Practice weapons

[taracor]

I was just wondering, what kind of weapons do you guys use when you are doing things like drills and not actual electric bouting? I mean, do you have a dedicated dry practice weapon, or do you just use your electrics?

[OROD]

Originally Posted by taracor

I was just wondering, what kind of weapons do you guys use when you are practicing alone? I mean, do you have a dedicated dry practice weapon, or do you just use your electrics?

Uhmm, how exactly do you practice fencing alone?

Well, I guess if you're an epeeist you can just stand there poking your foot with your epee. But, as a foilist, I find it hard to hit myself on the lame with a foil. And in any case, I'd feel pretty silly alone in my apartment in full fencing gear trying to stab myself. But, hey, whatever makes you happy.

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[whiteandbluefencer]

Well, honestly this depends for me on which club I'm practicing at. If I'm home as I am right now, my club tends to do drills and then go on to fencing electric bouts. In this case it works best to simply use an electric weapon the whole time. If I'm at college, we only fence electric on free fencing days once a week. Since I know there won't be any electric fencing on normal practice days, I use a dry one instead. This cuts down on the risk of damaging/wearing out my electric weapons unnecessarily. It's a simple matter of logic, and money for me. My foils are basically all the same, so I don't worry too much about the dry one being different than the electric ones.

[whiteandbluefencer]

Originally Posted by OROD

Uhmm, how exactly do you practice fencing alone?

Well, I guess if you're an epeeist you can just stand there poking your foot with your epee. But, as a foilist, I find it hard to hit myself on the lame with a foil. And in any case, I'd feel pretty silly alone in my apartment in full fencing gear trying to stab myself. But, hey, whatever makes you happy.

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Haha, very funny... in a somewhat less than clear manner, I think this poster meant to ask whether or not he/she should use a dry weapon when only doing drills and not electric bouting.

[telkanuru]

Why practice with something that feels different than what you use when you fence?

I've yet to find a non-electric blade that is in any way decent.

[taracor]

Yeah, that's what I meant, drills and whatnot. I'll edit that.

[erooMynohtnA]

I use electric for everything for the reasons cited above. Also, it's one less item I have to carry around.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

I will agree that I'll use my electric gear for everything.

The only difference being that I have no problem using somewhat questionable electric gear during drill and practice, often even if that practice is on strip. I would prefer to find out that a tip is sticky or intermittant or whatever during practice. If I only use it during competition, when it doesn't work, I find out... during competition. Which sucks.

[KD5MDK]

I do not have a dedicated dry practice sabre.

I would question the intelligence of anyone who did.

[Peach]

Originally Posted by KD5MDK

I do not have a dedicated dry practice sabre.

I would question the intelligence of anyone who did.

Sabres are different--they're basically an electrified metal stick, and there's nothing to mess up. That said, I teach an introductory sabre class as a middle school sport at my school, and almost all the sabres are dry because I don't have them fence electric until nearly the end, and it was cheaper to buy that many if I didn't buy them with sockets. I don't have much of a budget.

[Phrogger]

For epee I use an electric weapon (my crappiest one). I have three dedicated tournament weapons and one electric I use for practice (may be functional or non-functional). I did buy a practice epee once, but I hate using it as the "feel" is different and you can't always tell if you would have gotten the touch or not. I like the "click" sound that the electric tip makes. The electric tip is also narrower than the practice tip and catches on material differently. The rounded rubber practice tip tends to roll off of fabric and not catch quite like the electric does.

[AdamH]

Thinking about this, it might be that steam foils are for beginners and coaches.

In a club for beginners, steam foils where there might be no electric fencing anyway would be perfectly reasonable. They're cheaper and may or may not last longer.

Coaches using steam foils for lessons is something I'm ambivalent about. On the one hand the coach can have a weapon they may have been using for a long time, which is probably lighter than an electric foil. On the other hand, the rubber button on the tip can be annoying to coupe off an engagement.

As has been stated above, if you fence electric, it is probably reasonable to take lessons with the foil(s) you'll be using in competition and bouting. In fact, I'd strongly recommend it for consistency.

Steam epee and sabre I don't see much point to, these days.

[tdwg83]

If you are particularly worried about your electric stuff being messed up, build a "practice weapon with an unwired electric blade (like the ones you compete with) and use a threaded dummy point like this one:
http://shop.fencing.net/product_p/lp-f26.htm
This will give you a practice blade with the feel of your electric. The only thing it doesn't do is click when you hit.

I have both a standard practice saber and a practice foil because I haven't purchased electric gear for those weapons. I do a lot of none electric fencing right now so these work for now.

[needle]

Originally Posted by tdwg83

use a threaded dummy point like this one:
http://shop.fencing.net/product_p/lp-f26.htm
This will give you a practice blade with the feel of your electric. The only thing it doesn't do is click when you hit.

You can do better than that - use the electric point, but no wire. Put the plastic cap from one of your old broken wires into the barrel.
I did that once with the last of a batch of very crappy blades I bought - I was just waiting for the blade to break, didn't want to waste a perfectly good wire on it.

[ysbadadden]

Practice epees are awful -- they are balanced differently, the point doesn't fix correctly (as was already pointed out), and they hit harder because they lack the 750g. spring.

As for foils, I agree with using an electric blade with a dummy tip, or perhaps an old, malfunctioning tip. Sooner or later there will be plenty of those lying around.

In sabre, it makes no difference.

[jjefferies]

I'll chime in that I break more blades on my coach than any other cause. So I have dedicated blades that I only use with the coach. I find that Leon Paul non-FIE work well as does a non-FIE STM. Both are fairly rugged/long lasting, inexpensive. As other posters indicated there is a difference between a "DRY" blade and an "electric" blade. So I use a trashed out German or French tip but with no wire. I think an old socket just to hold your body cord connector is desirable as most lessons come in the middle of bouting. Summer Nationals were a great place to shop for blades. I picked up a non-FIE STM for $25. which I thought was a decent price though there were some cheaper.

[yazzywazzy]

A Chinese blades for practice and an FIE blade occasionally. More often I'll use the Chinese. Then again, I am so used to their crappy balance, I'd rather use my Chinese blades at competition if they would allow it.

[telkanuru]

Originally Posted by yazzywazzy

A Chinese blades for practice and an FIE blade occasionally. More often I'll use the Chinese. Then again, I am so used to their crappy balance, I'd rather use my Chinese blades at competition if they would allow it.

This is what I'm getting at- you must practice with what you're going to use in competition, or you're going to have problems.

[VELISARIOS]

Depence. Sometimes electric sometimes dry practice weapon.

[kuroutesshin]

Originally Posted by AdamH

Thinking about this, it might be that steam foils are for beginners and coaches.

*snip*

Steam epee and sabre I don't see much point to, these days.

I like hearing this term used.

Also- dont' forget that some suppliers sell sabre blades that aren't s2000- and thus truly are "dry" blades!