PART 2: Equipment

Equipment & Maintenance:

The higher quality lame's are made of stainless steel, which is much more corrosion resistant than copper. Your lame' should come to your hip bones, and be form-fitting but not too tight. Most lame's come in right and left-handed versions, but ambidextrous (back-zip) versions are also available and sometimes have higher hips.

Careful rinsing of your lamé in lukewarm water following a tournament or rigourous practice will wash out most of the sweat and salts that will damage your lamé. Old sweat turns alkaline and can be quite damaging to the lamé fabric. The salt crystals left behind from dried sweat can also be abrasive and conducive to corrosion.

Occasional handwashing in lukewarm water with a mild detergent (eg. Woolite or dishsoap) and a small amount of ammonia is an excellent way of cleaning your lamé and prolonging its life. Some fencers recommend neutralizing the alkaline deposits in the lamé with lemon juice added to the bath (about 2 lemons worth).

Rinse your lamé after washing and hang dry on a wooden or plastic hanger. Avoid folding, crumpling, wringing, or abrading it. All of these will fatigue the metallic threads in the fabric.

Similar care should be taken with sabre cuffs and mask bibs.

Lamés can go dead for several reasons, including high electric resistance due to oxidation and corrosion (usually accompanied by visible discolouration), broken metal fibres, or tears in the fabric.

High-resistance areas that are due to oxidation can often be temporarily resucitated by moistening them with water. As the moisture soaks up salts and other deposits in the fabric, conductivity will increase enough for the lame' to pass the armourer's check. Sweat from vigourous fencing will have the same effect. Some models that do not rely on conductive fibres (eg. from Triplette) will lose conductivity when dirty, and require regular washing.

Small dead spots be "field-repaired" with a paper stapler or metallic paint.

Larger dead areas and tears in the fabric can only be reliably repaired by stitching new lame' fabric over the affected areas. If no patch material is available, the fabric from one dead lame' can be cut up and used to repair another (the material from the back is generally in better shape). Note that large areas can go dead due to broken fibres in a relatively small patch. Patching only the region of broken fibres can re-activate the entire dead area. Patches should be folded over at the edges, and the stitch should overlap the edge to prevent flaps that will catch points.

Padded jackets, plastrons, and gloves are available to take the sting out of hard hits. Most coaches will use special heavily-padded jackets or sleeves when giving lessons, but these are not intended for competitive use.

Some masks have extra coverage at the back of the head to protect against whip-overs. Elbow protectors are also commonly worn by sabreurs.

Athletic cups are important for men, and breast protectors are essential for women. The latter can take the form of individual bowls to cover each breast, or more complete full-chest protectors that cover the ribs up to the collarbone. Female groin protectors are also available from some martial arts suppliers.

For foil and epee, there are a wide variety of grips available that fall into two broad categories, traditional and pistol. Sabre grips are all fundamentally of the same design.

Most grips are fashioned of aluminum or plastic; the latter, while lighter, are also much more fragile and prone to cracking. Some metal grips are insulated with a layer of enamel (colour coded by size) or rubber paint. Such insulation will turn an epee grip into valid target, but it is important for foils to prevent grounding. Many traditional grips are surfaced with leather, rubber, or twine.

These are the French, Italian, and Spanish grips. All consist of a relatively simple handle, a large, exposed pommel, and in the case of the Italian and Spanish grips, crossbars or similar prongs for extra grip.

The French grip is the simplest of all fencing grips in construction, and the most economical. It emphasizes finger control over strength, and provides considerable flexibility, and a variety of possible hand positions. It is the most common grip used by novices, and remains popular (especially in epee) among advanced fencers.

The Italian grip is noted for its strength, but is fairly rare, partially because it requires a special tang on blades that are used with it. It is the only ambidextrous fencing grip. Italian grips are often equipped with a martingale (wrist strap), and contrary to rumour, they remain legal in modern competition.

The Spanish grip is a compromise between the French and Italian grips, but is illegal in modern fencing competition, due to a technicality that forbids grips with orthopaedic aids from being grasped in more than one manner. There are modern variants of the Spanish grip that do not use the French pommel, and these may be legal in competition if they fix a single hand position.

These are modern, orthopedic grips, shaped vaguely like a pistol, but still grasped in the traditional way. They provide a pronounced strength advantage over the traditional grips, but tend to encourage wrist movement over finger movement. Pistol grips all have the features of a large protuberance below the tang for the aids to grasp, a curved prong above the tang that fits in the crook of the thumb, and a large prong that extends along the inside of the wrist. There are many variations in shape, size, sculpting for the fingers, extra prongs, and so on, although certain designs enjoy wide popularity. Most pistol grip designs have names (eg. Visconti, Belgian, German, etc.) but these are not always consistent between manufacturers or regions.

