Fencing.Net - Your Guide to Fencing & Fencing Equipment

Shevy · 03-10-2005, 02:01 AM

Normal blades or marging blades? what would you buy?

noodle · 03-10-2005, 02:03 AM

depends on available funds.

given unlimited moneys, though, maraging.

Alain · 03-10-2005, 04:53 AM

I'd go for maraging

VELISARIOS · 03-10-2005, 07:25 AM

Maraging...they are stronger!

CvilleFencer · 03-10-2005, 09:00 AM

First off, this would be an armoury question. For foil I would buy Maraging. Specifically the Vniti as they are the most indestructable blades I have sound so far. For epee I would get the LP non-FIE/Maraging blades as they are quick, light and just last forever. My second choice (again, for epee) would be either PS or BF blue FIE Maraging blades however.

daveappr · 03-10-2005, 11:01 AM

I would echo Cvillefencers comments, being on a budget myself, I have found the LP blades to last longest. If you're not on a restricted budget, then maraging is the way to go.

acaba · 03-10-2005, 11:17 AM

It also depends on how hard you hit. I know some people can have a regular $35 blade last for years. Other people (like me) would easily go through 8-10 of those a season. Insted I just break 2-3 FIE blades a year. I've never done the math to see which is less expensive, but using the FIE blades is less agravating for me.

CvilleFencer · 03-10-2005, 12:49 PM

Acaba, I would bet you money that, outside of deliberate abuse, a Leon Paul FIE blade would last about a year for you. They last years for me and I have never been accused of hitting softly! I will propose a bet to you (granted, with a couple of conditions). I will supply you with an LP blade wired with German (unless you have switched to a different tip) and if it lasts you for 8 or more months (barring any deliberate abuse, being run over by cars, fencing Austin or other unnatural or unusual things that blades are not really meant to stand up to) not only will you reimburse me for that blade/point, you will pick up my bar tab at the next after-tourney celebration following the completion of the eight month cycle. If it breaks, no worries and I just bought you a blade. The condition is when I am able to buy you said blade. My car is in the shop and I am not sure how much it will cost. It might have to wait till I see you at Div Champs to give you the blade. What do you say?

Ryne · 03-10-2005, 11:06 PM

currently I have Uhlmann FIE SM blades.. they kick ***.

Usually though, I buy Uhlmann FIE Blue or the Russian blacks from Blade.

smeric28 · 03-11-2005, 12:27 AM

anybody have experience with chevalier blades vs viniti?

DangerMouse · 03-11-2005, 02:17 AM

I haven't used the Vniti, but I've used the Prieur Maraging Epee blades (no longer stamped Chevalier). They are very stiff and very light. I love the feel of them. However, they break pretty quickly. I've broken two of them in the past 6 months. For this reason alone, I've stopped buying them.

D+F+P=Hadouken! · 03-11-2005, 08:52 AM

Vniti and leon paul are the two longest lasting blades out there, unfortuneately, they have odd feels, and handle differently from the BF's and fleche's and chevaliers and other "short life" blades.

Robert Smith · 03-11-2005, 06:23 PM

Maraging StM foil blades have proved pretty successful over the last couple of years. Nice, middle-of-the-road flexibility, suit both the straight-as-an-arrow crowd and the let's-see-if-I-can-hit-your-left-flank-via-your-right-flank crowd.

Epee blades, we bought in a few of the StM maraging blades. None of them kasted more than a couple of months, so we gave up on them. They seemed too stiff, too brittle. Just received some StM cheapo epee blades this morning, under $20 US from The Fencing Post. They're under a third the cost of maraging, so if they last a month they're better bang for buck.

JohnK · 03-13-2005, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeric28

anybody have experience with chevalier blades vs viniti?

Just got a maraging Prieur and a maraging Vniti from the Fencing Post a couple months ago.

The Prieur is very light, and pretty stiff. However it very quickly got a lot of weird bends I've had trouble getting rid of.

The Vniti is INCREDIBLY whippy; but doesn't seem to take weird permanent bends. I think I'm liking it more.

mrbiggs · 03-13-2005, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnK

The Prieur is very light, and pretty stiff. However it very quickly got a lot of weird bends I've had trouble getting rid of.

The Prieur FIE is a great blade in terms of durability and price. But if you are not VERY good at getting kinks out of blades, I'd say forget it. I'm not too good at getting rid of kinks...and right now, my blade has a W-bend in it. Not pretty, hard to fence with, and the wire's starting to pop out.

I would never describe it as stiff, but I tend to buy stiff blades, so my perspective might be skewed.

This was foil. In epee, my Prieur FIE blade has yet to get a kink.

great bowyer · 03-14-2005, 12:59 AM

for the epee, i have used the maraging BFs, STM, Prieurs, and non maraging allstar. i have found that the non maraging allstar are stiff when new, but get really soft and break in about 3 months. i had 3 BF that lasted about 2 years i found them to be stiff. have 2 prieurs that i had for a year now, they have not broken yet, but i have not used them that much. they are really whippy. for the stm, i have three, they are a little softer than the bf, but not by much. i had them for 8months, they are starting to get soft and bend a lot, but have not broken. i do not think they will last very much longer. when my STMs break, i think i will either try a LP or go back to the BF.