Is this sword safe???

Hi all.
I obtained a replacement epee blade from a brand name house. The
blade when it arrived was not well finished even for recreational level
equipment. The channel that holds the wire was somewhat butchered by
repeated applications of the grinder that forms the channel. The blades
cross section is not a nice uniform sweep from thick to thin but varys up
and down noticeably along the blade. There are several other points not
relevent here.

The blade was wired and set as I had no other but I quickly found that
when used, the set to the grip (Down and to the Left for a right hander)
could be changed by a good bind or parry. The amount of movement makes
the blade almost unuseable. However it is so soft that it can be
straightened by hand on the piste.

My question. Is this thing even safe to be on the piste???

All other things aside I am really surprised to see the forge mark on
this blade and to see how really poor the workmanship is but of greatest
concern now is should I be throwing this out before someone gets hurt??

Thanks in advance for your learned assistance

Earl

They all break sooner or later. Sounds like this one can be
expected to go sooner rather than later. But if it's that poorly
tempered I'd send it back to the seller as being unusable.
Within the past several months there was a bad batch of the
cheap russian blades that many of us use. I had one break in
the first bout it was used in. I spoke with the seller, Post Fencing,
and they took it back without any problem and sent me another.
Saul of Post Fencing told me the more inexpensive blades suffer
from spotty quality control. He will keep the blade and if there
are enough returned to make it worth while he will ship them
back to the manufacturer and get credit. Point being that Post
took care of the problem for me. And Post isn't the only
distributor selling these blades so other distributors are
likely seeing the same sort of problem.

Bottom line, contact the supplier, perhaps they'll be as good
as Post Fencing about replacing the blade.

J.


Derle wrote:
> Hi all.
> I obtained a replacement epee blade from a brand name house. The
> blade when it arrived was not well finished even for recreational level
> equipment. The channel that holds the wire was somewhat butchered by
> repeated applications of the grinder that forms the channel. The blades
> cross section is not a nice uniform sweep from thick to thin but varys up
> and down noticeably along the blade. There are several other points not
> relevent here.
>
> The blade was wired and set as I had no other but I quickly found that
> when used, the set to the grip (Down and to the Left for a right hander)
> could be changed by a good bind or parry. The amount of movement makes
> the blade almost unuseable. However it is so soft that it can be
> straightened by hand on the piste.
>
> My question. Is this thing even safe to be on the piste???
>
> All other things aside I am really surprised to see the forge mark on
> this blade and to see how really poor the workmanship is but of greatest
> concern now is should I be throwing this out before someone gets hurt??
>
> Thanks in advance for your learned assistance
>
> Earl

They all break sooner or later. Sounds like this one can be
expected to go sooner rather than later. But if it's that poorly
tempered I'd send it back to the seller as being unusable.
Within the past several months there was a bad batch of the
cheap russian blades that many of us use. I had one break in
the first bout it was used in. I spoke with the seller, Post Fencing,
and they took it back without any problem and sent me another.
Saul of Post Fencing told me the more inexpensive blades suffer
from spotty quality control. He will keep the blade and if there
are enough returned to make it worth while he will ship them
back to the manufacturer and get credit. Point being that Post
took care of the problem for me. And Post isn't the only
distributor selling these blades so other distributors are
likely seeing the same sort of problem.

Bottom line, contact the supplier, perhaps they'll be as good
as Post Fencing about replacing the blade.

J.


Derle wrote:
> Hi all.
> I obtained a replacement epee blade from a brand name house. The
> blade when it arrived was not well finished even for recreational level
> equipment. The channel that holds the wire was somewhat butchered by
> repeated applications of the grinder that forms the channel. The blades
> cross section is not a nice uniform sweep from thick to thin but varys up
> and down noticeably along the blade. There are several other points not
> relevent here.
>
> The blade was wired and set as I had no other but I quickly found that
> when used, the set to the grip (Down and to the Left for a right hander)
> could be changed by a good bind or parry. The amount of movement makes
> the blade almost unuseable. However it is so soft that it can be
> straightened by hand on the piste.
>
> My question. Is this thing even safe to be on the piste???
>
> All other things aside I am really surprised to see the forge mark on
> this blade and to see how really poor the workmanship is but of greatest
> concern now is should I be throwing this out before someone gets hurt??
>
> Thanks in advance for your learned assistance
>
> Earl

In article <pan.2003.01.25.04.02.14.532377.254@NOSPAM.telus.n et>, Derle
<techwiz@NOSPAM.telus.net> writes
>Hi all.
>I obtained a replacement epee blade from a brand name house. The
>blade when it arrived was not well finished even for recreational level
>equipment. The channel that holds the wire was somewhat butchered by
>repeated applications of the grinder that forms the channel. The blades
>cross section is not a nice uniform sweep from thick to thin but varys up
>and down noticeably along the blade. There are several other points not
>relevent here.
>
>The blade was wired and set as I had no other but I quickly found that
>when used, the set to the grip (Down and to the Left for a right hander)
>could be changed by a good bind or parry. The amount of movement makes
>the blade almost unuseable. However it is so soft that it can be
>straightened by hand on the piste.
>
>My question. Is this thing even safe to be on the piste???

Don't know if it's safe, but if the tang can be bent by hand to re-set
the blade then it's not fit for purpose. I've never met such a problem.
I'd take it back and demand a replacement from a different batch.

>
>All other things aside I am really surprised to see the forge mark on
>this blade and to see how really poor the workmanship is but of greatest
>concern now is should I be throwing this out before someone gets hurt??
>
>Thanks in advance for your learned assistance
>
>Earl

--
Tim S.

In article <pan.2003.01.25.04.02.14.532377.254@NOSPAM.telus.n et>, Derle
<techwiz@NOSPAM.telus.net> writes
>Hi all.
>I obtained a replacement epee blade from a brand name house. The
>blade when it arrived was not well finished even for recreational level
>equipment. The channel that holds the wire was somewhat butchered by
>repeated applications of the grinder that forms the channel. The blades
>cross section is not a nice uniform sweep from thick to thin but varys up
>and down noticeably along the blade. There are several other points not
>relevent here.
>
>The blade was wired and set as I had no other but I quickly found that
>when used, the set to the grip (Down and to the Left for a right hander)
>could be changed by a good bind or parry. The amount of movement makes
>the blade almost unuseable. However it is so soft that it can be
>straightened by hand on the piste.
>
>My question. Is this thing even safe to be on the piste???

Don't know if it's safe, but if the tang can be bent by hand to re-set
the blade then it's not fit for purpose. I've never met such a problem.
I'd take it back and demand a replacement from a different batch.

>
>All other things aside I am really surprised to see the forge mark on
>this blade and to see how really poor the workmanship is but of greatest
>concern now is should I be throwing this out before someone gets hurt??
>
>Thanks in advance for your learned assistance
>
>Earl

--
Tim S.

Sounds like you found one of the last France-Lames blades. I've got one
that fits that description to a 'T'.

"Marcus" <marcusmattson@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:b145st$6j2$1@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu...
> Sounds like you found one of the last France-Lames blades. I've got one
> that fits that description to a 'T'.
>
>


And it would seem they already fired the guy that ran the Tempering
Furnace... as well as the guy that used to cut the grooves, so they just
shipped what ever was on the line...

"Marcus" <marcusmattson@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:b145st$6j2$1@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu...
> Sounds like you found one of the last France-Lames blades. I've got one
> that fits that description to a 'T'.
>
>


And it would seem they already fired the guy that ran the Tempering
Furnace... as well as the guy that used to cut the grooves, so they just
shipped what ever was on the line...