More Expensive Blades

[RebelFencer]

Then why does Joe break so many?

I'm really convinced that the formula for the BF blades has changed, because I hear some people talking about the older blades lasting a year or more, and then these days, people are talking about them lasting under a month.

In all honesty, I've broken two after heavy use. They aren't as durable as Vnitis, but they are pretty durable.

[Purple Fencer]

Then why does Joe break so many?

I'm really convinced that the formula for the BF blades has changed, because I hear some people talking about the older blades lasting a year or more, and then these days, people are talking about them lasting under a month.

Changing the formula on an FIE blade would make it necessarry to have them re-homologated...a VERY expensive proposition. once they're certified, there can be NO changes to the blades (same for the masks).

I seriously doubt BF wants to have teh same rep of faking FIE blades that France Lames had near the end....

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Changing the formula on an FIE blade would make it necessarry to have them re-homologated...a VERY expensive proposition. once they're certified, there can be NO changes to the blades (same for the masks).

I seriously doubt BF wants to have teh same rep of faking FIE blades that France Lames had near the end....

Interesting.

Did Vniti get re-homogulated after they switched their blades from stiff to whippy?

[Purple Fencer]

Interesting.

Did Vniti get re-homogulated after they switched their blades from stiff to whippy?

You'd have to ask a higher level armorer than me about that...Donald?

[DJ Apostrophe]

Then why does Joe break so many?

I'm really convinced that the formula for the BF blades has changed, because I hear some people talking about the older blades lasting a year or more, and then these days, people are talking about them lasting under a month.

Yeah, I don't know what happened... I used to get much longer out of them... now I generally get two to three months when I'm using them a lot...

It might be me, I can't really say.

-w

[Beloit Fencer of Old]

Interesting...I have a Triplette BF FIE that I bought probably eight years ago which is still going stong, as well as a FL FIE that I bought at about the same time...and IT's still going strong, too. Oh...wait...I quit fencing for about eight years...hmmm....maybe that has something to do with it...

[jessicasimpson]

Then why does Joe break so many?

I'm really convinced that the formula for the BF blades has changed, because I hear some people talking about the older blades lasting a year or more, and then these days, people are talking about them lasting under a month.

This is all paraphrased from dan decheine (the US member of the FIE SEMI commition) At world championships a certain percintage of blades are pulled for chemical testing. BF always performed in these tests much higher than any other blade maker.

BF is also the most commonly "knocked off" who do you get yours from?

[erooMynohtnA]

This is all paraphrased from dan decheine (the US member of the FIE SEMI commition) At world championships a certain percintage of blades are pulled for chemical testing. BF always performed in these tests much higher than any other blade maker.

BF is also the most commonly "knocked off" who do you get yours from?

What is chemical testing and how does a blade perform higher?

[Purple Fencer]

What is chemical testing and how does a blade perform higher?

Chemical testing probably means they;re testign for the correct metallurgical firmula....perform higher means thye last longer under testong before breaking than other blades (there's a specific number of back & forth flexings trhe blade must stand up to before breaking...)

[larkmaj]

Each manufacturer must also submit blades each year for mechanical testing in order to maintain homologation, that's why there's so many numbers on the list after each manufacturer. These blades are selected at random by SEMI so the very fact that BF has maintained their homologation shows that the blades that break early are just anomolies.

It's 18000 cycles for foil, 7000 for epee, most FIE blades last longer, I think there was one that didn't break at all.

All these regulations are in the Rules book I believe.

[griffindm]

If anyone's interested, here is the Wiki entry for maraging steel. I found it very interesting. It's not just the chemical compostion, it's the manner of cooling the resultant steel

Maraging steel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[The Rose Knight]

Changing the formula on an FIE blade would make it necessarry to have them re-homologated...a VERY expensive proposition. once they're certified, there can be NO changes to the blades (same for the masks).

I seriously doubt BF wants to have teh same rep of faking FIE blades that France Lames had near the end....

I just picked up a France Lames blade for very cheap. A bare electric foil blade. I know the history; bought it as a practice blade just for the heck of it.

RE the original post, more expensive blades tend to be more durable and have a better feel. As others have noted, practice blades do not differ a tremendous amount between eachother just because of price. The same is true of FIE blades, assuming you're comparing apples to apples; bare electric to bare electric, wired to wired, coloured to coloured.