Which blade to order?

[Stylothek]

Hello,
I own two maraging blades, one Allstar SM and one PBT LM. The SM will be needing replacement soon, has taken a nasty kink to it and is prone to snap soon. I liked the SM quite well, it just never felt superbly balanced, heavy and stiff. I use the LM as a weapon of last resort, it's very light and extremly flicky and so I lose half of my touches due to the fact that my blade hits flat and not with the point. I haven't experienced those problems with the SM. What I'm looking for as a replacement is a light extremly stiff maraging blade, the price not being an issue.
Thanks in advance for your help!

[neevel]

A BF is probably what you're looking for-- just look around to find out who will give you the best price (Allstar, Uhlmann, Cartel, PBT). If you've got an Uhlmann or Allstar dealer within driving distance, the best thing would be to go there and pick out a blade yourself.

I have an LM gold blade that is also extremely stiff (more so than BFs), but it doesn't have much of a taper and is thus rather point-heavy. Vnitis feel much better than the particular LM I have, and are on the moderately stiff side, but still are a bit heavier than BFs. The LP Golubitsky also feels a bit heavier and more point-balaced than BFs, and while it shares the durability of other LP foil blades it also shares their tendency to take and hold kinks (they last a long time after getting the kink, but you'll end up wanting to retire it before breaks because you'll be constantly straightening it after making a hit).

I've tried most of the stiffer FIE blades available, and BFs remain my first choice for weight, balance, and feel, even though they're not as durable as some others.

-Dave

[CvilleFencer]

I tend to agree with Neevel but I thought I would mention a couple of other lightweight blades. The Prieur PS forged FIE blades or their Chevalier FIE blades are very light and tend to come in a range of flex, although most of the ones I have seen have still been on the flicky side of the fence and do have a tnedancy to take a very slight lateral bend after a couple of odd or hard hits. Also the LP Budget Maraging is a very light blade, especially if mounted with the lighweight guards, sockets and a polymer/plastic grip. Both of them have a rather differant feel so you may want to find someone that has one laying around to check it out first. If you do not like the wieght feel of the Vniti the BF's are excellant blades. Also the Allstar Ecostar is a Vniti blade and some of the newer ones are about as light as some batches of the BFs so I would recommend checking those out since you live in Germany and could theoretically get to an Allstar dealer pretty easy. I have a very high opinion of the Vniti blades as you probably know from my other posts.

Best of luck!

[telkanuru]

I'd place my vote for a BF white FIE with Cartel stamp. They seem to be higher quality then the Uhlmann-stamped BFs.

[Grey]

I thought I did post this since the topic of blades is brought up. You mentioned about a lateral bend in blades. I've experienced lateral bends in two of blades. Any idea as to the cause of this problem? Vertical bends/kinks are easy to straighten out, but the lateral bends seems extremely hard to remove. In fact, it seems to be bringing the blade to near breaking, in order to remove it, temporarily. Any suggestions?

[Alain]

Originally Posted by telkanuru

I'd place my vote for a BF white FIE with Cartel stamp. They seem to be higher quality then the Uhlmann-stamped BFs.

Yeah, these blades are awesome: well-balanced, light, flexible, strong, durable... magnifique! As my French maître said, "elles touchent par soi mêmes" (they hit by themselves) ! When I was living in France, I ditched all my old (English) blades and bought EIGHT Cartel ones (five weapones, three spares).

As for the lateral bend: there's not much you can do. I would suggest warming up the blade with a towel and then trying to gradually ply it back into position. Otherwise, make sure that you get the last hit with it before it breaks...