Looking for a new foil questions

[InFerrumVeritas]

Since I only have two electric weapons, I decided to get annother one to so as to have annother backup. I like a stiff blade, as I do not flick often, and there is a club in my division which teaches their students to wear and use chest protectors (gah!).

Q1: I have been looking at a Vniti M blade, as I was able to try one the other day and was rather happy with it. Are there any issues with these blades that I should watch out for?

Q2: I currently use a TCA medium Belgian grip. Are other brands' Belgian grips all about the same as far as size and fit go? Specifically the Leon Paul, BG, and F.net grips.

Q3: Is the LP Bayonnet socket compatable with a TCA Bayonnet cord? My body cords are working fine, and I want everything to be as compatable as possible.

Q4: What tip do you reccomend? My weapons now are French wired, but this being a new weapon, I'm willing to go with whatever would work best.

[CvilleFencer]

Q1: I have been looking at a Vniti M blade, as I was able to try one the other day and was rather happy with it. Are there any issues with these blades that I should watch out for?

Vniti is about the most durable blade on the market and a popular choice for a lot of fencers. The only will downside to a vniti is that it is a few grams heavier and with a slightly different balance point than say a BF FIE. I tend to recommend them to almost all of my students who are looking to start getting into FIE blades.

Q2: I currently use a TCA medium Belgian grip. Are other brands' Belgian grips all about the same as far as size and fit go? Specifically the Leon Paul, BG, and F.net grips.

Grips are a bit different from vendor to vendor. The TCA ones are close but not quite on the Uhlmann/Allstar "standard pattern" that many grips try to copy. The LP Belgian grips are a bit larger and crinkle coated for a no slip grip that will not wear off. The F.net grips tend to be closer the the Schermaspot/Negrini in feel to me than the Uhlmann/Allstar pattern at least in the Belgian grips, which I rather like. So yeah, there are some differences but they are generally pretty small.

Q3: Is the LP Bayonnet socket compatable with a TCA Bayonnet cord? My body cords are working fine, and I want everything to be as compatable as possible.

If you go with LP sockets, your cord will most likely fail before the socket ever does. As a general rule with Bayonets you want to keep like with like and the LP sockets/cords for Bayonet are among the best and are the "standard" pattern so most every other cord except a few rare Italian and Japanese cords will work with that socket.

Q4: What tip do you reccomend? My weapons now are French wired, but this being a new weapon, I'm willing to go with whatever would work best.

I hate any type of French foil tip. Sloppy tolerance's, differences in manufacturing standards from one year to the next, less than 100% compatibility in the parts even from the same manufacturer over a few years time and to top it all off, they fail fairly easy.

For points, there is the standard German point which is a very common high level foil point but it also has its problems. The barrel can dent and the screws smash very easily, meaning a rewire just to change the spring when it happens. The Next Generation German Foil points eliminate most of these problems with a much thicker barrel. However, the barrel is so thick that once you tape it up it will not always fit inside some older foil weights and it can become non-conforming, but not that anyone outside an FIE event will ever notice.

The LP points are solid, with two different versions. Most of the problems with LP points come from wiring them up. If you are used to wiring German or French points it can be easy to kill LP wires. The other main problem is that they will eventually wear down the screws and you will need to replace them, but to my mind that falls more under routine maintenance. The screws rarely mash, the barrels have great durability and they are a fairly inexpensive point unless you splurge for the Teflon coated jobs, which are also nice. This is what we use in club weapons and what I mostly wire up for my fencers these days for their personal blades.

So I would suggest either Next Gen German or Leon Paul. I would probably go ahead and order one or the other on your next blade and replace the French points when they break. Which they will.

Hope all that helps...

[SJCFU#2]

If you are going to use Leon Paul bayonet type sockets and cords then I highly recommend sticking with genuine Leon Paul - I've seen too many poor quality copies over the years. Plus the bracket on the latest LP sockets are arched slightly to better hold the plug in place, rather then relying on the plastic nubs that tend to wear down over time.

