Epee

[Westley]

I want to get a new Epee. The old one was a gift, and it never fit me well. I'm 5'9, and light, and not incredibly strong. I need a light effective sword that can become an extension of my arm. Any suggestions on blades, handles, whatever?

[Dave]

If you want light then Leon Paul are the way to go. Their V-blades are the lightest that you are going to find by a long way along with a light weight guard. Personally I am not that keen on the blades but people who like them swear by them.

[Westley]

Why are you "not keen" on them?

[telkanuru]

From your description, I assume you want a fairly stiff blade. I then reccomend a BF White blade from BG with an Ultralight guard. It's cheaper than alternatives, and BG gets a good batch of BF blades (mine has a Cartel stamp). Also, the BG grips (both french and visconti) feel almost exactly like Uhlmann grips now. Such a blade is my primary, is very light, and increadibly responsive to my actions.

[ls14evar]

The LP blades are light, but in my experience the tip aways seems to be lagging behind the blade. Too flexy for me I think. Unfortunate because I hear such good things about them.

[aikijohn]

My two lightest blades are a maraging BF blue and a Leon Paul non-FIE blade. The BF blue is rather stiff but **very** well balanced (i.e. balance is more toward the hand) but this blade can take weird bends. The LP blade is as light, if not lighter, than the BF, but is more "whippy" and the balance of the blade is more toward the point, which takes a bit of getting used to. The LP blade is better with a heavier grip to compensate for weight distribution toward the tip, but it has become my most dependable blade. I have tried a plastic Belgian (English?) grip from LP and that does reduce the weight, but I understand these are illegal for competition. You may want to consider a lightweight bell guard and an LP lightweight (aluminium) plug socket to reduce the weight even more. As has been stated in other posts, the "set" of the blade can greatly affect the balance and "feel" of the weapon; this aspect takes a bit of trial and error to get it right.

[Dave]

Why are you "not keen" on them?

I prefer stiffer blades and find that the LP ones tend to drift a bit when I want to put my point somewhere. If you like to flick they are great, but I don't so not really me. I think that most fencers in the UK use them or BFs but it really is just personal preference.

I do however have an lp blade my emergency backup "I'm losing this fight time to try pommelling (posting)" epee. There you really need the light weight and the lag on the tip doesn't seem to matter so much.

[vincikai]

I want to get a new Epee. The old one was a gift, and it never fit me well. I'm 5'9, and light, and not incredibly strong. I need a light effective sword that can become an extension of my arm. Any suggestions on blades, handles, whatever?

get BF Blue the lightest epee i know of

[Westley]

The stiffer white BF's sound better. for me.