People used skates as a way of crossing frozen lakes and rivers in the winter. The most ancient skates were made from the leg bones of big animals. Skates were found in the countries like Russia, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Germany. There were holes bored at each end of the bone and the people at that time used the leather straps to tie the skates on.
The Dutch people at that time used the skates made of animal bones as their footwear and glided across the frozen lakes and rivers at the time of Winter. They used to call these skates, as "Schenkel" in Dutch that means, "Leg bone" After that, the Dutch started using wooden platform skates with flat iron bottom runners around the 14th Century.
A Scotsman invented a pair of all-iron skates in the year of 1592
Jackson Haines, credited with being the father of figure skating, created many new skating moves including the sit spin and, because the strap-on skates of that day proved inadequate for his extraordinary needs, he invented a revolutionary new blade which was solidly affixed to the boot with screws and had a toe pick at the front to aid his jumping and spinning.
He met Axel Paulsen in Oslo, and encouraged him to adapt his revolution-type jump from racing skates to figure skates.; After a few falls, Axel conceived of adding a pick or rake to the front of the figure skates.; After that pick was welded to his figure skates, he could land backwards easily.
In Vienna, he premiered his adaptation of the waltz on skates, and they believed that he must be Viennese; and of course, it was helped by his small orchestra. When Axel competed in a Vienna "meeting" in 1882, an Englishman named Henry Bosworth observed the new pick, and took that invention back to England, where he manufactured several pairs of ice skates, which he quickly sold. He also screwed his figure skates directly onto his boots, which added stability and allowed him to do more athletic leaps and jumps.
Figure skates differ from hockey skates most visibly in having a set of large, jagged teeth called toe picks (also called "toe rakes") on the front of the blade.
Soft blade covers called soakers are used to absorb condensation and protect the blades from rust when the skates are not being worn. Hard plastic skate guards are used when the skater must walk in his or her skates when not on the ice.
Figure skates have come a long way since the time Jackson Haines took to the ice.
