S curved epee's

[EpeeConvert]

is there anything i can do to fix an s curve in my blade? its not huge but it is unsightly and i am afraid of it snapping (its my last FIE blade and i dont have the money for a new one). should i heat the blade just a little and bend it back? any ideas? cause in hindsight my idea doesnt sound too good.

[telkanuru]

I like to use a loop wrench (the kind that will go around a nut and serves the same purpose as a cresent wrench) to bend it back to normal. What FIE blade?

[CvilleFencer]

Have you tried running it gently back and forth under your foot with the bottom of the blade facing up, using increasing force as need? That is usually all I do with mine...

[mrbiggs]

I've only been fencing épée for like a month and a half, but this REALLY works with foils. Take an old rag or towel, and rub it up and down the blade. This also gets the rust off, which is important to blade maintenance. When the blade feels very warm to the touch, it will keep its shape much better than a cold blade, and it's less likely to snap. Epées are thicker, and shaped differently, so I don't know if this idea will extend to them, but it's worth a try. (And as I said, it gets the rust off nicely.)

[noodle]

all of these methods are valid and most will likely work.
but if you aren't able to directly bend it out, you're going to want to try and bend the blade around it, almost, to get it to be a more gradual bend in one direction instead of the sharper s-curve.

[wbowman]

Run it through the hole at the end of a large crescent wrench, and then squeeze the blade and the wrench together (gently), moving it along the blade a bit at a time through the area you want to bend.

[mrbiggs]

And I have problems with the foot method. It doesn't really striaghten it, and I lose part of my shoe onto the épée or foil whenever I do it. And then my director or teammate gets mad at me for doing it wrong.

And wbowman's method is great; I do that to ALL my new blades so they don't get a bad bend in them from the beginning.

[MyraTrue]

see, I'm the oposit. I like the foot method, and I am scared that someone will put too much stress on a blade using a wrench and snap it. But I remember being afraid to use my foot at first, and then not doing it right because I was "going to break it", or so I thought.

It should be possible to get the S curve out. I do suggest having a warm blade over a cold one, no matter what technique you use to straighten it out. Good luck,

[Artisan]

I've only been fencing épée for like a month and a half, but this REALLY works with foils. Take an old rag or towel, and rub it up and down the blade. This also gets the rust off, which is important to blade maintenance.

Not really, its more important to the person that maintains your opponent's uniform. The few microns of material lost to rust will not affect the blade in any way. Now, if you bury it in your yard for a couple months....

When the blade feels very warm to the touch, it will keep its shape much better than a cold blade, and it's less likely to snap.

Nonsense... The rag will have to catch fire before you impart enough heat to do anything to the metal.

By dragging ther blade up underneath your foot, you put a smaller, more even bend along more of the length than you would by putting more concentrated bends in several spots.

This has been covered before, goto search.

[The Armourer]

I subscribe to the foot method - I must admit though, once a blade has developed an 'S' bend, in my experience, the chances are that it will keep reverting back to this state. Still it gives you regular exercise - keep straightening it that is.

[wbowman]

I agree that the foot method is preferable. I usually only use the crescent-wrench approach when there's a bend that the foot-slide is not getting out. You have to squeeze quickly but gently and keep moving along the blade to keep from putting a kink in it.
I've also broken blades using the foot method. Figure I probably stepped on them too hard or pulled upward too much instead of horizontally.

[mrbiggs]

Not really, its more important to the person that maintains your opponent's uniform. The few microns of material lost to rust will not affect the blade in any way. Now, if you bury it in your yard for a couple months.....

Fine, fence with a rusty blade. I like mine shiny.

Nonsense... The rag will have to catch fire before you impart enough heat to do anything to the metal.

By dragging ther blade up underneath your foot, you put a smaller, more even bend along more of the length than you would by putting more concentrated bends in several spots.

Well, maybe it's just the placebo effect. But it works for me.

I realize that the foot method is superior, I've just never been able to do it.