Sabre Blade Comparison

[bobb121]

Hi All,

I currently use stm blades and find that they have great stamina. I also like the stiffness of the blades, and weight. I am currently considering switching over to BF blades, as all my stm blades are reaching the point at which they will snap. If people could chime in with their opinions of various brands with regards to stamina, weight, and stiffness.

Best Regards

[noodle]

sabre blades break like matchsticks.

if you like STMs, they're cheap, so continue to buy them.
BF blades are more expensive, and you shouldn't switch to them unless you've tried one out and you truly do like them more than the STM blades

[fencerbill]

It is a interesting question to ask.

If anyone had experience with a lot of different Sabre blades, how could they say anything good about them?

[KD5MDK]

Well, I think it depends on what the proper lifespan of a blade is. If it's 6 months of regular useage...

6 months of practice twice a week for 3 hours is 6 hours of practice. Let's imagine
15 bouts in each practice, with 40 blade actions each. 15x40=600.
600x8 practices a month is 4800. We'll toss in a tournament with 10 bouts (pools+DEs) for another 400. So 5200 blade actions a month for 6 months is 31200 blade actions per lifespan.

Now, if you practice 5 times a week, go to 3 tournaments a month and end up in the finals of each, you probably go through a blade every 2 months. Over say 8 years of fencing, that's a lot of experience with blades (48), with all of them lasting as long as normal.

[bobb121]

Well, here is the life span of the current blades I am using:

stm >1year
LM 1 month
dynamo <6months
bg 1day
poz>1year

I rarely use the poz due to the weight, and the stm blades are currently in use. If it helps I prefer to have very stiff blades in Sabre.

Hope this helps,

Cheers

[bobb121]

I just got in the BF gold FIR sabre blade. I figured that since it was only 50 bucks it was worth trying it once. I found that the weight appears to be in the foible, and the blade is thicker. The weight and balance feel very close to an stm for those who are interested. I have been told that unlike the stm blades, that the color actuallt relates to the temper of the blade.

Armourers I would appreciate comments on this.

[headcut]

stm >1year
LM 1 month
dynamo <6months
bg 1day
poz>1year

Looks like you've sampled the whole candy store! Did all of these pretty much feel the same or was there one that stood out for you? How's the BF blade?

[bobb121]

Well, my opponents said that get hit by my BF FIE blade felt lke getting hit by a brick, and I didn't even hit them that hard. I lkethe feel of the LM blade the best, but they are so brittle and expensive it's not worth it. Given the BF reputation, I would go with BF or STM. The problem with the STM blades is that since they are hand made the metal is soft. This means that after you make enough parries you will need to take a wrench to the blade to straiten it out. The STM blades tend to start twisting at the forte. I haven't had enough experience to tell you if this is a problem with the BF blades.