Fencing.Net - Your Guide to Fencing & Fencing Equipment

Aoife · 03-05-2003, 09:32 AM

Yay! I just got my first sword! I was perminantly attached to it for several hours after unwrapping it- the only reason I'm not still holding it, is because my friend managed to pursuade me that my school wouldn't appriciate it as much as I do

I got a wonderful deal for it, and I'm very pleased with it. Naturally, within an hour of getting it, I'd taken it all apart and then put it together again (it's a dry foil, French grip, Uhlman).

So I was wondering- does anybody have any tales of their first sword?

D'Artagnan1673 · 03-05-2003, 10:35 AM

Its exciting to get your first sword/weapon/foil. Having your own weapon in a sense brings you into the fraternity of fencers like nothing else does. When you begin to collect your own gear, you feel like you belong more than when you are simply borrowing the club's gear. Buying your own weapon makes you feel more committed since you've made a financial investment in fencing.

Good luck in fencing.

Gav · 03-05-2003, 12:11 PM

I've found that after a while the thrill of buying new blades and spares wears off. I often feel like, "F***, that's another blade (tip, missing grub screw etc) to be retired (replaced) - now I've got to find the cash."

It's much more exciting to <i>be</i> fencing than buying the sundries.

Good luck with the Fencing Aoife.

Incidentally, why the french grip? They're almost redundant in Foil, why not get a steam with an ortho' handle?

Triton · 03-05-2003, 01:35 PM

My first sword wasn't a fencing weapon, but a reproduction of a Scottish basket-hilted sword. Heavy, and poorly balanced, but it's not like I was expecting to have to hit somebody with it anyway. (Though the temptation to try was often there.) My first saber (and mask, jacket, and glove) for fencing was a relief because the shared equipment for the class was beaten up and altogether mangled. The nice, shiny bell-guard didn't stay shiny for long, and I'm very proud of how "experienced" it looks.

Aoife · 03-05-2003, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Incidentally, why the french grip?

The one on sale was French

I also find I can move the blade with less movement of my wrist with French. (I started with pistol).

lfortier · 03-05-2003, 06:45 PM

Yeah, I know the rewarding feeling you get after raising all that money yourself, and finally having your first epee in your hand (Just got it a month ago) upon arriving in the mail, then cream everyone with it during its first bouts. Very cool. Enjoy it while you can, you only get your first sword once.

jusplainfencing · 03-06-2003, 03:28 AM

i dont even remember buying my first sword......now i feel as though i should....i remember getting my first electric foil in the mail though that was pretty cool.....

D'Artagnan1673 · 03-06-2003, 09:54 AM

My favourite part of buying a new sword is to take my oppenent's blade and scrape his blade along my guard. Its psychological for me. Now I can fence and not worry about it. After all, its going to happen one way or another.

Gav · 03-06-2003, 10:28 AM

Funnily enough I just got new shoes [today] - opening the box has been the most exciting Fencing purchase I've made in ages.

Boo Boo · 03-06-2003, 01:41 PM

My first sword was an electric epee (perish the thought now...! ;-) - I started on epee, not foil).

Gav is very right: most purchases seem to be sundries these days... My last purchase, a week last saturday, was made up of a glove, several pairs of fencing socks, some ultra-light foil guards, a foil test weight and a zippy little gizmo which sits on your wrist and buzzs when you score a hit (useful for checking flicks land during lessons - I am paranoid and my husband is a fan of gizmos...). So, apart from the gizmo, it was all pretty boring stuff.

Now when I buy blades, I don't like them to begin with (they take a while to break in a little and curve nicely), then they get really good, then they die electically, then they get rewired (normally several times), then they get to the stage when "I can flick with this blade by barely moving my little finger", then they break :-(

Have fun, "first" purchases are really great (wait until you get your first jacket and first breeches too :-)).

Boo
(who goes through a jacket in about 9 months and a lame jacket in 6 to 9 months :-( ).

Boo Boo · 03-06-2003, 01:44 PM

I got a new pair at the end of October (the new Addidas boots - like the "equipment", but in a boot) and am taping the side part of the back foot toe already... :-(

Haven't fenced as much as normal since November either...

Boo
(must be something to do with me turning my back foot over on my lunge...

