Huh! re: French Grip

[Morion]

I'm trying to learn to be an armorer and during my last class the coach came to me with a Epee that they couldn't get to go together. The problem was with a rubber coated french grip that they told me was of Chinese manufacture. The tang wouldn't insert. When I checked it out the hole was curved! It looked as if they had drilled the hole in a straight piece of stock and then formed it to the shape of a french grip. Does this occur often or was it just a cheap grip? Can this be remedied with a rat tail file without seriously weakening the grip?

[angriff]

I use China-made french handles too, and I haven't encountered such a problem.. mine fits around straight tangs well enough. Maybe you should just throw out the misshapen one?

[howtobrew]

Nonono, those are the same rubber-over-aluminum grips that PBT sells. I don't know if they are of Chinese origin, but they are very good grips. I have two. One I installed on an LP blade, the other came assembled from PBT.
Yes, they are drilled, *then bent*, so your tang has to be bent too.
You can bend the tang in a vise carefully to match the curvature, and then slide it on.
My only complaint with them is that they are about a half inch shorter than other French grips.