Toledo swords

[Xaaron Swiftblade]

I'm sort of an sca fencer (fence by there rules but in a private club) and I wanted to buy a new and fancier sword. I looked at <a href="http://www.toledoswordsusa.com/" target="_blank">http://www.toledoswordsusa.com/</a>
and saw some nice ones, but the description under the swords confused me, so I emailed them - this is what I got...

At 05:15 PM 2/1/02 -0500, you wrote:
Hello, I'm interested in your #168 Sea Shell Fencing Foil. My problem is
it's listed under fencing yet the text under the sword says "not for
competition use" If I were to replace the blade with say, a dinamo epee
blade, would it be usable under SCA, not olympic, rules?

--------

We haven't tried this yet. You probably could switch the blades, but we
cannot guarantee it.

Thank you

Toledo Swords

What are your suggestions? I don't feel like throwing $70US away (50 for sword and 20 for new blade)

[Mergs]

When they say "not for competition use" do they mean USFA competition or SCA. Seems to me that if you bought an FIE or other blade suitable for USFA competition, it would be more than adequate for your needs. Somehow I don't see the SCA having the same or better technical requirements for equipment than either the USFA or FIE. Could be wrong, though.

[neevel]

I've occasionally seen some of their 'fencing' weapons-- even if you could swap out the blades (assuming they use a threaded pommel and the threading either matches a useable blade or you've got appropriate taps/dies), I recall the materials on the hilts were none-too-robust. Like most of the other swords they sell, their fencing weapons are wallhanger/costume-piece items not intended for anything other than decorative use.

You'll probably have better luck finding something appropriate for your purposes at American Fencing's Armory section or another vendor selling gear intended for stage combat or SCA use.

-Dave