Weight certification

[Roach]

Has anyone one ever heard getting weights certified by an outside source? The division (NOD) owns mostly Allstar or Blue Gauntlet weights, but someone here is insisting that I need to get at least one of the "certified" so that an offcial set exists in case. (In case of what I am not sure) Does the national office maintain som sort of "holy grail" weight and shim?

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by Roach

Has anyone one ever heard getting weights certified by an outside source? The division (NOD) owns mostly Allstar or Blue Gauntlet weights, but someone here is insisting that I need to get at least one of the "certified" so that an offcial set exists in case. (In case of what I am not sure) Does the national office maintain som sort of "holy grail" weight and shim?

Couldn't you just get a gramscale and measure them yourself?

[mollusk]

It's actually a pretty wide allowable range so I don't think that having the weights certified is a real issue.

For foil (m.11) the "weight" must be in the range 498 to 502 grams and for epee (m.19) from 747 to 753 grams. You don't need a certified lab to get things measured to this level of accuracy.

[oiuyt]

Foil weights are required to be 500g +/- 2g, Epee weights 750g +/- 3g. This is rarely the case in the real world as far as I can tell (10-20g off is not uncommon and weights that come from the factory off by 40g are not unheard of. Talk to the national-level armorers for stories (DHC? Neevel? Care to chime in?)). A while back a number of the USFA weights (presumably all of them in use at the time) were measured and those that were outside of spec where brought into compliance (drilling and filling to adjust weights). Whatever weight the bout committee sends out to a strip is the official weight for that strip. Fencers do NOT have the right to request "well, can we test with THOSE weights, my weapon passes with them."

This is a good reason why it's stupid to spend time to build the "754g epee" or whatever (I have a former teammate who liked to, when time was available, tune his epees to pass the weight test but fail when a dime was added resting on top of the weight). Get up on a strip with a 760g weight and you've just drawn yourself a yellow card. Tune ALL of your epees to 754g and you're in a world of hurt.

Given that no appeal to another set of weights is required or should be entertained and there's no reason to have a "standard" weight that you can bring out "in case." That said, actually checking your weights and getting those that require it fixed isn't necessarily a bad idea. Local high school chem lab should have something that can measure accurately to at least tenths of a gram which is easily in excess of what you need. Of course unless you have someone who can fix the weights once you've discovered that half of them are 10g too heavy it's probably significantly easier to ignore the problem.

-B :)

[DHCJr]

As Oiuyt and Mollusk has said you have an extremely wide range. I have in the past had someone like who you described say something like that.

I have one answer for them. SHOW ME THE RULE.

As Prototoast, stated it is not that hard to do it yourself and it is good to check the weight and get them within tollerance. They don't need to be extremely accurate.

There can be a variance, but as been said the Official Weight is on the strip.

For me there are 3 types of weight. The one for fencers should be heavy. The weight I use when I am with the US Team is 513 for Foil and 775 for Epee. There has never been a Yellow card for Weight or Shim the 4 times I was with the team. How much is 25 grams. Less than 5 quarters. You are not going to feel the difference when you are fencing.

A weight for competition should be within tolerance, but what does it matter. Both fencers are tested to the same standard, so it doesn't matter.

The only time you need accurate weights is at large tournaments with multiple Armorers. That is so, it doesn't matter who checks your equipment. If it passes one, it will pass all and if it fails one, it fails all. Everyone is held to the same standards.

Ask to see the rule. I would like to see that rule. All the previous post are good and considering the consensus, you can probably feel, it is right.