I have some good news and some bad news…
The bad news I broke yet another blade last Thursday, the good news it wasn’t in the handle. Just an old fashioned blade break. It was getting a tad soft.
So, was my latest idea working? I wrapped the threaded tang with tape until the aluminum handle was a tight fit and also did not over-torque the pommel. All this, I hoped would reduce the ability of the tang to flex within the handle and the tension stressed would also be reduced. I am encouraged!!!!
Talking of pommels. I recently had occasion to try out an epee which had a hollow lightweight handle with no pommel. This made the weapon somewhat point heavy. I found this to be easier to use than my more traditional epee which I had set up and balanced to be, in effect, a large foil.
So I have removed the pommel and replaced it with a few nuts and a spacer. I now have a French grip epee which looks like an orthopedic handle. It is now much better to use and who knows, the reduced weight might make the blade last longer!!!
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
New Sign
It is now much easier to find the Club location. We have added a splendid painted logo to the side of the building!!!
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
BROKEN TANGS Part Deux (in all senses of deux!)
Last club night we had three, yes three blades break within the handle. I had one go despite the recommended aluminum handle and Karl had two go, one foil and one epee. All were French grip weapons and neither of us are what I would call heavy handed fencers.
This is getting beyond a joke. There is clearly a weak point in these fully threaded tangs, to the point of being unfit for purpose. My 20 year plus LP slotted tang/brass collet foil is still in one piece.
Can it be beyond the wit of man to come up with a French grip handle which uses the shorter orthopedic tang and thus reduce the stresses which may enable these blades to last longer.
This man is going to have a think about it…I’ll keep you posted!!!
This is getting beyond a joke. There is clearly a weak point in these fully threaded tangs, to the point of being unfit for purpose. My 20 year plus LP slotted tang/brass collet foil is still in one piece.
Can it be beyond the wit of man to come up with a French grip handle which uses the shorter orthopedic tang and thus reduce the stresses which may enable these blades to last longer.
This man is going to have a think about it…I’ll keep you posted!!!
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
New fangled gadget
You may be aware that Springfield Fencing Club now has three pistes laid out. Two are served by computer based scoring machines but the center one was a problem.
The Club did have an old set of the bungee type floor cords, with elastic cords providing the tension for the body wires. What if we turned the setup on it’s side and hung it all from the roof?
We had plenty of steel channel and some convenient building portal frames. The end of piste locations were relatively easy, adjusted to always have some tension on the elastic bungee and the body wire hanging down within reach.
The control box presented a problem. It needed to be accessible yet clear of the action to prevent damage. Our old control box did not need a remote to work, just switches to set the weapon. So this mounted at a high level would suffice. But, how to reach it to switch it on and off and change weapon? Answer, yet more of our spare steel channel and the use of elasticated bungee cord.
In the up position Pulled down to set
The bungee cord provides just enough tension to keep the box up yet allows it to be pulled down when needed.
As we have an increasing number of epee fencers we try to reserve this central piste for them. They do not (as a rule) tend to fleches which fully extend the elastic system.
Heath Robinson lives!
(You’ll have to Google him if you don’t know about Mr Robinson)
The Club did have an old set of the bungee type floor cords, with elastic cords providing the tension for the body wires. What if we turned the setup on it’s side and hung it all from the roof?
We had plenty of steel channel and some convenient building portal frames. The end of piste locations were relatively easy, adjusted to always have some tension on the elastic bungee and the body wire hanging down within reach.
The control box presented a problem. It needed to be accessible yet clear of the action to prevent damage. Our old control box did not need a remote to work, just switches to set the weapon. So this mounted at a high level would suffice. But, how to reach it to switch it on and off and change weapon? Answer, yet more of our spare steel channel and the use of elasticated bungee cord.
In the up position Pulled down to set
The bungee cord provides just enough tension to keep the box up yet allows it to be pulled down when needed.
As we have an increasing number of epee fencers we try to reserve this central piste for them. They do not (as a rule) tend to fleches which fully extend the elastic system.
Heath Robinson lives!
(You’ll have to Google him if you don’t know about Mr Robinson)
Friday, June 14, 2013
Tangs breaking within French grip handles
Last week I had a blade break within the handle on my electric foil. This blade was less than three months old and not a cheap one at that. This is not the first time this has happened either. Manufacturer does not seem to matter.
