bone skates found in China
Bone skates in Fríssbók
Fríssbók or Codex Frisianus is an Icelandic manuscript written in the first quarter of the fourteenth century. It includes a copy of Magnússona saga (called Saga Sigurðar, Eysteins ok Ólafs in C. R. Unger's edition). The whole manuscript has been digitized and is available at handrit.is! Here is the part about skating, with the phrase… Continue reading Bone skates in Fríssbók
Skating on my snavelschaatsen
For the last couple of weeks, I've been learning to skate on my snavelschaatsen (long-toed skates modeled after Hieronymus Bosch skates). https://youtu.be/CJ1lPKDSakM They are very slick and work best on soft ice. It was hard to get them to stay in place, but using two laces—one to keep them attached and the other to keep… Continue reading Skating on my snavelschaatsen
Bone skates in the Guildhall Museum
The Catalogue of the Collection of London Antiquities in the Guildhall Museum lists 16 bone skates. The first, #134, is "said to have been found with two Roman sandals" at London Wall. A few of these skates, including #134, were drawn by Charles H. Whymper; his drawing is preserved in the British Museum. "Five skates… Continue reading Bone skates in the Guildhall Museum