Fencing.Net - Your Guide to Fencing & Fencing Equipment

f242 · 12-29-2006, 03:44 PM

Apologies if this topic has been exhausted, but I searched the forums and couldnt find anything. I have a couple of new Vnity blades and have stepped, pounded, wrenched the hell outta the things and cannot get a bend. any advice for maraging blade bending?

HDG · 12-29-2006, 03:57 PM

If you're talking about canting them, you should find any number of threads searching for "cant". They are mostly in the Armory section, not this one.

f242 · 12-29-2006, 04:00 PM

I also searched the armoury section and did not find anything, but thank you. No, not the cant the "under 1 cm" (ha) bend from bell to tip.

HDG · 12-29-2006, 04:02 PM

Cant = the bend set in a blade at the tang.

f242 · 12-29-2006, 04:06 PM

As I understand it the cant is the bend one puts at the point where the threaded part of the blade meets the uh fencing or strong part of the blade. So before I mount my grip to the blade I put the threaded part in a vice and bend in and down. I mean the bend over the entire length. hopefully I dont sound like a jerk, I could certainly be wrong and what I'm talking about is indeed the cant.

keropie · 12-29-2006, 04:22 PM

Nah, you're right about what you mean. You'll still get more/better responses in the armory, but I've always done it simply by hand. Use your thumb along the blade and bend the silly thing.

foildad · 12-29-2006, 05:07 PM

Aight. To bend an FIE blade, I (foilson, not foildad) always heat it so the bend will stay. The easiest (ha!) way to do this is by wrapping a worthless rag or towel around the blade and stepping on the towel. Make sure the wire is facing down. Then, push down with your foot and proceed to push the blade back and forth under your foot. The towel should not move. After a few minutes, your back should kill, so take a break and try bending it (the blade, not your back). Be sure to use a towel if you touch the blade since it should be pretty hot. It will cool quickly and should keep its bend. If you screwed up, which is pretty likely, just try it again or just focus on heating certain parts of the blade before you bend it. Good luck!

graymalkin · 12-29-2006, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by foildad

Aight. To bend an FIE blade, I (foilson, not foildad) always heat it so the bend will stay. The easiest (ha!) way to do this is by wrapping a worthless rag or towel around the blade and stepping on the towel. Make sure the wire is facing down. Then, push down with your foot and proceed to push the blade back and forth under your foot. The towel should not move. After a few minutes, your back should kill, so take a break and try bending it (the blade, not your back). Be sure to use a towel if you touch the blade since it should be pretty hot. It will cool quickly and should keep its bend. If you screwed up, which is pretty likely, just try it again or just focus on heating certain parts of the blade before you bend it. Good luck!

It's actually a really bad idea to heat the blade to any degree that would help bend it if there's a wire in it.

I actually have found that with all blades (including and especially Vnitis) the best way to get the bend you're talking about is to just fence with it. After a few weeks, you'll start to see the bend you want.

RebelFencer · 12-29-2006, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by graymalkin

It's actually a really bad idea to heat the blade to any degree that would help bend it if there's a wire in it.

I actually have found that with all blades (including and especially Vnitis) the best way to get the bend you're talking about is to just fence with it. After a few weeks, you'll start to see the bend you want.

No, foilson is right. That's how myself and many other people have done it for quite a while.

At the moment I've been putting my blade face down and put another blade on top of it perpendicular. Push down with your foot and pull your blade through a couple times. It should have more than the bend you want...then it's just a matter of adjusting with your hand.

H Man · 01-03-2007, 03:41 PM

I went to a machine shop and had a custom "johnson" bar made out of 2" round stock. About two feet long, welded a solid piece onto each end and had a 6mm hole drilled down the middle of one end. I put the blade in a bench vice and can dial it in with specificity. Drilled a larger hole on the other end which allows me to reach down over the tip onto the blade to work out the rare and nasty bends that occur.

HVH

brtech · 01-03-2007, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H Man

I went to a machine shop and had a custom "johnson" bar made out of 2" round stock. About two feet long, welded a solid piece onto each end and had a 6mm hole drilled down the middle of one end. I put the blade in a bench vice and can dial it in with specificity. Drilled a larger hole on the other end which allows me to reach down over the tip onto the blade to work out the rare and nasty bends that occur.

Hmmm, sounds like something is fishy in your description. I have such a bar, although mine is made differently (it's a section of heavy wall tubing with a larger round stock with hole in the center welded on one end.

The fishy part is the size of the hole. If it was 6mm, it would only go around the round part of the tang. But the tang has a wider rectangular section where you want the bend, so the hole has to at least as big as the rectangular section, which means bigger than 6mm.

The hole could be rectangular, pretty much just a handle cut off, but it works fine if it's just round and big enough to slip over the tang right up to the forte (although in practice, you start the bend below that so that you have room at the shoulder).

I also have a piece of heavy aluminum bar stock, about 1 x 1 1/2 with a channel cut at an angle near the end of the bar. You put the tang in the channel and then you have a "Y" with the blade and the bar. Squeeze to bend, no vise needed.

fatfencer · 01-05-2007, 08:03 PM

you guys go thru some sh@@ to teach your blades to bend.

take a back of a crescent wrench, the round loop, and stick the blade thru the loop. bend progressively until you get a nice bend.

that's it really. takes 2 secs

ff

wingnut · 02-27-2007, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RebelFencer

Push down with your foot and pull your blade through a couple times. It should have more than the bend you want...then it's just a matter of adjusting with your hand.

So, just to clarify, are you pulling the blade underneath your foot at the same time as you're pushing down on the blade?

Are you starting with your foot up higher on the blade (so your foot is off the ground) and then pushing down so your foot winds up on the floor and stops about at the tip of the blade? 1 motion, push and pull at the same time???

RebelFencer · 02-27-2007, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wingnut

So, just to clarify, are you pulling the blade underneath your foot at the same time as you're pushing down on the blade?

Are you starting with your foot up higher on the blade (so your foot is off the ground) and then pushing down so your foot winds up on the floor and stops about at the tip of the blade? 1 motion, push and pull at the same time???

Ok, think of the blades like a plus sign (+). The bottom blade is the one you want to put a bend in and it is facing wire down to the floor. The other blade is on top facing wire to the ceiling...they are on the ground. I hold the bottom blade by the grip and push down on the intersection of the blades with my foot. Then I drag it through very deliberately. From my experience, this puts a nice bend in the blade.

fencerbill · 02-27-2007, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RebelFencer

Ok, think of the blades like a plus sign (+). The bottom blade is the one you want to put a bend in and it is facing wire down to the floor. The other blade is on top facing wire to the ceiling...they are on the ground. I hold the bottom blade by the grip and push down on the intersection of the blades with my foot. Then I drag it through very deliberately. From my experience, this puts a nice bend in the blade.

I use essentially the same method but just with my foot. Lay the blade flat, put my foot near the middle, pick the blade up about 45 degrees and pull the blade out.

Variations can be:

What fraction of the blade, tang to tip, where you put your foot.

Whether you pick it up 30, 45, or 60 dgrees.

Whether you put your foot tight to the floor when you pull it out or ease it up.

Whether you put pressure on your foot so it so it is harder to pull it through.

I am also careful where I put the blade down, not on concrete, for example. On wood or sometimes on carpet.

I feel that I have much more control on all these variables this way. Sort of start out easy and get more severe as necessary to get the desired blend. I have never found a blade, FIE or not, current or pre 1999 Sabre that I can't bend the way I want it.