LP blades

[fencinman89]

I was just looking on the LP website and i saw that some of their foils have a "sleeve". what is this sleeve for, what does it do, what purpose does it serve, is it legal in us competition, do you need a special bell guard for them, can u take them off, and does any one recommend them?
-Tre'

[CvilleFencer]

Originally Posted by fencinman89

I was just looking on the LP website and i saw that some of their foils have a "sleeve".

Okay, I will try to answer all of that mostly in order...

what is this sleeve for, what does it do, what purpose does it serve,

Most blades have a taper going from the tip to the guard and getting wider and with more steel all the way down. Some of the LP budget blades do not have a flaring near the shoulder so they are fairly thin all the way down. They are about the thickness of the mid section to the beginning of the forte region of most blades all the way down to the screw thread! The "shoulder" acts and an artificial "flair" that tightens onto the blade via a divot hole and Allen screw to keep your guard from wiggling around and to give the blade a bit of balance.

is it legal in us competition,

It is legal as far as I know. The fact that they make and FIE version would indicate to me that you can use them anywhere.

do you need a special bell guard for them,

You can use them with any bell guard although I would recommend using an ultra light guard and one of the LP carbon fiber French grips or one of their polymer Belgians to maximize the weight savings. Set up this way they are about 2/3rds or less the weight of some FIE blades and handle/guard combos.

can u take them off,

Sure, it comes on and off with a small Allen styles screw. You line it up with a divot in the blade and torque it down.

and does any one recommend them?

I would recommend them if you were looking to build a very light and fast blade. I have heard that the Budget Maragings hold up very well despite being thin and light, and the shoulder is reusable when it is time to replace the blade. I tend to go a little nuts with the lighter blades and it actually affects my point control as I am not waiting for the blade to come back in line after parries/beats, or I move my arm to fast/to hard and land flat.

If I trained with them a bit I am sure I would be fine and probably a bit faster for having made the switch, but I really like my blade/guard/pad/grip setup, even if it is one of the heaviest you can get! I have built lightweight weapons like the one described above for others and they have been really happy with them, so if the thought appeals to you, definitely give it a whirl.

Hope all that helps! Good luck and let us know how you like it if you give it a whirl.

[TheArmourer]

When re-wiring these blades, the collar has to be removed. You need to be quite careful as you tread the collar onto the blade. The wire is emerging from the groove in the blade as it passes through the collar and the collars can get sharpish edges on them which can damage the insulation on the wire and cause a short circuit (ie will not register any hits).
It is worth removing any burrs on the edges of the collar with a small file before you assemble the weapon.