sabre shims

[larkmaj]

it's not a difficult question to answer and i've heard it before, but i recently found our shim set in the armory and i was trying to figure out what the sabre shims are for.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

It was for back in the day, when the edge of a saber was made out of many epee tips lined up along the side of the blade. You had to shim test every last one of em.

[DHCJr]

The test which is still required, but it not normally done except at Worlds is a safety test. The actual shims are Supposed to be 3mm thick to test over that distance. I have only seen 3 that actually attempted to do that. The Vistok from Russia, Prieur and some made by Zivcovic. The last were a good try, but not accurate

The thin part of the blade must be at least 1.2 mm by 4mm, so it is less likely to break there. The tip, either folder over or what can now be a solid tip must be between 4 and 6mm. If it was too small it probably had sharp bends and would break. If too big, it could hurt.