Your blades don't rust from skating. They rust from what you do in the ten minutes after.
A friend at my rink just tossed a set of steel this month over rust that never had to happen, so I figured I'd share the little routine that has kept mine clean for years.
Here's the part people miss. The water that eats your edges isn't really the ice. It's the condensation that shows up when cold steel meets warm room air. You skate, you step off, and the blades start sweating. Leave that moisture sitting on the steel and you'll find rust freckles by the next day.
So the first thing I do, before I even sit down, is wipe the whole blade dry with a towel. The sole plate, the hollow, both edges, right down to the tips. Takes about ten seconds and honestly it's the one habit that matters most.
Then I put on soft soakers, not the hard plastic guards. The cloth ones pull moisture off the steel. The hard guards do the opposite. They trap water right against the edge, which is the last place you want it. I only use hard guards for walking to and from the ice. They never go on for storage, and the skates never sit in the bag wearing them.
I also crack the laces open and let everything air out before it goes away. A zipped up bag is basically a little humidity chamber, and that's how skates rust in the closet.
If you already see a faint orange haze, don't sand it and don't stress. A fine honing stone with light pressure lifts early surface rust without hurting the edge. Deal with it that week and it's nothing. Ignore it for a month and it pits the steel for good.
And if you travel, wipe them bone dry, soakers on, guards packed somewhere separate. A long trip in a cold cargo hold is about the friendliest environment rust could ask for.
Curious what everyone else does the second they step off. Anyone got a drying trick I should be stealing?