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Written by Dave Neevel
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Sunday, 14 March 2004 |
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Page 1 of 14 Given that you can’t always count on an armorer to be present, willing and able to do that wiring job for you, it’s a good idea to learn how to take care of it yourself. Fortunately, there’s a little secret that we armorers sometimes don’t bother to reveal to the general public: the basic tasks of assembling and maintaining fencing weapons really aren’t terribly difficult.
There are an awful lot of constant facts of existence when it comes to fencing:
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There’s no substitute for lots of repetitions to get technique right.
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You are going to have ‘on’ days when you feel like you could beat anyone, and ‘off’ days when you wonder why you bother with this instead of staying home and watching Stargate SG-1 reruns.
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You are going to have a referee blow a call against you at 14-14 at some point in your life.
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You can never do too much footwork practice.
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At some point, you will have a blade that needs to be wired (unless, of course, you are exclusively a sabre fencer—if so you can stop right here and go dig out those Stargate tapes).
Given that you can’t always count on an armorer to be present, willing and able to do that wiring job for you, it’s a good idea to learn how to take care of it yourself. Fortunately, there’s a little secret that we armorers sometimes don’t bother to reveal to the general public: the basic tasks of assembling and maintaining fencing weapons really aren’t terribly difficult. With a handful of tools (many of which you probably already have) you can get the job done, even if you think of yourself as having no technical aptitude whatsoever. The great majority of the stuff you see armorers carrying about in our toolcases, and the tricks and trivia we have squirreled away in our heads, are really just labor-saving devices that speed up taking care of large quantities of equipment.
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