Salle Organization

[kuroutesshin]

I'm sure we've all seen the old-time pictures of turn-of-the-century salles with walls of weapons and masks hanging up in a very dignified manner- I think I've even seen some of the like in the modern day. My question springs from a desire to reform the way our current armory is organized, with regards to jacket racks, mask racks, and weapon holders. Since we don't have a dedicated fencing area (our space is a basketball court) we do have a dedicated armory/equipment room that can be personalised.

Does anyone have any designs or constructs that they use to hang weapons for display? I'm imagining just simple pieces of wood to hang weapons from, or even racks of PVC piping that will hold blades upright. We aren't working with much space, but it would be very helpful to be able to organized our items more effectively and professionally to increase our standing and appearance.

Any thoughts or advice?

[SJCFU#2]

A few things that I did when redesigning the long, narrow, overgrown closet that we use to store our equipment.

First - figure out what it is that people need to get to most often and try to locate it closest to the door. Our weapons rack used to be all the way in the back, which meant that everyone had to go across the full length of the room every time they wanted to get another weapon - that was a pain if there was more than one person in there at a time. I moved the weapons rack closer to the door and put the workbench way in the back.

We replaced our flimsy, old plywood weapons rack with metal closet shelving mounted one wall - simple, easy to install and available at any home improvement store. Just make sure that it is mounted high enough to keep the points from hitting the floor and low enough to allow weapons to easily be removed and replaced.

We already had a set of free-standing shelves mounted to one wall. Rather than move them I added 1x3 slates across the front an inch or so below each shelf to provide someplace to hang masks. The downside is that it makes getting at things on the shelves a little more difficult, so most things that we regularly need are not stored on those shelves.

There was already had a hanging bar along one wall for jackets so other than adding a shelf over the bar I left that alone (I would have liked to have put the weapons rack in that space because it was right next to the door, but decided it would be easier to live with it than to relocate everything).

Final thought - put shelve in there wherever possible.

[kuroutesshin]

Great suggestions. We have wooden clothes and mask racks, and I was thinking in lieu of new metal hardware (we're short on cash) it would be inexpensive to just reinforce or build newer wooden storage and them stain them for some added character. Are your walls plastered? We're working with solid concrete bricks, so we'd probably have to use spacer screws if we put up shelving. Given that it's also a university building, we'd probably need permission, too... Did you just use modular shelving or go with freestanding shelf units?

While on the subject; our armory table is a horrendous mess. We have things like tip parts and grips divided up, but the desktop tends to be a huge mess of guards, wires, and weapons. Are there any pointers to be given on organizing that aspect of the place?

[SJCFU#2]

Originally Posted by kuroutesshin

We have wooden clothes and mask racks, and I was thinking in lieu of new metal hardware (we're short on cash) it would be inexpensive to just reinforce or build newer wooden storage and them stain them for some added character.

It depends on what you already have available, however it's possible that by the time you factor in the cost of wood and various fittings (assuming you don't already have them on hand) that you'll find metal shelving actually costs less.

Are your walls plastered? We're working with solid concrete bricks, so we'd probably have to use spacer screws if we put up shelving. Given that it's also a university building, we'd probably need permission, too... Did you just use modular shelving or go with freestanding shelf units?

We have one brick wall, one wooden wall, and two walls that are little more than open frames to support wire mesh. The entire space is maybe 6x12 feet (it is actually a small portion of a larger room that has been partitioned for segregated storage). We keep all the fencing equipment locked up when not in use.

As you enter the cage (as we refer to it) you will find jackets hanging on your left along one of the short walls. The hanging bar was already there, We merely added a shelf overhead where we store boxes of gloves, body cords, chest protectors and other miscellaneous items. We've also considered putting ventilated drawers underneath the hanging bar for knickers, underarm protectors and such but for now we simply keep plastic bins down there.

Once inside cage you have to turn right (disadvantage of a long, narrow space with the door set into one of the long sides). The weapons rack is mounted to the long wall on your right (we had planned on building a free-standing rack from wood, but eventually decided it would be quicker and less expensive to mount a "Linen Closet" shelf made of metal rods to the vertical studs that support the wire mesh partition). There are semi-free-standing shelves along the wall on your left (these were already there and since they were secured to the wall we decided to leave them alone - otherwise we might have put the hanging bar there and the weapons rack where the hanging bar currently is). We added horizontal 1x3 slats across the front of the shelves to allow us to hang masks - unfortunately having the masks stored this way reduces the clear passage between the shelves and the weapons rack. The shelves themselves are generally used for longer-term storage (items that we only need once or twice a year) - otherwise we would constantly be having to take the masks down to get something off a shelf.

The workbench is freestanding and backs against the far wall (which is brick). It includes a vertical pegboard on the back, a bookshelf over the pegboard and additional shelving underneath for storage of scoring machines and reels. Bicycle hooks screwed into the frame of the workbench allow us to hang floor cords and the like.

We've also added shelves, hooks and pegs wherever possible in order to provide increased storage for cords, overheads, etc.

While on the subject; our armory table is a horrendous mess. We have things like tip parts and grips divided up, but the desktop tends to be a huge mess of guards, wires, and weapons. Are there any pointers to be given on organizing that aspect of the place?

I'm probably not the best person to ask, given the current state of my workbench. You could try appointing an armory Czar and authorizing them to throw out anything that is left there, but you better find someone who is not only dedicated to keeping order but also has a thick skin because everyone else will soon be hating them for throwing out a favorite weapon (of course none of this would be necessary if people would learn to put things away in the first place). Short of that all I can suggest is looking for every opportunity to store things in boxes on shelves rather than on the table.

[kuroutesshin]

Excellent suggestions, thank you very much. I'll have to pass them on to our club leaders.

One further thing- I'm considering investing in plastic storage bins for gear and weapons that are infrequently used , and for summer storage (as a collegiate team, our activity levels decline sharply in the summer). Would using those bins with some silica and/or mothballs prevent mildew or rust in the hot summer months, or should we ask the building admins for a dehumidifier? I found that in early September uncovered blades were developing rust very quickly, and given the age/limited number of club weapons it'd be ideal to remedy this.

[SJCFU#2]

You can probably store jackets, masks, gloves and such in plastic bins without too much trouble. Just make sure that everything is dry before packing it away and I doubt you will have a significant mildew problem (unless you share a building with a swimming pool or the campus laundry I doubt that you will see the sort of mildew problems that you might encounter if you were located somwhere where it really gets humid, such as down along the Gulf coast).

As far as preventing rust on blades is concerned, there is an article in the Ask The Expert: Armory section of Fencing.net you may want to read (click here).

edit: I would suggest you consider trying the auromotive wax approach. It should provide some degree of protection (especially since the blades aren't likely to see much use over the Summer) without requiring too much clean up when things pick up again in the Fall.