Blade durability?

[prismet]

I was just wondering what the suggested range of temperatures at which an average foil could be used is?

[Epee Scherma]

Room temperature.

[Epee Scherma]

OK, in all seriousness. Just fence with your foil in standard conditions. I've noticed that in the real cold, it gets rather stiff and unbendy. But besides this, there's not much affect of temperature on the steel of the blade.

[mrbiggs]

Having it warm in better than cold. If it's brittle, it breaks more easily.

(This comes from my outdoor fencing experience. In the winter.)

[prismet]

I wasn't planning on fencing in extreme conditions, but with winter approaching in Iowa I need to know when to move inside I figured that in cold brittleness would be a problem, but to what degree I was uncertain. I figure anything above 32 F would be fine...but then again anything above 45 F would be nice...

[telkanuru]

Generic advice is to warm up your blade via friction if you've just brought it in from the cold (ie. your trunk). I always do this, so I don't know what happens if you don't

[shango]

I would like to know if anyone here has used the BF Blue or White Foil Maragings and they're opinions and the difference between the 2.

[mrbiggs]

I wasn't planning on fencing in extreme conditions, but with winter approaching in Iowa I need to know when to move inside I figured that in cold brittleness would be a problem, but to what degree I was uncertain. I figure anything above 32 F would be fine...but then again anything above 45 F would be nice...

When I fenced outside, I would rub the blade with a towel before I fenced. This warmed the blade and removed any rust. Iowa is pretty cold. If it's really cod outside, you might not want to fence.

Don't fence with snow or ice outside; you'll hurt yourself. (If you can find someone to fence you outside when it's winter, you're a lucky person. )

[noodle]

I would like to know if anyone here has used the BF Blue or White Foil Maragings and they're opinions and the difference between the 2.

grrrrrrr..

• What are the differences among the colored Blaise Freres Maraging blades?
  BF Blue blades are the most flexible, most resilient, and the lightest. They are also the most expensive. They, though, are much more likely to take a radical bend if it deals a hit that has enough force behind it, for whatever reason.
  
  BF White blades are much more stiff and a little heavier. They are slightly more succeptible to the everyday bends, but when they take a big hit, they're much less likely to take a radical, deforming bend.
  
  BF Gold blades are a happy average of the qualities of the above two.
  
  The colors of the blades are a result of the gaseous environment they are tempered in. The colored coating is also helps to prevent oxidation of the underlying metal. Other information can be found in the Fencing.Net Equipment Review Section
  

[smeric28]

I was just wondering what the suggested range of temperatures at which an average foil could be used is?

like everybody said warm it before you use it. a cold blade can snap a.k.a. brittle failure. it really depends on how far you flex the blade when it's cold. as to if it will break.

[davtsung]

Just don't fence in the Sahara nor the Artic tundra and you shouldn't haev to worry.