Bniti One Piece Foil Guard

[shango]

I was looking at the Blade site, and they list Bniti One Piece Foil Guards as $18. Are they the same ones as the Vniti Titanium Alloy Guards I hear so much about? How are they?

[Purple Fencer]

They probably are and it's a typo...Blade is one of Vniti USAs vendors.

[millsisland]

I wouldn't buy anything else. I've been using these exclusively for the last four years and only had to replace one. They hold up exceptionally well. The only drawback is that you may have to file down the hole to get your tang through it.

Mills

[rsy]

It has to be a typo. The picture that Blade posts looks like the Vniti one-piece and I can't believe that a well-known supplier would come out with a knock off called a Bniti, (although there are the Abidas knock offs).

If you are interested in saving a few bucks, BG sells its own knock off of the Vniti. It is not finished as nicely, but it does seem to perform similarly to the Vniti. Absolute has a German made titanium alloy one piece, but I don't know anything about it.

-r

[millsisland]

http://vnitiusa.com

Vniti/Bnini= same thing. Check the list of dealers from the site.

[oiuyt]

In Cyrillic the equivalent letter for the v sound looks like a B in the Roman alphabet.

-B :)

[noodle]

In Cyrillic the equivalent letter for the v sound looks like a B in the Roman alphabet.

-B

what he said.
look at the actual bell and the stamp engraved on it.
says "Bniti", pronounced "Vniti"

[shango]

Ah, I see...

[mrbiggs]

I think that Bniti, if pronounced as in English, is a funny word.

[Cookeit]

Simple question which doesn't need a new thread of its own...

What do they mean by "one-piece"?
What is the difference between a "one-piece" and a regular guard?

Also, is there any other advantage to getting the larger guard as opposed to the regular one other than it protects a larger hand? (e.g. could it be more useful on binds, etc)

[swordsen]

Regular guards have a support ring riveted around the hole to strengthen the bell. Eventually those rivets will loosen and the bell will not function properly. (although most bells made today are so flimsy that the whole thing folds up before the rivets fail)

[CvilleFencer]

What do they mean by "one-piece"?
What is the difference between a "one-piece" and a regular guard?

The guard is made as one complete hunk of metal. Most guards have the center piece made by riveting on a couple of disks to form the center and the rivets eventually break. This way it is all one piece of metal, so nothing to break.

Also, is there any other advantage to getting the larger guard as opposed to the regular one other than it protects a larger hand? (e.g. could it be more useful on binds, etc)

It can even out the balance of the weapon and obviously since it is bigger it can be a fraction more useful in counter time. I have heard a couple of people say that they find it useful in binds since they always do a perfect 2 points of contact bind but for those of use who aren't fencing noobs or vet 80 I am not sure of the utility of that.... The main thing it does is what guards do, keep your fingers from getting trashed.

[Nolano]

I love Vniti guards. I'm not a foil fencer, but if I were I'd use them on my foil, too. On my epees I have two and neither have a dent yet, but they're almost as light as, say, the lightweight LP guards.

[Purple Fencer]

The guard is made as one complete hunk of metal. Most guards have the center piece made by riveting on a couple of disks to form the center and the rivets eventually break. This way it is all one piece of metal, so nothing to break.

Actually, on most guards the strengthener is an ADDITION to the guard itself...without it, the guard will still only have the square hole for the tang.

The issue when the rivets break is mostly because the resulting deformity between the strengthener and guard may catch a blade, making the guard illegal.

Some makers have moved the strengthener to the inside, thus eliminating this issue even if the rivets fail....but that doesn't address an additional issue of the shoulder of the blades being so narrow they sometimes pull THROUGH the hole....an issue that does not exist with epees, since the shoulder is MUCH wider.

That being said....the Vnitis are rugged....strong like tank (probably built from tank steel!)

[XanderHal]

I picked up one of the one piece BG epee guards to try because they are so cheap. I put it together with an old blade that broke after about 4 more months of use. When I disassembled it I noticed some small microcracks coming from the corners of the square hole in the guard. I imagine eventually the shoulder of a blade will punch through the guard.

Conclusion is that the BG clones are not as robust as the real thing.

[Craig]

I was looking at the Blade site, and they list Bniti One Piece Foil Guards as $18. Are they the same ones as the Vniti Titanium Alloy Guards I hear so much about? How are they?

Just looked and realized that we had a stock that was not live on the site!

As above, "Bniti" is pronounced "Vniti" and most vendors list it as "vniti". There is the standard sized vniti foil guard and the extra-large vniti foil guard.

If you have extra large hands or use a lot of opposition, then the xl vniti guard is good, but otherwise I would stay with the standard sized one.

Here are the product links here:
Vniti Foil Guard
Vniti X-Large Foil Guard

Craig