)

Gav · 03-06-2003, 01:59 PM

I'mtrying out Viktoria fencing shoes. They're reasonably priced and very similair to the shoes that I use already (a friend picked got the old ones when he was abroad and I can't get them re-soled or buy a new pair

)

Where did you get the 'zippy little gizmo' from? i thik LP sell 'em and I've been meaning to buy one and just never got round to it.

Boo Boo · 03-06-2003, 02:05 PM

A friend of mine (Sabre fencer) had the Viktoria shoes: they were very comfortable, but wore through VERY quickly (but then again, he probably rolls his foot like me...). Hope yours last well.

I got the gizmo from Duellist. They have (or are just about to) move shops (about one or two doors down from the old shop...) and are doing some good things (including reducing prices etc.).

Boo

Drew42 · 03-06-2003, 02:34 PM

I remember my first. I bought used epees from ebay. When they came in the mail it took me three days to go from box to working weapon. In the end, I had spent enough that it would have been cheaper to just buy the weapons new, but I sure learned a lot!

PeterGustafsson · 03-06-2003, 07:20 PM

Hi!

Quote:

Originally posted by Boo Boo
Boo
(who goes through a jacket in about 9 months and a lame jacket in 6 to 9 months :-( ). [/b]

Lame jacket wearing fast I have heard of, but a jacket in 9 months?? Just how do you do it?

Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

kini mini · 03-09-2003, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Aoife
Yay! I just got my first sword! I was perminantly attached to it for several hours after unwrapping it- the only reason I'm not still holding it, is because my friend managed to pursuade me that my school wouldn't appriciate it as much as I do
I got a wonderful deal for it, and I'm very pleased with it. Naturally, within an hour of getting it, I'd taken it all apart and then put it together again (it's a dry foil, French grip, Uhlman).

So I was wondering- does anybody have any tales of their first sword?

Ahhhhh, the first foil

. My first was a orthopaedic (pistol) grip France-Lames steam foil, bought for...I can't even remember!...AUD$70 or so. It was a great moment, as only someone who's seen the standard of the old steam foils at my school can experience

. I oiled it and so on religiously for ages...

...but the other day I rediscovered it, rusty and lonely, in my cupboard

. Similar thrills with my first electric blade, second electric and full set of gear left the poor steam behind

.

Boo Boo · 03-09-2003, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PeterGustafsson

Lame jacket wearing fast I have heard of, but a jacket in 9 months?? Just how do you do it?

I always fence electric foil (so wear a lame) normally 4 times a week. I seem to rub my right arm (I am right handed) against my lame a lot and it rubs through the top layer on fabric on the right sleeve in about 9 months... :-( (I wear FIE 800N jackets).

Boo

magma · 03-10-2003, 12:40 AM

well, okay, i seldom fence and tell though. [color=seagreen] A santelli, belgium grip, right handed which i fenced with for 3 years before it finally broke! [yea] and i bought another. [the good old days], and we wore blue knit pants, and a button down jacket, and bad socks, a too big mask and had more fun.

PeterGustafsson · 03-10-2003, 04:17 AM

Hi!

Boo Boo wrote:
------
I always fence electric foil (so wear a lame) normally 4 times a week. I seem to rub my right arm (I am right handed) against my lame a lot and it rubs through the top layer on fabric on the right sleeve in about 9 months... :-( (I wear FIE 800N jackets).
------

I got an idea on how you possibly can save some money: Buy a men´s size cheap plastron, one of those rated 350 N or less. Wear it *between* your lame and jacket for training. In this way, the cheap plastron, rather than the expensize FIE jacket, will bear the brunt of the rub wear, and your jacket will last much longer.

Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

pkt · 04-03-2003, 08:31 PM

Boo, et al,

You can buy conductive threads to repair your lame' from Robert Smith of Victoria, BC.

http://members.shaw.ca/ubik/thread/order.html

----------(---

I don't remember buying my first foil. It was a dry foil. That was 1965!

I do remember buying my first sabre in 1970. That was after a stay with some friends in Montreal. After being called to help some friends out in a street fight - the opponants took off - I decided that sbre would be more useful in circumstances like that. So when I visited my sister in Winnipeg, I went to an army surplus store and bought my first sabre and carried it on the train all the way back to Vancouver.

If you have never taken a trans-continental train, you have to try it. It was great.

PK