"Z" fencing gear

[LUDICROUS]

Has anyone heard of this brand? Brand new chinese bodywire has "Z" on it, and a fencing company in NZ sells Z blades. I suppose they are cheap and nasty, to be blunt? Judging by their prices and what I've heard.


Just wondering if anyone else has heard of them.

[Grey]

I've only seen plain foil blades with a Z stamp on it. From what I know, those are supposed to be blades made in china from a 'Zhang' company of sorts, not too sure about it. However, the quality of the blades with the Z stamp is mediocre at best from my experience.

[anoilerman]

fencing equipment with "Zhang" brand is very famous in China P.R.

Most amateur in China use that. and its quality is best in all the fencing equip which are made in CHina.

http://www.shjiaying.com/jj.htm

[remise]

That is true. The Zhang company makes a rather sturdy beginners mask, and their blades are ok, but you can not 'set' them.

[CvilleFencer]

I have used some of their stuff before as club gear. I bought a few body cords, beginners kit and foils from them. They are basically the same as Absolute. In fact it would not surprise me to learn that the absolute house brand is Zhang gear private labeled, although there are some differences in the body cord. The blades are probably the best of the Chinese blades, which is to say not great. They do not last as long as an STM, LP or BF would, but if you can get them really cheap they are worth it.

I would not pay over $15 US for one of their bare blades. You would be better off going with StM above that price, or add some more and go with LP or BF. There body cords are much better than the basic BG cord, about on par with the Absolute cord in my experiance. The odd thing is they use a plastic retaining clip that is very bulky and I don't care for it, but I got the cords for like $5 so I am not complaining! I would not pay more than $15 for those either. Better to go with Favero above that price point or add a little more and go with LP or Uhlmann.

All of their kit is decent for Chinese made entry level gear, but again do not pay more for it that you would for Absolute/Blue Gauntlet gear as it is the same level of quality/fit/materials.

[Ordway]

No opinion on the rest of the gear, or on the foil blades, but I bought a couple of super-cheap Z sabre blades and they are pretty decent.

For the sabre blades at least, they are *not* the same as the Absolute house brand (which I like better) as the overall stiffness and feel is different. (The Z ones I have are slightly more flexible, though still fairly stiff, or I wouldn't have bought them.)

[DJ Apostrophe]

remise? why can't you set the blade??? its just carbon steel right? carbon steel should bend.

-w

[remise]

The annealing process is different from other blades, and therefore not as well made. Most of the time (and I say MOST, but not all - of the time), an attempt to set a Zhang blade will result in the tang snapping clean off.

A club mate of mine bought 5 Zhang blades, and snapped 4 of them while trying to set them. He only got away with successfully setting one of them, and he is a certified armorer.

[Allen Evans]

A club mate of mine bought 5 Zhang blades, and snapped 4 of them while trying to set them. He only got away with successfully setting one of them, and he is a certified armorer.

In the past have had some success in heating the tang of blades like this with a torch and letting it cool down without quenching it. Sometimes that is enough to "soften" the tempering to allow the blade to be bent.

If that doesn't work, just have someone weld the broken tang back onto the blade body at the angle you like!