They always break at the transition point from smooth to thread so clearly there is a stress/weak point here. In the days of slots and brass collets the bladed would almost never break at this point and would generally die of old age before snapping somewhere on the foible.
I took this up with the vendor who said…
“While it is not common it does occur at a noticeable rate with French Grips. Depending upon how the fencer holds the weapon, the stress point switches to the tang area of the blade. Most fencers who use a French grip will now specifically buy a grip with a metal core, which relieves some of the stress on the tang.” (My italics)
I take exception to how the fencer holds the foil remark. I have fenced for 50 years and never experienced a blade failure rate like this. The tang is under tension between the pommel and the blade shoulder and does receive shocks as the blades meet etc. Perhaps the lower failure rate with pistol grips has something to do with the shorter handle hence moment around the transition point.
Anyway, other than point to metal lined handles (which seem a tad expensive at $34-45 a pop) the vendor seemed to expect me to accept this as a normal part of fencing. Further I do not see how a metal lined handle would help as the tang would still be under tension and the fencing forces would still be transmitted down the blade into the tang.
Would some form of reinforcement to the threaded part help? Perhaps a tube running from the smooth part to just below the threaded area needed for the pommel and welded to the tang might help? Anything which effectively moves the pivot point into the unthreaded part must help.
Am I alone in this problem?. Am I doomed to buy a new blade four time a year?
They always break at the transition point from smooth to thread so clearly there is a stress/weak point here. In the days of slots and brass collets the bladed would almost never break at this point and would generally die of old age before snapping somewhere on the foible.
I took this up with the vendor who said…
“While it is not common it does occur at a noticeable rate with French Grips. Depending upon how the fencer holds the weapon, the stress point switches to the tang area of the blade. Most fencers who use a French grip will now specifically buy a grip with a metal core, which relieves some of the stress on the tang.” (My italics)
I take exception to how the fencer holds the foil remark. I have fenced for 50 years and never experienced a blade failure rate like this. The tang is under tension between the pommel and the blade shoulder and does receive shocks as the blades meet etc. Perhaps the lower failure rate with pistol grips has something to do with the shorter handle hence moment around the transition point.
Anyway, other than point to metal lined handles (which seem a tad expensive at $34-45 a pop) the vendor seemed to expect me to accept this as a normal part of fencing. Further I do not see how a metal lined handle would help as the tang would still be under tension and the fencing forces would still be transmitted down the blade into the tang.
Would some form of reinforcement to the threaded part help? Perhaps a tube running from the smooth part to just below the threaded area needed for the pommel and welded to the tang might help? Anything which effectively moves the pivot point into the unthreaded part must help.
Am I alone in this problem?. Am I doomed to buy a new blade four time a year?
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Making a point…
Fair warning, this may turn out to be a rant, but at least I will feel better!
This represents the peak of my competitive fencing career, 42 years ago. If I had known I would win I would have chosen a better trophy! I was the Hon. Sec. of the Fencing Union and got the choose the trophies etc.
Back then, club bouts and the early rounds of competitions would be non electric. Here you say "dry foil", there it was "steam foil ". Probably a reference to the steam powered age preceding the electrical age. I have no idea where dry came from.
In those days a hit had to be a very palpable hit (to quote some Danish dude) to be seen. You relied on the eyesight of your two judges to see the hit so it had to be a good one, with the "character of penetration" as it was described. This meant landing the point fairly square onto the target to ensure blade bent. Fencers did not swipe at their opponents with the foil, because even if they did hit, the judges would not reward the result as a scoring action.
This traditional constraint existed to simulate the fact that the foil we use today is the descendant of a training weapon for the small sword, a weapon with a very sharp point but no cutting edge.
I can remember the outrage when the rules were changed to outlaw the serrated beehive point in the mid 1960s and replace it with today's flat point. The reason given was to try to reduce the serrated side of the beehive point catching on the lame and registering hits which did not conform to the "character of penetration". Lames tended to be made of a much courser mesh than today which aided this passing contact.
