lead insert in the grip

[finnfence]

And, one more is it legal Q: My hand is small, my grips are tiny. As a result, the center of balance of my blades, both foils and epees, is about 10-15 cm up from the guard, and this sucks in terms of point control and muscle fatigue. I tried the LP lead tape that you can wrap around the grip, but it unwound itself, cracked and fell off in a matter of a week or so, and anyway it was in the way of my hand (I mentioned that I have tiny grips, right?). So now I'm wondering: can I drill out a plug from the bottom of my visconti grip and fill it with lead to help with the balance, or would this be illegal? I'm guessing it is illegal to show up with your own homemade blade made of something sensible for a lady's foil, like carbon-fiber reinforced UHMW polyethylene, right?

[fencerbill]

Originally Posted by finnfence

And, one more is it legal Q: My hand is small, my grips are tiny. As a result, the center of balance of my blades, both foils and epees, is about 10-15 cm up from the guard, and this sucks in terms of point control and muscle fatigue. I tried the LP lead tape that you can wrap around the grip, but it unwound itself, cracked and fell off in a matter of a week or so, and anyway it was in the way of my hand (I mentioned that I have tiny grips, right?). So now I'm wondering: can I drill out a plug from the bottom of my visconti grip and fill it with lead to help with the balance, or would this be illegal? I'm guessing it is illegal to show up with your own homemade blade made of something sensible for a lady's foil, like carbon-fiber reinforced UHMW polyethylene, right?

There is a maximum weight for a Foil. Short of that I don't see why you couldn't do as you propose.

I have seen a Foil grip made, basically, with a French grip pommel grafted onto the end of the prong of an orthopedic grip. There is a limitation on length of grip that you have to respect.

I have mentioned in other posts heat shrink plastic tubing, available at Radio Shack. You could use it either to stabilize your LP lead tape or even bunch the lead tape on the outside of the prong of your Visconti grip. You shrink it with a hair dryer.

There is no limitation on the materials used for a grip but there is a limitation on material to make a blade. Your proposed blade would not be acceptable.

[Inquartata]

People alter pistol grips all the time. They cut off prongs, file or grind away spots, etc. I don't see why you couldn't alter yours as you describe.

I once made a sabre grip with a swelling at the pommel end, into which I drilled a hole and tamped lead fishing weights. I still have the sabre, though I don't use it much because neither the extra weight nor the contoured grip made a difference in fencing with it.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

I would be worried a little bit about the structural integrity of the grip, depending on how you do it. I'd also like to point out the potential problems that happen any time you decide to put lead somewhere (it'll probably be a good idea to seal it so that you're not coming into contact with it all the time.

Strengthen your hand--- especially your fingers.

Until then? You might want to try a short blade, at least in practice. It'll bring the balance back a bit, and you'll be able to develop better point control. For most people, these things aren't worth the loss of length, but some people find that it allows them to concentrate on the important things (using the fingers properly) enough to make up for it....