Profiling and Radius Sharpening
The exact way to sharpen skates largely depends on playing style and preference. When talking about profiling and radius sharpening, it refers to a basic sharpening of the steel that involves shaping the blade according to a predetermined template. These templates come in various designs and radius, which result in different characteristics on the ice. This means that the template, as well as the blade, becomes rounded and does not provide a flat surface. As a result, the part of the blade that makes contact with the ice remains the same for the player in both forward and backward positions. Today, there are several types of templates available with different radius, including templates with multiple radius in the same template, known as combination radiuses.

These templates provide unique characteristics depending on how you position yourself on the ice. For goalies, specific templates have been developed with distinct characteristics to facilitate the goalie's movement patterns in the net.