Picking out the right blade

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

When you're shopping at a NAC or other event for blades, how do you find a blade that isnt going to break quickly? What kind of tests are there?

[keith]

Well you can't tell the blade that will last longest, sorry. All you can do is pick out a blade with your prefered weight and flex and a lack of obvious milling imperfections.

So you want to check for any odd curve in the blade. A new blade should be true and without any imperfections in the edges (waves or thin spots).

[DHCJr]

Which is a part of finding a longer lasting blade.

Some steps:

1) Place the blade tip down on the floor, push down with the FLAT of the hand. Does it bend in just one spot or does it bend over a longer distance in a smooth curve? Take the latter.

2) Run your hand down the blade. Does the blade smoothly decrease is size? If it doesn't reject.

3) Check for inperfections on the blade. Carbon deposits (black spots), a groove that is not straight (both sideways as well as depth) and deep enough . Reject if there are inperfections. With colored blades be especially observent as the coloring can hide some inperfections.

4) Check the weld putting together the tang and the blade.

5) Check the threads for the tip if a bare blade. Personally for me, I only buy bare blades. I trust my own wiring more, but also loose barrels are more often than not caused by poor threads or shoulders. You can fix both, but the threads are more of a bother. The groove should widen slightly at the threads, but that is easy to fix, so it is not a reason to reject.

This is most of what is tested and should help.

[Joe biebel]

I fence foil and I don't buy blades often. I only have maraging blades and they last quite long. I haven't bought a blade at "Nationals" or a NAC for several years. I always look for new or better stuff there, but since I use #4 length blades only, my options are few. The important things I will look for in a new blade are machining details. Is the groove straight and true in the center of the blade all the way through to the threads at the tip? Are the tip threads and machining true and accurate? I have returned a number of blades that had problems in this area. Is the blade itself smooth with appropriate bevels and machining on the tang?

Another thing I do with new blades when they arrive, is put the "cant" in the blade and the curve I like. I usually don't get to wiring new blades for some time and there is a small chance that they will break during either of these operations. If they break during these operations, the blade is obviously defective. I have never had a vendor refuse to take a return on a broken blade at this point in time. After wiring or using the blade, I wouldn't have the guts to try and return it.