The introduction of the electronic scoring apparatus did not change the basic criteria for awarding points but the design of the machine and the weapons have altered the these criteria. It is obvious that if we change the rules used to adjudicate a hit in foil to include actions with the edge of the blade, we could expect to see the fencers exploit that rule and begin to swing the weapon at their opponent as well as jab.
Now fencers no longer attempt to convince their opponents or the judge that they have scored. Instead they strive as hard as they can to convince the scoring machine that they have made a touch. This is a subtle but important change.
Further, the remaining human judge also relies heavily on the measurements of that machine to make their judgments; determining the timing of the actions in order to award a touch to one fencer over the other when both fencers hit during a fencing phrase.
The result of all of this is that fencers no longer train in use of the sword and instead learn how to exploit the special qualities of the electronic equipment. We now have generations of fencers who have no idea how to use an actual sword and the true art of fencing is fading away.
I think this can be explained by the change in the manner in which fencers now score with the weapon. One merely has to place the weapon on the target and provide enough pressure in the point to set off an electronic switch. The direction the attack comes from is irrelevant.
To compound this problem, over the years the pressure and time of contact of the point of the weapon with the target that is needed to set off the machine has been decreasing and the weapons have become increasingly flexible due to both safety and fashion constraints. Fencers have figured out that this flexibility affords a certain style of manipulating the weapon that was impossible before. Indeed the flickability of a blade is one criterion for buying weapons these days.
In foil fencing the weapon can be “flicked” around the attempted parries of one’s opponent, hitting them around the sides of their torso or even on their back. This limits one’s protection against such an attack to only the defense of distance (running away), and or timing (hitting them first with your own flick) or stop hitting them whilst their arm is bent at the start of the flicking action and hoping the president has read the rule book about the difference between an attack, the preparations of same and the concept of periods of fencing time.
The resulting bout looks like tag played with fishing rods or something akin to a paint gun contest. It is a far cry from the furious, yet technical game of attack, defense and counter offense, that is characteristic of traditional fencing.
Another unsettling trend is the use of the plastic body shield. No withstanding the vital protection these give, they also contribute to a new phenomenon that of point bounce. A perfectly executed attack lands on target yet the hit does not register. The point has bounced off before the point was depressed for the requisite time. Such a hit would have been awarded in the steam era! Some coaches are even encouraging the use of these plastic garments for precisely this use. Gamesmanship or worse?
.Apparently, all this is an unintended side effect of changing the timing to deter the flick!!!!
Finally, fencing whether sport or traditional is fundamentally about delivering touches to your opponent without receiving touches from your opponent. This has never changed from the first moment in fencing history until now.
What has changed is the definition of what counts as a touch and this is not for the good for the sport's participants or spectators.
There, I do feel better now, so I'll toddle off for a pint of bitter beer.
.
This represents the peak of my competitive fencing career, 42 years ago. If I had known I would win I would have chosen a better trophy! I was the Hon. Sec. of the Fencing Union and got the choose the trophies etc.
Back then, club bouts and the early rounds of competitions would be non electric. Here you say "dry foil", there it was "steam foil ". Probably a reference to the steam powered age preceding the electrical age. I have no idea where dry came from.
In those days a hit had to be a very palpable hit (to quote some Danish dude) to be seen. You relied on the eyesight of your two judges to see the hit so it had to be a good one, with the "character of penetration" as it was described. This meant landing the point fairly square onto the target to ensure blade bent. Fencers did not swipe at their opponents with the foil, because even if they did hit, the judges would not reward the result as a scoring action.
This traditional constraint existed to simulate the fact that the foil we use today is the descendant of a training weapon for the small sword, a weapon with a very sharp point but no cutting edge.
I can remember the outrage when the rules were changed to outlaw the serrated beehive point in the mid 1960s and replace it with today's flat point. The reason given was to try to reduce the serrated side of the beehive point catching on the lame and registering hits which did not conform to the "character of penetration". Lames tended to be made of a much courser mesh than today which aided this passing contact.
The introduction of the electronic scoring apparatus did not change the basic criteria for awarding points but the design of the machine and the weapons have altered the these criteria. It is obvious that if we change the rules used to adjudicate a hit in foil to include actions with the edge of the blade, we could expect to see the fencers exploit that rule and begin to swing the weapon at their opponent as well as jab.
