Blade Wear and Tear

[pammie003]

Just before the Christmas holidays, I bought myself a new electric epee from Allstar. I'm totally satisfyed with the feel of the blade. It's the same kind that my Club in Canada buys, but it seems to me that this one has become beat up much quicker than I'm used to. The quality of fencing at the club I'm now with in Germany is pretty high, but the blades back in Canada, being club blades, certainly got a lot of heavy use. I'm fencing less here than I was at home (I'm not competing this year) and I can't understand why it's wearing out so quickly? I take good care of my equipment. Do I need to step up the quality of the blade and move up to an FIE? Any thoughts/suggestions on this?

[Catal]

You'll get all sorts of responses, my suggestion would be to get one FIE blade and see what you think about it. Your results are what count.

[ravva]

there are numerous confounding variables that could be at play here.. the last thing i would advise is to fork out on a new FIE blade without first isolating the problem..... following on from the previous reply, i would think it sensible to use as many other blades as possible before committing to the additional outlay. it may just be that you have a blade from a bad bunch or that it has prematurely softened. in either case a replacement is needed but at least you will have identified the problem.

[Catal]

Psst... Get an FIE blade. They last longer and cost less over time.

[pammie003]

I'm definitely thinking about it as this one is slowly dying... plus, this way I get to choose from pretty colours! What's the difference bewteen them exactly? I like a blade that is not super stiff, but also don't ejoy feeling like I'm holding a heavy foil. No offense to the foilists, it's just not my thing.

[Catal]

I'm not knowledged on the choices of fencing brands you have in your location, but any blade manufactured by BG (Blaise Frères) would be top quality. A lot of companies like Uhlmann and Triplette get their blades from BG. An Allstar Blue FIE blade, would be an excellent alternative. There was a thread about the color differences recently, you should look there for a more detailed decription; but, a blue blade is what it sounds like you want. As for weight, just about any FIE blade will be heavier than its non-FIE counterpart.

[veeco]

Originally posted by Catal
I'm not knowledged on the choices of fencing brands you have in your location, but any blade manufactured by BG (Blaise Frères) would be top quality

I think you meant "BF" instead of "BG". IIRC, "BG" stands for Blue Gauntlet which is another equipment vendor (they may or may not sell "BF" blades).

Probably a typo, but I just wanted to avoid confusion for the other readers

[JEC]

BG sells several types of blades including "SG" blades, which are branded "U.S.A." Who makes them? themselves?

[Catal]

Originally posted by veeco
I think you meant "BF" instead of "BG". IIRC, "BG" stands for Blue Gauntlet which is another equipment vendor (they may or may not sell "BF" blades).

Probably a typo, but I just wanted to avoid confusion for the other readers

Yeah, and the error was right in front of my face, too... Probably, the same reason why I'm still a "C," I ain't payin' attention.

[Catal]

Originally posted by JEC
BG sells several types of blades including "SG" blades, which are branded "U.S.A." Who makes them? themselves?

Some Guy in the U.S.A.. Really...

[pammie003]

Thanks very much guys. I'm an allstar girl, largely because I'm in Germany until the end of July, and their stuff is cheaper than Ullman's. Me being the poor student that I am, I pray that I can get get the good stuff without having to live on bread for a month to afford it! I'll take all the breaks I can get (naturally without sacrificing safety), at least until I can get out there and start earning an income!
By the way, I've heard a lot about Blue Gauntlet. For future needs, does anyone know if they deliver to Canada? Although, until our dollar recovers, this would probably be super expensive!

[Artisan]

FWIW: I was told yesterday by a guy at BLADE Fencing supply that Alstar and Uhlmann are now one in the same - that they have merged, but they have for now retained the different labels on their products.

Anyone have a verification of this?

[sallearmourer]

Yes Alstar and Unlmann are one company now.

The SG blades are made in China for BG and they do delivery to Canada and they do discount orders from Canada like I discount my repairs at the NAC events for Canadain fencers. Blue Gaunlet does carry the BF blades as well as Unlmann blades that are made at several different forges and just have there name stamp on them same with alstar


Tim Loomis

Ye Olde Armourer

[earlie]

Yeah, well, oolman, and allstar it is a good pair of blade makers it is a merged two companies, it make good equipments. There is a good repootation on that oolman, and it is also a agood repootation on those aulstar masks and hand-gloves and jankets. Plastrons buddy, yeah, plastrons. Hey! they did a good moove by merging, nerging , merging, but there is other makers who is bong better than is the oolman and the awllstarr -- Haighh!!!!!! Well?????? Haa!!! ..... ... Pharrt.

[ccm]

Funny thing, yesterday I visited a tournament in Ingolstadt, Germany and had a chat at the Uhlmann booth while browsing their stuff.

It is a fact that both Allstar's and Uhlmann's stuff (at least in clothing) seems mostly the same, except for the colour (either Allstar red or Uhlmann blue). Uhlmann seems to concentrate more on the quality stuff, while Allstar has a broader range due to some intermediate quality blades and more economical offers in clothing. Even the prices for comparable stuff are exactly the same.

Also both companies have two 'Geschäftsführer' (translates to CEO, general manager, executive manager, managing director,... just take your pick) each, with one of them, Frank Messemer, holding the position in both. Mr. Messemer happens to be the son/grandson of the Allstar founders as far as I know.

So I did suspect that the two firms might be quite close.

The Uhlmann people told me, that Uhlmann and Allstar are still separate companies, though. Mr. Messemer happens to hold the Allstar position due to his heritage, they said.

So at least there seems to be no official merging. I do not have a clue who really owns Uhlmann.

Regards,

Chris

[neevel]

The ownership of the two companies is the same, and they share some common product designs (clothing and masks in particular, though the cut of the clothing is a bit different, with Uhlmann's stuff generally being wider in the body than Allstar's), but the two operations are still separate. It's similar to how Ford is now the majority owner of Mazda, and they have done some common platforms (like the Probe/MX-6 from the '80s) and components, but operationally they're still separate entities.

-Dave

[ccm]

Originally posted by neevel
... clothing and masks in particular, though the cut of the clothing is a bit different, with Uhlmann's stuff generally being wider in the body than Allstar's ...

Hmm, maybe that is why I bought most of my stuff from Uhlmann, I am wider in the body, too!

Chris