11-14-2005, 09:46 PM
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#1 | | Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 65
| how are france lames?
i know FL went out of business in 2001, but i saw triplette selling the FL blades at a pretty cheap price at triplette. my coach mentioned that france lame blades are very good...but i dont think he has been up with the times recently because he doesnt know that the company closed down. since they're pretty cheap, would it be intereresting to spend some money on a few of their blades? and how is the stuff in general? is it worth the money? | 
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11-14-2005, 09:52 PM
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#2 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 4,530
| One of the things they did before they closed down was sell blades they claimed to be FIE but weren't. That combined with Triplette's less then quality reputation for, well, quality, says to me "Do not touch". | 
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11-14-2005, 10:04 PM
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#3 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 5,518
| France lames blades are VERY flicky.
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"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. And from this side only! The flight of a half-man, half-bird. Dinosaurs nuzzling their young in pastures where strip malls should be. Cookies on dowels. All those moment, lost in time. Gone, like eggs off a hooker's stomach. Time to die" -Phil Ken Sebben
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11-14-2005, 10:16 PM
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#4 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Charlottesville VA
Posts: 3,066
| The stock of FL blades that TCA has are left from before the company (FL) went under. They have been trying to move them for several years now at very reduced rates. Note that the saber blades I have seen ARE NOT S 2000 and if they are not stamped as such don't believe that they are. Having said that, the foils and epee's from that time (the last couple of years before FL closed down) are pretty iffy. FL used to be one of the top blade producers around but the quality control went straight to hell.
I have picked out a few of the TCA FL epee's for fencers that love to flick and they have held up well, especially for the price, but as I said I hand picked them. I would not order them site unseen or if you don't know what to look for even trust them picking them out at a stall if that is your whole blade budget. You are probably better off going for an StM blade unless you are willing to play the TCA/FL lottery. If you do you may get a blade that lasts for a long time, but you may go through 2 or 3 that snap like twigs before you find one like that.
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Just another lost soul saved by the (hit) First Church of EPEE!
Bona Na Croin. "Neither Collar nor Crown"
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11-14-2005, 11:26 PM
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#5 | | Have Blazer, Will Travel
Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 10,043
| I'm interested in buying one of the counterfeit FIE blades for the novelty of it, but that's purely a matter of whimsey, not belief in them. | |
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11-14-2005, 11:30 PM
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#6 | | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2005 Location: Louisiana
Posts: 1,179
| The FL that I bought from TCA has lasted about a year now, and despite periodic tip screw replacement there has been nothing wrong with them. I just ordered 3 more for replacements when my others go out.
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A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger."
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11-16-2005, 04:42 PM
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#7 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 128
| I have a couple of F/L Maraging (FIE) wired foil blades left over. They are much more flexible than BF Blue Maragings, for example.
PM me if anyone is interested.
__________________ Zivkovic Modern Fencing Equipment, Inc.
Quality Fencing Equipment Since 1972
http://www.zivkovic.com | |
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11-16-2005, 07:28 PM
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#8 | | Member
Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Chiba, Japan (near Tokyo)
Posts: 69
| Rust and more rust.
I have a non-FIE France Lame Epee blade which rusts despite every effort to keep it clean and oiled. It seems to rust moments after it is cleaned. While my Allstar non-FIE almost never has the slightest tarnish. The FL can be a bit of a noodle by comparison to the Allstar but has survived some serious bends without breaking or taking any permanent curves.
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"Our body is a machine for living. It is organized for that, it is its nature. Let life go on in it unhindered and let it defend itself."
Leo Tolstoy | |
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11-17-2005, 08:21 AM
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#9 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 659
| Like Mizore said, I HAD a FL blade that I had to scrub every day in order to prevent it from turning brown from rust. Towards the end of its life span, it became so unstable, it had to be straightened after every hit. Eventually during a bout, my opponent executed a beat attack that broke the FL in half. The beat attack was a normal beat attack, but the blade had had enough and retired itself. | |
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11-17-2005, 10:15 AM
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#10 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: pennsylvania, Philly division
Posts: 421
| I tried to order some of the "Fake" FIE FL blades from TCA a long while ago and they said they didn't have any. This was epee tho....
-Tre'
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Me-"It's Molloy, with an OY"
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11-18-2005, 02:04 AM
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#11 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: I have no home
Posts: 1,890
| I think I still have one of the fake FIEs in one of my old cases chillin at home. It is very flicky. As far as foil blades go though, the FL Maraging have treated me well, I have one from '99 that's undergone more abuse than most people's foils on a regular basis and still functions well, has no kinks, and is plenty stiff enough to not have a negative effect on point control. You can get the new FL/Prieur blades if you want...the blue foil ones aren't bad and the epee blades are not that noodly if you pick wisely...
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I now dangle to the left....my tassle. Get your minds out of the gutter.
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