Now fencers no longer attempt to convince their opponents or the judge that they have scored. Instead they strive as hard as they can to convince the scoring machine that they have made a touch. This is a subtle but important change.
Further, the remaining human judge also relies heavily on the measurements of that machine to make their judgments; determining the timing of the actions in order to award a touch to one fencer over the other when both fencers hit during a fencing phrase.
The result of all of this is that fencers no longer train in use of the sword and instead learn how to exploit the special qualities of the electronic equipment. We now have generations of fencers who have no idea how to use an actual sword and the true art of fencing is fading away.
I think this can be explained by the change in the manner in which fencers now score with the weapon. One merely has to place the weapon on the target and provide enough pressure in the point to set off an electronic switch. The direction the attack comes from is irrelevant.
To compound this problem, over the years the pressure and time of contact of the point of the weapon with the target that is needed to set off the machine has been decreasing and the weapons have become increasingly flexible due to both safety and fashion constraints. Fencers have figured out that this flexibility affords a certain style of manipulating the weapon that was impossible before. Indeed the flickability of a blade is one criterion for buying weapons these days.
In foil fencing the weapon can be “flicked” around the attempted parries of one’s opponent, hitting them around the sides of their torso or even on their back. This limits one’s protection against such an attack to only the defense of distance (running away), and or timing (hitting them first with your own flick) or stop hitting them whilst their arm is bent at the start of the flicking action and hoping the president has read the rule book about the difference between an attack, the preparations of same and the concept of periods of fencing time.
The resulting bout looks like tag played with fishing rods or something akin to a paint gun contest. It is a far cry from the furious, yet technical game of attack, defense and counter offense, that is characteristic of traditional fencing.
Another unsettling trend is the use of the plastic body shield. No withstanding the vital protection these give, they also contribute to a new phenomenon that of point bounce. A perfectly executed attack lands on target yet the hit does not register. The point has bounced off before the point was depressed for the requisite time. Such a hit would have been awarded in the steam era! Some coaches are even encouraging the use of these plastic garments for precisely this use. Gamesmanship or worse?
.Apparently, all this is an unintended side effect of changing the timing to deter the flick!!!!
Finally, fencing whether sport or traditional is fundamentally about delivering touches to your opponent without receiving touches from your opponent. This has never changed from the first moment in fencing history until now.
What has changed is the definition of what counts as a touch and this is not for the good for the sport's participants or spectators.
There, I do feel better now, so I'll toddle off for a pint of bitter beer.
.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Korfanty Cup, 2013 - World Cup, Saber.
I got a email about a month or so ago from the IL division of USFA. Apparently they needed volunteers for the Korfanty Cup. What's that? A saber tournament? Why would I do that? I'm an epeeist first, foilist second and I can't afford more gear. So why would I... world cup, you say. 200+ Olympic level fencers, representing 25+ countries, you say... I guess I could... I mean, I'm a little short on funds, otherwise I would... Free parking, free tickets and a T-shirt... I do have friends in Chicago...
<Month later, May 5th, 2013 - Team Events>
I arrived in Chicago the night before my shift. I checked out the venue, figured out where I had to be then spent the night with my friends. The next day I got up early, and headed to the UIC campus. I haven't had coffee (the horror...) and things went worse from there. No one gave the poor girl manning the parking lot the list of free parking... So I had to pay $9. Oh, the humanity! I signed up for weapon control. Apparently they were only doing that for the table of 4. So no armoring for me. My life is completely ruined! And yes, I am being somewhat sarcastic here.
Then again, I don't have a tester box so I can't properly test lames or masks or cords. So I couldn't do much there anyway. So I ran around for a little while taping down wires and delivering papers. I also got coffee. I don't usually drink coffee. So I delivered more papers. I sprinted some of those papers.
Then I got roped into doing video technician somehow. Granted, I had to watch the feet so I could capture it on camera for replays instead of watching the whole thing... but I probably had a better view then most of the VIPs. No, I DID have a better view. Better than anyone save the referees and the fencers themselves. And since we were operating in pairs, (the bouts weren't going to stop because one of us had to use the bathroom or something) I got to just sit back and watch half the time. The other half? I watched the footwork.
