Keeping a blade Straight?

[Caithdein]

I've only been fencing for a few months and have recently just bought my first foil. Now the blade is a little bent, every foil I've seen has had a slight bend to the blade from use but I was wondering is it possible to straighten them again?

I have seen people standing on the blade and dragging it along the ground - does this work, I don't really want to try in case i snap the blade.

Can you get a tool to straighten blades or do u just stick with them being slightly bent?

thanks in advance for any help.

[damianip]

You don't want your foil perfectly straight. The downward droop helps the blade "decide to bend" in a predictable fashion and not kink. An upward bend is bad.

You certainly don't want a "wavy" blade as this might cause it to crumple on the touch. This is bad for the blade and is uncomfortable for the opponent.

You can straighten the blade a bit if there is too much curve for your taste. Just don't try to take it all out. If your blade breaks while straightening, it was probably about to break anyway. Dragging it under the foot warms the blade a bit, hopefully making it less brittle.

If you're leery about straightening it yourself, have once of the more experienced folks at your club do it. Watch them, then do as they did next time.

Paolo