There are a large number of variables to consider when shopping for blades, including stiffness, length, durability, flex point, weight, balance, corrosion resistance, and (of course) price.

Stiff blades provide better point control, but less "flickability". A flex point less than 1/3 of the length from the tip indicates a strong middle, but may also indicate a whippy or less durable foible. A lower flex point may make the blade feel spongy, slow, or tip-heavy, but may also indicate a stronger foible that is more durable and less easily dominated. Some brands of blades (eg. Allstar) are sold in different flexibility grades. Blades that feel heavy in the tip often provide better point control, while those that are light in the tip often make for faster parries.

Blades generally come in 5 sizes, 5 being the longest (90 cm for foil and epee not including tang) and by far the most common. Shorter blades are somewhat lighter and quicker of action, and can be useful for children, fencers who prefer the lighter balance, or those who often provoke infighting in which a long blade can be disadvantageous.

Cheap blades (including some Eastern European and Chinese brands) are typically not very durable or of poor temper, being inclined to snap, bend, and rust easily. Fencers who are gentle with their blades and clean, sand, or oil them regularly may nevertheless find them to be a good value.

Blades typically break at the flex point in the foible. Less commonly the tips will break off, or the tang will snap at the base of the blade (this latter failure mode is fairly common in sabre). Other serious modes of failure include sharp bends in the middle of the blade and S-bends in the foible, both of which are difficult to remove and will rapidly lead to fatiguing and eventual breaking of the blade.

2.8.1 FIE & Maraging Blades

FIE-certified blades have the FIE logo stamped at the base of the blade, along with the code letters for the forge that produced the blade (be warned: some disreputable forges have been known to falsify these marks). They are mandatory at official FIE and other high-level competitions.

Maraging steel foil blades have a reputation for lasting considerably longer than regular steel blades, and are supposed to break more cleanly. They are made of a special alloy steel (incorporating iron, nickel, and titanium) that is only 5% as likely to develop the microcracks that lead to eventual breakage. Many fencers find them a superior value, in spite of their high price. As they vary in character in the same way as regular blades, similar caution should be exercised when purchasing them.

Maraging epee blades are also available, although there are alternative steels that have also received FIE certification. Leon Paul produces a non-maraging FIE epee blade worth mentioning; it is stamped from a sheet of steel, rather than forged whole. These blades are lightweight and flexible; some older ones passed the wire through a hole to the underside of the blade.

Maraging sabre blades do not seem to be so well received, and are not required for FIE competition.

The length and thread of the tang may be an issue; some blades are threaded for French or pistol grips only, and some blades with French grip tangs require an extra fitting for the thread. Italian grips may require a special tang, since part of it is exposed in the hilt. Metric 6x1 threading is standard, but not universal (esp. in the USA, where a 12x24 thread may be encountered); dies to re-thread the tang can be found at most hardware stores. If the tang must be cut to fit the grip, be very careful to leave enough thread to screw on the pommel nut. Tangs often have to be filed down to fit in tight grips.

Tangs are attached by an exterior pommel on traditional grips, or by a pommel nut in pistol grips. Pommel nuts are typically fitted for a 6mm Allen wrench or hex key, 8mm socket wrench, or a standard screwdriver.

Many foil and epee fencers prefer a bend at the join of the tang and blade, so that the blade points slightly inside when held in sixte. Such a bend is best applied with a strong vise to avoid bowing the tang. Some fencers prefer to put this bend into the forte of the blade instead. Be gentle; blades will snap if handled with too much force.

A gentle curve in the foible of the blade is also common, and helps to square the point against oblique surfaces. Such a bend must be smooth and gradual. Sharp kinks are prohibited. Foible bends are best worked into the blade using the sole of one's shoe and the floor.

For foil and epee, the total curvature of the blade is measured at the widest separation between the blade and an imaginary line drawn between the the join of the forte and tang and the join of the foible and barrel. The blade can be laid across a flat surface such as a table top to measure the arch. Epees must not rise more than 1 cm above the surface, while foils are allowed 2 cm. If the objective is to angle the point to hit oblique surfaces better, this is a significant amount of curvature. If the objective is to "hook" the blade around blocking parries or body parts, however, these limits are fairly restrictive.

Remember that the wire groove on epee and foil blades goes on the top (thumb side) of the blade, and the outside of the blade curvature.

Sabre curvature is handled differently, it being the deflection of the point from the line of the forte. 4 cm is all that is tolerated.