Holy crap, the footwork. Again, I don't do saber. Not because I have anything against it, but because I don't have gear or other saberists in my area. At least no saberists in my knowledge. So a lot of the bladework was lost on me. Not to say there was no bladework. I saw a circular bind and riposte. A clean bind, as in the binder had complete control over the bindee's blade and riposted for a single light. I thought sabers were too flexible for that to work. Huh.
But the footwork. Oh man, the footwork. Changes in direction, changes in speed, changes in tempo... some even did a super fast shuffle with tiny steps moving the fencer slowly while feet ran at a few thousand RPMs. Some amazing counterattacks using what I always called the ballerina hop.
The ballerina hop is what me and some of my friends called the move where I lunged, and if I fell short, hopped forward on my front foot, hoping for a remise. Between leaning forward and lifting my back foot, I did a ballerina impression. These guys... and gals... were using the same movement, except it wasn't a desperate move which only worked because most fencers missing their shot got ready to defend against a counter. They were retreating. Not the panicked, go fast as you can, retreat. But a controlled, steady retreat followed by a sudden change in direction via the ballerina hop. Amazing.
The fencing was amazing, which was to be expected. What else was amazing was the fellow volunteers. A lot of the armorers were the same armorers I've worked with at the St. Louis NAC, and it was great to see the guys again. Then there were the other volunteers who shared my interest and love for fencing. It's a rare thing to just ask "What's your weapon?" Instead of "do you fence?" Although I should mention there were a few who were not fencers. They just wanted to check it out. Well, more the merrier.
After the final bouts, the tear down began. It took us a few hours, but by around midnight, we were done. Then came the after party at the nightclub Primary. I had work the next morning so I just when in and said hello and left.
Overall, I met the US, Korean, and Hungarian Olympic Saber teams. And saw more teams then I can remember. I worked with the armorer for the US Olympic Fencing Team, and many other wonderful people who made this day so much fun. I said, not including this sentence, amazing 4 times, wonderful and fun once each. I may need some synonyms for amazing. And you may need to come see the Korfanty Cup next year. Hope to see you all there.
~Lee
<Month later, May 5th, 2013 - Team Events>
I arrived in Chicago the night before my shift. I checked out the venue, figured out where I had to be then spent the night with my friends. The next day I got up early, and headed to the UIC campus. I haven't had coffee (the horror...) and things went worse from there. No one gave the poor girl manning the parking lot the list of free parking... So I had to pay $9. Oh, the humanity! I signed up for weapon control. Apparently they were only doing that for the table of 4. So no armoring for me. My life is completely ruined! And yes, I am being somewhat sarcastic here.
Then again, I don't have a tester box so I can't properly test lames or masks or cords. So I couldn't do much there anyway. So I ran around for a little while taping down wires and delivering papers. I also got coffee. I don't usually drink coffee. So I delivered more papers. I sprinted some of those papers.
Then I got roped into doing video technician somehow. Granted, I had to watch the feet so I could capture it on camera for replays instead of watching the whole thing... but I probably had a better view then most of the VIPs. No, I DID have a better view. Better than anyone save the referees and the fencers themselves. And since we were operating in pairs, (the bouts weren't going to stop because one of us had to use the bathroom or something) I got to just sit back and watch half the time. The other half? I watched the footwork.
Holy crap, the footwork. Again, I don't do saber. Not because I have anything against it, but because I don't have gear or other saberists in my area. At least no saberists in my knowledge. So a lot of the bladework was lost on me. Not to say there was no bladework. I saw a circular bind and riposte. A clean bind, as in the binder had complete control over the bindee's blade and riposted for a single light. I thought sabers were too flexible for that to work. Huh.
But the footwork. Oh man, the footwork. Changes in direction, changes in speed, changes in tempo... some even did a super fast shuffle with tiny steps moving the fencer slowly while feet ran at a few thousand RPMs. Some amazing counterattacks using what I always called the ballerina hop.
The ballerina hop is what me and some of my friends called the move where I lunged, and if I fell short, hopped forward on my front foot, hoping for a remise. Between leaning forward and lifting my back foot, I did a ballerina impression. These guys... and gals... were using the same movement, except it wasn't a desperate move which only worked because most fencers missing their shot got ready to defend against a counter. They were retreating. Not the panicked, go fast as you can, retreat. But a controlled, steady retreat followed by a sudden change in direction via the ballerina hop. Amazing.
