Spray painted bell guards

[leftyboy]

Specifically sabre. A couple of clubmates spray painted their guards and I can't remember if they used them in tournaments or not. If I painted mine before Miami, would it cause any problems?

Also, as a side note, what is the best alternative to the Pozdnyakov blade? Not necessarily Leon Paul, but I'm looking for something with the same balance and flexibility.

[SJCFU#2]

Painting the inside of the guard is common since it is required to be insulated*. However paint on the outside of the bell guard would probably be a very bad idea. Not only would it allow you opponent to score touches that might otherwise be blocked by the whipover timing, but any painted surface probably wouldn't hold up very well .

edit *except for a bare patch where the socket needs to make contact with the guard

[Rick Shellhouse]

Painting the inside is perfectly legal...


Matter of fact we have a whole bunch of different designs and colors.


R

[leftyboy]

Originally Posted by SJCFU#2

Painting the inside of the guard is common since it is required to be insulated*. However paint on the outside of the bell guard would probably be a very bad idea. Not only would it allow you opponent to score touches that might otherwise be blocked by the whipover timing, but any painted surface probably wouldn't hold up very well .

edit *except for a bare patch where the socket needs to make contact with the guard

I should have clarified: the outside portion of the guard.

I know from fencing these guys that the paint doesn't affect the conductivity of the guard. I wasn't getting touches that way.

My question is more along the lines of if it would cause a problem with a judge at Miami.

[Rick Shellhouse]

Originally Posted by leftyboy

I should have clarified: the outside portion of the guard.

I know from fencing these guys that the paint doesn't affect the conductivity of the guard. I wasn't getting touches that way.

My question is more along the lines of if it would cause a problem with a judge at Miami.

Ummmmm yes.....you would have a problem at miami....its illegal to paint the outside of the guard....it does affect the scoring....same reason they outlawed the rubber bumper around the edge of the guard.


R

[leftyboy]

Thanks. I guess I won't be doing that then.

I wonder what will happen to my clubmates.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally Posted by leftyboy

Thanks. I guess I won't be doing that then.

I wonder what will happen to my clubmates.

Well, they won't be allowed to use those blades........ Because it does, in fact, affect the conductivity of their blades............

Check out the OTHER current thread on sabre bells.

[fencerbill]

Originally Posted by MyrddinsPrecint

Well, they won't be allowed to use those blades........ Because it does, in fact, affect the conductivity of their blades............

Check out the OTHER current thread on sabre bells.

You really didn't mean blades, but rather guards or weapons.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally Posted by fencerbill

You really didn't mean blades, but rather guards or weapons.

I was, in fact, using "blade" as a synonym for "weapon", which while usually acceptable is somewhat confusing here, I'll admit. Although I can also imagine that perhaps they got some amount of paint on the actual blade as well, and thus might not want to use them............

[GypsyScot]

Originally Posted by Rick Shellhouse

Painting the inside is perfectly legal...


Matter of fact we have a whole bunch of different designs and colors.


R

Do tell Rick, wheres the link?

[RPI Epeeist]

Aside from it being not legal... and the scrapes and dents I've seen on my saber guards... I would not want to fence someone with paint on their guard, the #1 reason being I don't want that stuff on my blade!

Though it would look pretty cool... now... lets say you got an aluminum guard (I'm really upset with myself... I really should know this... but I don't quite remember how it works) would anodizing it to color it affect the conductivity?

Man... I gotta go back to school

[Cookeit]

I have seen colored bell guards for foil/epee on ebay. To me they are tacky and may lose you some respect on the strip.

[leftyboy]

Originally Posted by MyrddinsPrecint

I was, in fact, using "blade" as a synonym for "weapon", which while usually acceptable is somewhat confusing here, I'll admit. Although I can also imagine that perhaps they got some amount of paint on the actual blade as well, and thus might not want to use them............

Give them the credit of at least taking it apart before spraying it. . . :P I mean, how stupid would you have to be to try and spray paint (let alone paint) the guard and try not to get paint on the blade?

[Purple Fencer]

Originally Posted by leftyboy

Give them the credit of at least taking it apart before spraying it. . . :P I mean, how stupid would you have to be to try and spray paint (let alone paint) the guard and try not to get paint on the blade?

You would be amazed...trust me...

[leftyboy]

Not to challenge it at all (please don't get that vibe), but could I get a rule quote? I read the rules (probably wrong) and it said the outside first few cm's from the pommel needed to be insulated.

Thanks for everything guys.

[Rick Shellhouse]

One of the rule junkies can quote ya the rule...but the first few centimeters uis what usually is covered by the lil plastic cover...


Now something we do for coaches is powdercoat guards...epee..foil...sabre....thier teaching weapon of course....there are a couple candy apple reds....and my father in law has a black cherry metallic sabre guard...that glistens like hellfire in the right light...usually the light as he 5 cuts ya and laughs cause you were distracted....best part is I have it done at a local motorcycle shop so its INCREDIBLY durable cause they use the same process to powdercoat motorcycle frames...


R

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally Posted by leftyboy

Give them the credit of at least taking it apart before spraying it. . . :P I mean, how stupid would you have to be to try and spray paint (let alone paint) the guard and try not to get paint on the blade?

There are currently two active threads on the armory forum about the conductivity of sabre bells, both of which indicate that a number of people lack a basic understanding of how a sabre works. This is fine-- after about 6 years in sabre and not quite one in epee, I probably know more about troubleshooting epees because I have to do it more, but really.

This week, I don't assume people know which parts of sabres are supposed to do what, and whether or not they can do the same things covered in paint.


If I had wanted to paint a sabre guard (I don't know why I would, but for argument's sake....), I would have found some extra masking tape and put it on the blade. It's a lot easier than taking it apart, because I still end up putting a sabre back together three or four times because I keep forgetting parts on the floor in front of me.....

[Purple Fencer]

Originally Posted by Rick Shellhouse

One of the rule junkies can quote ya the rule...but the first few centimeters uis what usually is covered by the lil plastic cover...


Now something we do for coaches is powdercoat guards...epee..foil...sabre....thier teaching weapon of course....there are a couple candy apple reds....and my father in law has a black cherry metallic sabre guard...that glistens like hellfire in the right light...usually the light as he 5 cuts ya and laughs cause you were distracted....best part is I have it done at a local motorcycle shop so its INCREDIBLY durable cause they use the same process to powdercoat motorcycle frames...


R

Oh GREAT!! orange County Choppers does fencing!!

[telkanuru]

Originally Posted by leftyboy

Give them the credit of at least taking it apart before spraying it. . . :P I mean, how stupid would you have to be to try and spray paint (let alone paint) the guard and try not to get paint on the blade?

Well, you looked at the shiny, conductive sabre guard and went "LOL LETS FIX THAT"...

So I'd say your intelligence isn't exactly a priori.

[kalivor]

Originally Posted by leftyboy

Not to challenge it at all (please don't get that vibe), but could I get a rule quote? I read the rules (probably wrong) and it said the outside first few cm's from the pommel needed to be insulated.

Thanks for everything guys.

I'll be the "rules junkie" here.

m.24 The [sabre] guard
.4 The resistance in the weapon must not exceed 1 ohm.
.7 The exterior of the guard must be insulated for 7-8 cm from the pommel.

So we have a maximum resistance (1 ohm), and a maximum length for the insulation on the exterior of the guard (8 cm).