Avoid this lame!

[o4aversob]

I bought the Santelli stainless steel lame and it had no ring built for the reel to connect to. Is it okay for me to just sew a ring off the strap?

[darius]

Mine has one.

[The0ne]

and your jacket should have one. . .

[R. Exnicios]

Your better off with the ring on your Jacket instead ogf the lame anyway. But it should have had one just the same.

[MyraTrue]

You CAN sew a D-ring on if you'd like. But usually they're sewn on with a piece of lamee material. And if you don't have some spare material, you can't use anything non-conductive. Which is too bad.

But the others are right that you CAN use the one on your jacket. As long as its not like mine, and the D-ring in covered by 4 inches of lamee. I'd call Santelli and complain, maybe they can send you the D-ring with lamee material, and you can at least sew it on yourself.

[whtouche]

I would hardly say this is a reason to avoid that type of lame.
Besides you're better off hooking onto the ring on your jacket. That's what I do.
Tho granted I use an infinity, on which they stopped placing D-rings for the reason that the seams are weak.
But still..

[MyraTrue]

What type of jacket do you have? I'd agree with using the jacket rings, but on many of the front zip jackets I've run into, the D-ring on the jacker is in the off hand side seam, about 4 inches up from the bottom. Which means you can't get to it while wearing a lamee.

[whtouche]

I have a PBT ultralight FIE jacket(soooo nice ) and yes, the ring is on my offhand-side (as it should be, logically) and maybe 3 inches up. I just lift my lame` up a bit, clip on, and leave it.
It's not a problem at all.

[DHCJr]

whtouch, you might not think it is a problem. But what are you going to do, if the referee decides it is a problem? They could force you to use a different lame that has a ring, because your lame does not cover the target area.

I am not saying it will happen, but it could. I believe that was what Myra True was trying to tell you.

[esskreemr]

Use the ring on your jacket. Your jacket is less likely to rip than your lame and the jacket will be easier to repair.

[whtouche]

I understand, and I knew after I'd typed it that there was something left unsaid in my post that it somehow came off as unclear, mental block and whatnot. But my lame is so loose that after the reel is clipped to the jacket, the excess lame falls down over the ring and to the sides such that the covering of target is miniscule if not nonexistent. And if it were ever called into question I suppose I could pull my lame down a bit and pin it below the ring for the duration of the bout.

[o4aversob]

What type of jacket do you have? I'd agree with using the jacket rings, but on many of the front zip jackets I've run into, the D-ring on the jacker is in the off hand side seam, about 4 inches up from the bottom. Which means you can't get to it while wearing a lamee.

I'm using jacket item #52 with buttons from Santelli. I'm surprised that it has no built in D-ring to it. There is a buckle type thing deep inside it for the strap between the legs to tighten, but it would be hard to fit the reel clip on this. Do knickers come with these rings?

[Inquartata]

Most of the makers of lames seem to suffer from either (a) absent-mindedness or (b) cheapskate syndrome from time to time. Witness Triplette sewing their name-brand tag onto the outside of their lames covering up a bit of the target with nonconductive fabric, and Uhlmann putting skimpy, narrow little mask-connector tabs which don't meet the FIE specs onto their sabre lames...

I too hook to my jacket ( which luckily hangs below the edge of my lame ). Years ago we had some lames which somehow produced odd lights on the box when clipped to the rings on them; attaching to the jacket ring solved the problem.

[MyraTrue]

o4aversob- I've never seen knickers with a ring on them for clipping the reel onto. It sounds as if all your jacket has is the double set of rings the strap feeds into. I've had to clip people onto that before.

If you can sew at all, or even have a friend who's a bit handy with thread and needle, a piece of fabric and a D-ring (you can buy them at fabric stores, the sewing section of a Super Walmart etc), you could sew one onto the back of your jacket. I'm afraid I don't have a better suggestion.