The fencing was amazing, which was to be expected. What else was amazing was the fellow volunteers. A lot of the armorers were the same armorers I've worked with at the St. Louis NAC, and it was great to see the guys again. Then there were the other volunteers who shared my interest and love for fencing. It's a rare thing to just ask "What's your weapon?" Instead of "do you fence?" Although I should mention there were a few who were not fencers. They just wanted to check it out. Well, more the merrier.
After the final bouts, the tear down began. It took us a few hours, but by around midnight, we were done. Then came the after party at the nightclub Primary. I had work the next morning so I just when in and said hello and left.
Overall, I met the US, Korean, and Hungarian Olympic Saber teams. And saw more teams then I can remember. I worked with the armorer for the US Olympic Fencing Team, and many other wonderful people who made this day so much fun. I said, not including this sentence, amazing 4 times, wonderful and fun once each. I may need some synonyms for amazing. And you may need to come see the Korfanty Cup next year. Hope to see you all there.
~Lee
Monday, May 6, 2013
Some silliness at practice.
Well, I don't remember what originally brought up the topic, but I lost $3 today at practice. Let's see what I remember. We were fencing, big surprise, and I heard some thumping noises outside. Curious to see if we had any newcomers, I went outside and found Kelsey on the way in.
Ah, that's right... she had this yellow flower... pin (?) in her hair which I thought was very cute. I said as much, which got us talking about it. I still can't remember what was going through my mind, but I made her a $5 bet. The bet was... well, it was basically she wins $5 if she actually fences with the thing on her mask.
That bet quickly lead to a discussion of how to make this happen, followed by a quick re-negotiation (I only had $3 not $5 in my wallet.) which was concluded by her suiting up, getting on strip and posing for the following pictures.
I had a good laugh, got two nice pictures and lost only $3. I think I got the better out of that deal.
Ah, that's right... she had this yellow flower... pin (?) in her hair which I thought was very cute. I said as much, which got us talking about it. I still can't remember what was going through my mind, but I made her a $5 bet. The bet was... well, it was basically she wins $5 if she actually fences with the thing on her mask.
That bet quickly lead to a discussion of how to make this happen, followed by a quick re-negotiation (I only had $3 not $5 in my wallet.) which was concluded by her suiting up, getting on strip and posing for the following pictures.
I had a good laugh, got two nice pictures and lost only $3. I think I got the better out of that deal.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Just received this via Terrell. Seems a good idea but the distances involved may be a problem. I remember from my UK experiences an inter club league although the maximum trip was around 20 miles!
Dear friends,
Currently in our fencing division, every fencing club is its own island, with no communication between the clubs. In order to build a strong fencing community, we must get to know each other, outside of tournaments (as tournaments can come from clubs outside our division). One suggestion is that each club chooses a month to make an open night for members of the other clubs to attend and fence with no floor fee. To encourage attendance to this event, if four clubs (including the host club)attend, a pool can be fenced, and the winner of the pool gets a prize from the division, which would be a gift card to one of the fencing companies (such as Absolute Fencing).
I hope to hear your thoughts on this matter.
Thank you,
Rasha Abdellatif
rashaa79@gmail.com
This is a good idea, I also suggest that we do the annual division meeting and each club come up with its proposed tournament schedule. we can design a yearly schedule for the whole division, each club Representative can add his proposed tournament and discuss it with the other EC members, we can come up with great schedule with no conflicts, and better than each club decide to run event during the season and most of the time we have events conflicts
Hossam Hassan
The Fencers Academy
314 494 0697
www.thefencersacademy.com
Dear friends,
Currently in our fencing division, every fencing club is its own island, with no communication between the clubs. In order to build a strong fencing community, we must get to know each other, outside of tournaments (as tournaments can come from clubs outside our division). One suggestion is that each club chooses a month to make an open night for members of the other clubs to attend and fence with no floor fee. To encourage attendance to this event, if four clubs (including the host club)attend, a pool can be fenced, and the winner of the pool gets a prize from the division, which would be a gift card to one of the fencing companies (such as Absolute Fencing).
I hope to hear your thoughts on this matter.
