What we do up here in Canada is drill a hole in the ice like ice fishing and drop in a pump. We then pump water on top of the ice on those cold windless nights. You can build really good hard ice fast but you need some to start and a string of cold nights.

If you have a gravel road or open plowed farm land near your pond with much wind very rarely will you have good ice. The wind will add nice dirt dust to the ice and just destroy your ice skates.

Cheers Don.

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7/8th of an acre, Perch only pond, Ontario, Canada.