Italian grips?

[FlamingDeth]

I don't suppose one of the knowledgable people here can point me towards somewhere that I can purchase Italian gripped weapons, other than Santelli or Negrini? I just got a couple from Santelli, and lo and behold, they were not only larger and differently shaped than the Santelli weapons I was used to, but they had "Negrini" stamped on them. Oh, and they seemed to decide that I needed a false riccasso, which sort of defeats the point of using an Italian grip in the first place. So, in conclusion, I'm starting to ramble now.

Anyways...

Anywhere that I could get ahold of Italian gripped weapons?

[DHCJr]

American Fencers carries Italian, but their electric blades are out of stock, so they would probably put on a false riccasso. You might ask. They do have dry #4 Italian Blades.

[neevel]

With France Lames now gone, AFAIK there are no manufacturers currently producing Italian-style blades. Unless you're able to find someone who still has FL Italian blades in stock (be forewarned that non-maraging FL blades tended to be of dubious quality in recent years) , false-ricassos are pretty much the only option for now. The false ricassos I've seen on recent Italian foils from Santelli are pretty crude (just a bit of thin-walled copper piping squashed in a vise), so you may very well be able to make a better false ricasso piece yourself.

In short, anyone looking for Italian-style blades right now is pretty much SOL.

-Dave

[FlamingDeth]

Luckily for me, my coach did indeed have an FL blade in stock, so I swapped that out. However, this news pertaining to FL is quite dissappointing...I'd hate to have to switch to something that people actually use. :P

[axelbcorlu]

Actually, there are plenty of Italian foils out there. The ones hard to get are the actual (true ricasso) ones.

You won't necessarily need to use the false ricasso versions Santelli or Triplette are selling, although I haven't heard anything bad about them.

But if you want to get an actual Italian foil, with a real ricasso (a blade specifically designed for the Italian foil), both Negrini and Uhlmann have their own production lines.

I recently bought one from Uhlmann (Negrini was extremely slow in responding), and the blade is made by Uhlmann, and is fine, although the guard could be of better quality. That can be remedied easily though.

[FlamingDeth]

Almost the entire reason I use an Italian in the first place is because you grip it directly on the blade, which gets me much better reaction time. Also, when I ordered from Santelli, I ended up with a Negrini bell and a French blade with a false ricasso.

On the other hand, do Negrini and Uhlman provide Italian blades with the grips, or French with a fals ricasso?

[axelbcorlu]

hi, yes, the uhlmann blades are true ricasso blades, so you don't lose the feeling of the blade. mine turned out to be a good one, and we ordered a much larger group of items from them. the guard is not up to the same standard as the blade, but that can be dealt with easily, of course. i believe negrini sells true ricasso blades too, but i'm not sure who produces them. uhlmann also has an electric version of the same blade, but i haven't seen it.
they have the former one listed as "italian manual foil/blade standard" on their website (http://www.uhlmann-fechtsport.de/inhalt_e.htm)

i guess the more demand there is for their blades, the greater the chance we have a reliable and fast major supplier of true ricasso blades for a while to come.

axel

[FlamingDeth]

I had no idea that Uhlman made Italian blades. You have no idea how helpful that is.

[axelbcorlu]

hope it works out fine for you. good luck!

[DHCJr]

Originally posted by FlamingDeth
I had no idea that Uhlman made Italian blades. You have no idea how helpful that is.

For all of you that didn't know, Uhlmann bought the Scironni Forge and kept the Scironni symbol. They are making NON-maraging FIE blades. They were the first to have a non-maraging blades approved by the FIE. I have not heard of availability, but I for one would like to test out those blades.

[earlie]

Italian grips his friend in the crutch, they are gay, they enjoy it , but whats wrong, nothing, lets be a tollerant, yes a tollerant.