Regarding tips - this might be a good opportunity to look into German or Leon Paul tips. If you do go German, then don't even consider anything other than the Next Generation FWF barrel - it may be about a tad heavier (about 1 gram), but the aggravation you will avoid will make it worth while. On the other hand Leon Paul uses the same screws for both foil and épée tips, which means fewer different types of parts to keep track of and the screws are slightly easier to see.

Whichever tip you choose, bear in mind that there is virtually no compatibility between types of foil tips, so you will want to make sure that you have a suitable collection of spare parts for any and all of your points (mostly springs and screws). You will also need to completely rewire any existing blades to convert them from French to either German or Leon Paul.

[InFerrumVeritas]

If you go with LP sockets, your cord will most likely fail before the socket ever does. As a general rule with Bayonets you want to keep like with like and the LP sockets/cords for Bayonet are among the best and are the "standard" pattern so most every other cord except a few rare Italian and Japanese cords will work with that socket.

So they will work with my cords (they are the only bayonet that F.net offers, so if I order from them I want to make sure it all works), then? I figured that they'd be better with LP cords, but even if I order an LP cord my backup cords and weapons would be what I have.

...The LP points are solid, with two different versions. Most of the problems with LP points come from wiring them up. If you are used to wiring German or French points it can be easy to kill LP wires. The other main problem is that they will eventually wear down the screws and you will need to replace them, but to my mind that falls more under routine maintenance. The screws rarely mash, the barrels have great durability and they are a fairly inexpensive point unless you splurge for the Teflon coated jobs, which are also nice. This is what we use in club weapons and what I mostly wire up for my fencers these days for their personal blades.

So I would suggest either Next Gen German or Leon Paul. I would probably go ahead and order one or the other on your next blade and replace the French points when they break. Which they will.

What about the V2A points from BG? (Please ignore the previous question about Sport7 tips, as a quick search told me that they were, as erooM put it, dog poo).

Thanks guys.

[brtech]

So they will work with my cords (they are the only bayonet that F.net offers, so if I order from them I want to make sure it all works), then? I figured that they'd be better with LP cords, but even if I order an LP cord my backup cords and weapons would be what I have.

If you are in to bayonet, use all LP or all Negrini. The copies are not as good, at least so far.

What about the V2A points from BG, or the Sport7 ones from TCA? (I know TCA is generally disliked here, but just to be thorough...)

V2A is a harder barrel from Ulhmann. All the vendors should carry them. They are less prone to deforming, which does happen with the Uhlmann. I like them a lot, but I think the new FWF barrel is a better answer, and if you are going to go with german, which is a good idea, I'd get that barrel.

Most vendors now carry Sport7 for french components, but ask. Sport7 parts are not interchangeable with other french components, except the wires, which seem to be pretty interchangeable. I personally think that FWF makes a better french style than Sport7, but Sport7 is better than Prier or HPC which are the other two manufacturers. Prier and HPC have generally interchangeble components. I don't know what you can interchange with the FWF. In my experience, german is better than french.

For both cords and points, pick a system and stay with it. All your weapons and all your cords should be interchangeable, and you should always carry a bag of screw and a bag of springs for the points you use.

[SJCFU#2]

So they will work with my cords (they are the only bayonet that F.net offers, so if I order from them I want to make sure it all works), then? I figured that they'd be better with LP cords, but even if I order an LP cord my backup cords and weapons would be what I have.

I would recommend getting the LP cord as a primary and make your existing one the backup. That way you won't find yourself needing it as often.

What about the V2A points from BG, or the Sport7 ones from TCA?

I wouldn't bother with the V2A points - the barrel may be harder and therefore is supposed to be more dent resistant, but the screws still protrude and end up getting mashed. As far as Sport 7 is concerned, they are probably the best of the French tips but that tends to be a pretty low standard.