LM FIE epee blade?

[ellis08]

I was just curious about the LM FIE epee blades. I had used the K-Pro blade and loved it, and I was thinking about purchasing one. But the price is the little over the top for me. I was just curious since it is forged by LM, are the LM FIE blades just as good as the K-Pro? What are the differences between the two? Is it just like the K-Pro without the name stamp and $60 cheaper?

[CvilleFencer]

*** Disclaimer*** I am not intricately familiar with all the LP standards and so on for these blades. The following is a combination of personal experience, what I remember from conversations with LP and so on. Hopefully the will post a correction to any inaccuracies on my part.***

The blades do start out at the same factory. However there are a few things that the LP blades offer that sets them apart from stock LM's. The LP blades are selected along certain deflection (flex) and weight/balance standards to give them that Kpro feel. The blades also have a second inspection for surface defects and so on. They are then treated to a second peening process and a higher surface finish to increase their durability and lifespan. So what you are effectively getting is a blade selected and inspected to give a specific feel and long life. The blade is then given a second finishing step to increase the lifespan further.

I had tried LM blades in the past and was not particularly impressed. There can be a fair amount of variance in the feel and some I have seen have surface defects and "waves" in the blade. In the few examples I used, I also did not find the feel or the service life to be the same as the Kpro blades.

The caveat to all that was that this was several years ago (04-05 maybe?) so the overall consistency of the blades may have improved. Also as with any vendor that makes a lot of blades, there will be variances in the feel and lifespan, just as with BF, Vniti, whatever. To me that is one of the cool things about the Kpros. I know how it is going to feel and that it has already been inspected for the issues I look for when hand selecting blades.

So my $0.02 worth on it. For me it is worth it. With the time and inclination you could probably sort through by hand the LM's that Blade had in stock and find a few close to the kpro feel. They would not have the extra finishing step, but would be a fair bit cheaper. Course if you want to get that feel without traveling to a NAC, dealing with Blade and sorting through a huge pile of blades just call up your friendly neighborhood LP vendor.

[damianip]

The other LM FIE epee blades are (or were) nice. They are what I used before switching to LP. They are durable and well balanced (better balanced than the LP blades). They are not as light as the LP, which is one of the reasons I switched.

I have heard that they were rather variable in balance and quality, but mine, (c. 2001 or 2002) were great.

They used to be a tremendous bargain, but I think that advantage has dried up in the face of the "Amazing Shrinking Dollar".

Paolo