Canting a blade

[little_old_me]

I will be getting a new Epee for Christmas (lucky me) and I'm not sure if the blade will be canted. The blade I currently use came with a slight downward cant and I've gotten very used to having that.

If the new blade isn't canted, how can I do this. As best I understand right now, I would need a vise and some way to grip the tang to bend it (after disassembling the weapon). What exactly do I need to do?

By the way, the blade is a BF Blue, so I don't want to do something stupid and break it.

[Zilverzmurfen]

Originally Posted by little_old_me

I will be getting a new Epee for Christmas (lucky me) and I'm not sure if the blade will be canted. The blade I currently use came with a slight downward cant and I've gotten very used to having that.

If the new blade isn't canted, how can I do this. As best I understand right now, I would need a vise and some way to grip the tang to bend it (after disassembling the weapon). What exactly do I need to do?

Hopefully it should arrive un-set, because how would the vendor know how you want your blades set?!

Others may have other suggestions, but here's mine:
Try to heat the blade a litte, eg. by running an old towel up and down the blade. Apply the tang in the vise (so that your blade is pointing upwards), make sure you put a good deal of the tang "down" in the vise and then set the blade by bending it in the appropriate direction. Be careful!

Best of luck!

[little_old_me]

Ah, I was under the impression that the tang was bent, not the blade. That's new info to me...

Thanks a lot.

[Larrison]

Originally Posted by little_old_me

Ah, I was under the impression that the tang was bent, not the blade. That's new info to me...

Thanks a lot.

The bend is put in at the point where the tang meets the blade. I've heard of both ways of doing it; either holding the blade and bending (putting the force on the) the tang, or holding the tang and bending the blade.

Someone on here, mentioned they'd slip a appropriately-sized pipe over the (tang?) and use the additional leverage from the longer pipe to help in doing this.

[keropie]

The part that really gets bent in the join between the tang and blade. You can do it either by putting the tang in the vice and pulling the blade (often easier cause you have the whole blade to pull instead of 3-6" of tang), or by putting the blade in the vice and using some sort of extension (steel pipe or some such) and pulling that way, though that does tend to cause the tang itself to be slightly curved. If that happens, you can use most vices to smash the tang flat again.

I've usually done the tang in vice-pull blade thing, until I tried to bend the new (at the time) Vniti FIE blades, or the BF Blue FIE blades (both foil) and couldn't really get them bent sufficiently that way. Then the steel pipe helped out (actually, tried copper piping the first time, but it kept shattering when I bent the blade).

[KD5MDK]

If you're buying it assembled, it will come canted usually, I believe. If you're buying the blade bare, it will come uncanted. Or you can talk to your vendor and ask.

[telkanuru]

If you have a wrench that looks like O====C (ie, crecesnt wrench), the closed end is also very good for putting a bend in the tang, even without a vice.

I also reccomend bending the tang slightly to the left (as you look down the blade towars the tip) if you're right handed, or the right if you're a leftie.

[Zilverzmurfen]

Originally Posted by little_old_me

Ah, I was under the impression that the tang was bent, not the blade. That's new info to me...

Originally Posted by keropie

The part that really gets bent in the join between the tang and blade. You can do it either by putting the tang in the vice and pulling the blade (often easier cause you have the whole blade to pull instead of 3-6" of tang)

This is how I meant, sorry if I was being unclear! (Ah, the joys of describing things in a foreign language! )

Anyway, as keropie (and others) pointed out you really bend the tang -- not the actual blade -- where they join.

My description on how I usually do it is because I'm not too strong, that way I can use the entire blade as "leverage" (or however you would say in english) instead of just setting the blade by using the shorter end, ie. the tang itself.


(I hope that was clearer! )

[CvilleFencer]

The method that Telkanuru mentions works very well if you don't have a vise. Just slip the open end of the wrech so that it is pointing towards the point, make sure that the wrench is resting agains the shoulder and not the blade itself (you want the pivot to be right where the blade meets the tang) and squeeze them together. Depending on how much of a cant you want, a box end wrench can work better than a cresent wrench as the box end is itself usually sli8ghtly canted. This can allow you to get a deeper bend. Also seriously consider some left or right angulation as this can be very helpful for wrist touches and so forth.

If you do have a vice it is also pretty easy. Just be sure to use gradual presure and not sharp jerks or pushes. Remember that on most blades the tang is just welded on, not actually part of the blade and it is not that hard to break the weld off. If that happens you are pretty much SOL...

[little_old_me]

thanks a lot guys