Thank you,
Rasha Abdellatif
rashaa79@gmail.com
This is a good idea, I also suggest that we do the annual division meeting and each club come up with its proposed tournament schedule. we can design a yearly schedule for the whole division, each club Representative can add his proposed tournament and discuss it with the other EC members, we can come up with great schedule with no conflicts, and better than each club decide to run event during the season and most of the time we have events conflicts
Hossam Hassan
The Fencers Academy
314 494 0697
www.thefencersacademy.com
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
NEARLY THERE!
From the top, a general view of the block, cubicle wheelchair friendly, basin with mirror to follow, utility room with slop sink and water heater.
We await only the final fettling, the benches and coat hooks next week and the contractor walk thru.
An additional fencing strip is also in the works to compliment the second VSM scoring system.
From the top, a general view of the block, cubicle wheelchair friendly, basin with mirror to follow, utility room with slop sink and water heater.
We await only the final fettling, the benches and coat hooks next week and the contractor walk thru.
An additional fencing strip is also in the works to compliment the second VSM scoring system.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Progress towards first flush!!
After some delay work is proceeding apace on the construction of the Rest Rooms for the Fencing Club.
The center door is for the Utility room.
The center door is for the Utility room.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
More on balancing
After my recent experiments with heavier pommels, I had got one foil about perfect. Just right amount of bends in the tang/handle and the balance point just in front of the guard when...bang the tang broke inside the handle.
This is the second foil blade I have had go this way. There is a clear weak/stress point where the threading begins about an inch inside the handle. I know Leon Paul do a shorted threaded tang for some of their blades but I suppose this only moves the stress point further although it does allow the handle set to occur on unthreaded steel. I do tend to have rather large sets in these tangs in two directions but it never happened with the old slotted tangs so they may be on to something.
In the meantime I have been given an extra heavy epee pommel, weighing in at 145g or 5 oz. My own pommel plus fishing weights came to 135g. so a straight replacement achieved similar results and a much neater appearance! A web trawl revealed that Leon Paul will sell you a 150g or 200g epee pommel at Leon Paul prices i.e. $17.00 - $18.00 each.
A more acceptable price (to me) would be the 120g epee pommel by FWF from Fencing Net $6.00 each. I have two on order and we shall see what difference they make to my other foils. Clearly the weight and shape of the blade has some effect on the balance and it is very noticeable that the modern blades are much slimmer than the older blades. I found the difference to my fencing with a balanced v "normal" foil worth the effort in getting it right. I am told that it is possible to weld the broken blade, I shall see if I can get that done and report back.
This is the second foil blade I have had go this way. There is a clear weak/stress point where the threading begins about an inch inside the handle. I know Leon Paul do a shorted threaded tang for some of their blades but I suppose this only moves the stress point further although it does allow the handle set to occur on unthreaded steel. I do tend to have rather large sets in these tangs in two directions but it never happened with the old slotted tangs so they may be on to something.
In the meantime I have been given an extra heavy epee pommel, weighing in at 145g or 5 oz. My own pommel plus fishing weights came to 135g. so a straight replacement achieved similar results and a much neater appearance! A web trawl revealed that Leon Paul will sell you a 150g or 200g epee pommel at Leon Paul prices i.e. $17.00 - $18.00 each.
A more acceptable price (to me) would be the 120g epee pommel by FWF from Fencing Net $6.00 each. I have two on order and we shall see what difference they make to my other foils. Clearly the weight and shape of the blade has some effect on the balance and it is very noticeable that the modern blades are much slimmer than the older blades. I found the difference to my fencing with a balanced v "normal" foil worth the effort in getting it right. I am told that it is possible to weld the broken blade, I shall see if I can get that done and report back.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Improve your rating!
Calling all U and E rated club members.
There are two competitions coming up at the Millstadt venue, just outside St Louis where the entries are limited to help you get your new rating.
The dates are:
Sunday February 3rd
Sunday March 10th
Both competitions are listed on Askfred.net
Go for it!!!!
--
From David in Springfield IL
There are two competitions coming up at the Millstadt venue, just outside St Louis where the entries are limited to help you get your new rating.
The dates are:
Sunday February 3rd
Sunday March 10th
Both competitions are listed on Askfred.net
Go for it!!!!
--
From David in Springfield IL
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