Over the past few years the hard blade cover has become a staple for a large number of fencers. Whether it’s to protect blades against the baggage handlers who view the burst rate specifications on materials as a challenge or a way to keep the shiny metal off of sweaty uniforms we’re not entirely sure. Whether you want to protect your fencing sword or just think it cool to have a sheath for it, making a blade cover is not very difficult.

While you can purchase these from your favorite online store, with a little work and patience you can make your own hard covers for yourself or your fencing team.

Materials needed: PVC Pipe, Drill, Bungees, File

Preparation – Get the PVC pipe. For epee blades you want 3/4″ and for foils and sabres you can go down to 1/2″. You don’t need the highest grade PVC tubing, so go for the 200 psi version to save a bit.

Step 1 – Cut the PVC into 36″ lengths. Most home improvement stores sell the PVC in 10 foot lengths, so you’ll be discarding a bit at the end of cutting 3 hard covers worth.

A length of PVC tubing.
A length of PVC tubing.

Step 2 – Drill two holes in the PVC pipe. For this one we use a 1/4″ drill bit.

Be careful to drill slowly or the PVC may crack.
Be careful to drill slowly or the PVC may crack.

Here’s the pipe with holes drilled.

The holes will have rough edges.
The holes will have rough edges.

Step 3 – Clean the holes

Cleaning the holes will prevent snags that could ruin the bungee cord.
Cleaning the holes will prevent snags that could ruin the bungee cord.

Step 4 – Thread the bungee

Thread through leaving slack to fit the ball-end of the bungee through.
Thread through leaving slack to fit the ball-end of the bungee through.

Step 5 – Success!

completed hard cover
Ready for duty!

Here’s the completed hard cover now securely holding an epee:

epee hard blade cover
Completed hard blade cover holding an epee.

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