Balancing a Sabre

[vigia]

Can anybody make some recommendations as to the proper balance point on a Sabre blade (e.g., where under the forte of the blade should I put my finger such that a correctly built sabre -- including guard, grip, etc. -- will balance)? I am replacing a couple of broken blades, and in the past I didn't give much thought to balance. I just kind of bent the tang so that the top of the blade came off even with the top of the grip.

Also, I've see new Sabres where the blade was bent to the left at an offset from the grip. I never used to do that either, but that seems to be the way it is done. How many degrees is a recommended bend?

Thx.

[DHCJr]

First the bend on the blade will not make a significant difference in where on the blade the forte will balance on the finger. That will be affected by the choice of blade, guard, handle and especially pommel. What the bending of the blade does, it make it appear that the blade is lighter, because if pulls on your bicep rather than your triceps.

Now a warning, many blades you see now are made in the Ukraine and Lithuania. The problem is they do not usually bend at the tang; they break. If you plan on balancing them (bend) you must be very carefully. I personally have stopped bending them at tournaments because of the poor success rate.

[Inquartata]

The balance of your sabre is an extremely personal thing, and depends on many factors ( steel bell or aluminum, type of bell, size-type of pommel, blade, bell pad, etc. ). I've seen sabre fencers sit for hours interchanging parts amongst three or four weapons, trying to get just the right "feel" to them. That said, I try to get mine to balance no more than two inches out from the bell, and the closer to one inch the better I like them...and of the four I have, all have subtly different feels. On the one with the steel Santelli bell, I had to make my own grip, with a swell at the heel end into which I drilled a cavity and inserted a lead fishing weight, then covered the whole with Shoe Goo. You can make slight changes of this sort with washers, but we're talking REALLY slight here...

Never bent my tangs and never understood just why people did.