what grip do you use?

[swordsoar]

I'm a beginner and have only used a french grip on foil and epee. I tried a pistol grip and found it felt very different compaired to french.

I will stay with a french grip until I know enough of what I am doing to make an sound choice.

BTW, my french practice foil came with a leather strap. Does anyone use this?

Jeff

[Zilverzmurfen]

Originally Posted by swordsoar

I'm a beginner and have only used a french grip on foil and epee.

French grip foil... Isn't that somewhat medieval these days..? <voice of an épéeist>

[esskreemr]

Originally Posted by Zilverzmurfen

French grip foil... Isn't that somewhat medieval these days..? <voice of an épéeist>

With the timing changes, it's probably going to mean a renaissance for French, and Spanish, grips. Hey wait! A Frenchman is head of the FIE, the FIE changes the rules to kill flicks which were aided by Pistol grips... It's becoming so clear now...

By the way...naah it would be thread jacking if I asked how angulated attacks fare with the new timings.

[edew]

Originally Posted by LordTofuDog-jnr

Pistol grip for me, then again I'm a foilist so there's no advantage in any other grip.

I use a french grip for epee and it really helps. The extra reach is a great bonus, but the inability to make crazy wild actions is what the french grip does for me in epee. I bought a french grip foil to see if I can reproduce the extra reach for foil (especially with the new timing and lack of need to flick).

Well, there's some benefits and drawbacks. One can still flick with the french (as it was always possible to do), and the lack of a strong grip allowed some flicks to land better. But the percentages don't go up so much.

However, the need to make parries and the precision to hit on target largely removes any benefits of having a longer reach. The beats to the blade, plus the required parries and beats really makes the french foil grip a tough one to use.

Whatever benefits I can draw from using a french grip is overshadowed by the drawbacks. I think I can make some additional benefit of using it as a psychological terror against the opponent who might perceive additional problems to deal with. However, after reading this post, that's pretty much not gonna happen.

[mrbiggs]

I just remembered that I use French grips for epee, but I already voted pistol.

[Mo]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

I just remembered that I use French grips for epee, but I already voted pistol.

I prefer the "gettagrip."

[davtsung]

Belgian for control, Visconti for whip, Russian just to spice things up. Yet to try the Ziv's though.

[Spike327]

I use Zivs (and one french epee for the thrills) because that horrible protrusion on most other pistol grips cuts up the inside of my wrist.

[Grey]

The leather strip is the martingale. It was to be used with the french grip when fencing was dry. (if I'm not wrong, way back in the USFA, when it was still amateur)

The use of a wrist strap with a french grip however, is not legal. The martingale is legal and it does help with "pommeling"

[Cotlar]

I started with a French grip (foil), graduated to Spanish when it was legal, and then found what American Fencers Supply calls a "Rambeau" and what Triplette calls a "baby russian"-- essentially a pistol grip w/o those awful finger knobs. It has the control of a pistol and the touch of a French. And if you start gripping the thing like a club under stress the curve over the thumb reminds you to stop with a jolt of pain. Not many people know about it but it does seem to be catching on. The Zivs look nice, though....

[edew]

I've used the rambeau. Still have a bunch in some drawer at home. Prefer the visconti now. Those "awful finger knobs" are actually quite helpful in generating speed and providing control.

[schlager7]

For epee I still prefer French. I have a number of different orthopedic grips on some old foils and epee. For just dry club fencing I'll still pull out the stray Italian grip.

A friend of mine some time back took to the Italian grip and has some electric foils with them. He even wrote a piece called Learning to Speak Italian that we posted up sometime ago.

I also have a dry Spanish grip (not the ortho-version) that can be quite comfortable on the fingers if you've spent the last 60-90 minutes giving bladework drills to beginners with a French. It's just enough of a change to relax these middle-aged fingers.

[Pancakes]

Pistol, always.

[striker]

Originally Posted by schlager7

............
A friend of mine some time back took to the Italian grip and has some electric foils with them. He even wrote a piece called Learning to Speak Italian that we posted up sometime ago.
...........

I read the article about the Italian grip. It is indeed a very informative
article. The parry will be very strong with the Italian blade and I agree
with that point of the article. However to get that parry and grab
the opponent's blade, one must be able to move the blade fast
enough. How will all that weight right behind the guard of
an Italian grip help in moving the blade as fast as possible? I find this as
one of the paradoxes of the Italian grip.

[Kismet]

I use pistol....the Visconti grip, to be exact. So comfortable. I have tried french grips, but my hand always cramps up when I use them...so pistol it is!

[LordTofuDog-jnr]

Originally Posted by esskreemr

By the way...naah it would be thread jacking if I asked how angulated attacks fare with the new timings.

Subtle hints for somebody t oanswer your question without it looking like you asked them to is it? I'm on to you...

Originally Posted by davtsung

Belgian for control, Visconti for whip, Russian just to spice things up. Yet to try the Ziv's though.

Isn't it better to have all the same grip for weapons of the same class, i.e foil should all have the same grip because if one breaks it won't throw your game off from having a different grip suddenly?

P.S - Is that avatar shamelessly taken from JK:A?

[ThatReallyHurt]

So far I've only used the French grip. I like it, and it's been a lot easier to use since I stopped holding it like a fishing rod...

[It]

Originally Posted by drippingwet

Wouldn't the Italian be better if you're gonna go down that road? Can you pommel with the Italian?

There wouldn't be a reason to use the italian if you pommeled it.


Oh yeah, the Italian grip is more of an offensive weapon. And with the new timing, I found that MY Italian blades are no longer going to be used as decoration any more

[cfaustus]

In SF, I like Italian for epee, but for foil am currently using French...

[fencingmetalfan]

I use French grip. I think its a useful skill to learn, an honestly I think its easier than the Pistol grip.