Here is a picture of mine. We tried it out today for the first time. The kids had a blast! This picture is after we skated on it for about an hour, so the snow makes it look really rough, but it was originally nice and smooth.
I still havent got around to putting in the liner yet ... but I spent a lot of time getting the ice base level and smooth. The ice looks a little dark because its over the garden. I am going to put another row of 2x6's around the whole thing so that those stakes arent sticking up above the edge; that should less work than cutting them all off, plus I'll gain a higher side.
I had a problem with the ice being very brittle. With my weight, any fast turn would result in ice chips flying all over. There were tiny little air pockets about 1/4" under the surface. Not empty air pockets, but tiny little bubbles frozen together - think of something like an Aero chocolate bar. These little patches broke out and left divets.
How do I not end up with brittle ice that isnt really that solid?
I'm going to try freezing a really thin layer with extremely hot water and see what happens. It is my best theory at this point. I wasnt freezing thick amounts before either; each freeze was about 3/8" thick.