Trouble with my Epee grip

[Abel]

Well the question I wanted to ask is this:

Since I'm not a very tall lad (1m78), I'm using French grips on my epees. But the last year I broke 2 blades. That might not be so astonishing, but they both broke inside the grip. Both times I wondered wether it was me being drunk, or my blade being wobbly. And both times it was the latter.

Am I doing something wrong? Am I screwing on the pommel to tight? Or not tight enough? Or is it just a fact that the tang is weakest point of a French grip blade?

I'm puzzled and hope any of you can enlighten me.

[CvilleFencer]

What type of blade and what type of French girp are you using? Knowing that would help a bit in trying to figure out the problem.

[Alain]

What blades are you using..? Breaking 2 blades in such a period is no big deal, as long as they're not maraging ones. As you say, it may be that you've tightened the grip too much (though that shouldn't really cause the blade to break), it could be that you're hitting too hard - from too close a distance - or just that your blades are getting a lot of use (assuming that they're not maraging).

Best o' luck

[Tomas N]

The good news is that you may be able to turn your old french grip epees into pistol grips. Well, news isn't too good since you're a french grip fencer. The bad news is that the blades you have are seriously defective. The tang should not break during regular usage. I've never seen one do so. Has anyone else? Did you bend the tang quite a bit?

Tomas

[Mr Epee]

Well the question I wanted to ask is this:

Since I'm not a very tall lad (1m78), I'm using French grips on my epees. But the last year I broke 2 blades. That might not be so astonishing, but they both broke inside the grip. Both times I wondered wether it was me being drunk, or my blade being wobbly. And both times it was the latter.

Am I doing something wrong? Am I screwing on the pommel to tight? Or not tight enough? Or is it just a fact that the tang is weakest point of a French grip blade?

I'm puzzled and hope any of you can enlighten me.

Here's the skinny...

Most blades are much more susceptable to being broken in the tang than in the rest of the blade.

There are a number of French style handles on the market that facilitate a good deal of flex in the tang portion of the blade... given time this will often result in a broken blade.

To remedy... find yourself a nice solid (preferably metal) grip where the natural torque of the blade is able to take the beating instead of the usually poorly tempered tang...

Good luck

[telkanuru]

I know of a good fencer who had this problem. Hi switched to Vniti blades and the aforementioned solid metal grip and this happened a lot less.

[jm_f]

Just curious, do you pommel with those epees? Hard parries against your blade when you're pommeling would result in the force being applied where you're holding it, at the tang of the blade. Anyway, some blades are known for being easier to break at the tang than others. If it's not a FIE blade, you could ask someone at a machine shop to weld it back on or something

[telkanuru]

Just curious, do you pommel with those epees? Hard parries against your blade when you're pommeling would result in the force being applied where you're holding it, at the tang of the blade. Anyway, some blades are known for being easier to break at the tang than others. If it's not a FIE blade, you could ask someone at a machine shop to weld it back on or something

Welding is, at best, a stopgap measure. The blade will break in the exact same spot in 1-3 weeks. Not worth your time or money.

I've seen the breakage because people flick from a pommeling position.

[larkmaj]

I'm guessing you're using something like cheap BG or SG blades. I had exactly the same issue. Over the course of 3 practices I broke both my epees and my foil in the same exact spot. First time I didn't think much of it. Second I thought it was a coincidence. Third time, well, I figured i was doing something wrong. Every single blade broke just past the last thread near the tang. I had a terrible habit of tightening the pommel much too often. I would guess you probably have the same habit. Two things to do, don't over-tighten the pommel, and buy nicer blades. So far I haven't broken another, and I stupidly bought the same blades again, well kinda accidently, but that's just BG being a PITA.

[mrbiggs]

The good news is that you may be able to turn your old french grip epees into pistol grips. Well, news isn't too good since you're a french grip fencer. The bad news is that the blades you have are seriously defective. The tang should not break during regular usage. I've never seen one do so. Has anyone else? Did you bend the tang quite a bit?

Tomas

I've seen one do so. On a French, and on a pistol grip.

I've also seen a pistol grip break, during regular fencing. A women's foilist, and not an especially strong one, was using it. It just broke in half. It was weird.

[DHCJr]

What blades are you using..? Breaking 2 blades in such a period is no big deal, as long as they're not maraging ones. As you say, it may be that you've tightened the grip too much (though that shouldn't really cause the blade to break), it could be that you're hitting too hard - from too close a distance - or just that your blades are getting a lot of use (assuming that they're not maraging).

Best o' luck

One item that many don't know, is a blade is made in 2 pieces. Maraging blades does NOT mean Maraging tang. So whether a blade is Maraging or not, has no affect on tangs breaking. Saying that as others have said, there are some blades, that the tangs are not as good as others.

As many has already said, if you have a flexible French handle will cause more breakage.

[Abel]

Thanx for the great heap of reply's people.

First of all I'd like to know what "Maraging" means. I've looked it up in my dictionaries (yes I have several) and can't find it.

A fellow fencer at my club also uses French grips and, like me, holds it at the pommel often. He never had the same problem I have, but then again, he has a whole different style of fencing. I go searching for the opponents blade much more.

I'm using standard Allstar blades, without the FIE mark. They cost about €40,= (55USD?) And I have rubber grips. I think I'll start by changing the grip into a more solid one, since the problem seems to be torque, and see wether my problem solves itself. If not I guess I'll have to try a more expensive blade. (Bugger this sport, costs too much money )

[Zilverzmurfen]

First of all I'd like to know what "Maraging" means. I've looked it up in my dictionaries (yes I have several) and can't find it.

I Googled "Maraging" for you. It is likely to give you a better answer.

Two of the links describes Maraging steel as:

"A precipitation-hardening treatment applied to a special group of high-nickel iron-base alloys (maraging steels) to precipitate one or more intermetallic compounds in a matrix of essentially carbon-free martensite."

and

"Maraging Steel (HRc 52-55) is two times harder than stainless steel and 85% harder than pure titanium."

[angriff]

Like a previous forumite said, convert them into pistol grips... then sell them second hand. At least you recoup a bit of your cost