What Every Fencing Parent Should Know About … Repairing Body and Mask Cords

Okay, so maybe Ron doesn’t know the purpose of a “body cord,” but I’m happy to report that there are any number of good videos that would bring him up to date. I Can Haz Armory has How To Store and Wrap a Body Cord, which gives best practices for storing body cords in a way that does not stress the wiring and connection. Ask an Armourer has a good video on Body Cord Basics: Anatomy and Function, which includes interesting information regarding how a body cord works. Because body cord videos are like eating popcorn – trust me, there is a workable analogy here – and no one can consume just one, Ask an Armourer also has Ask an Armourer: Expanding Body Cord Prongs (how to fix loose body cord ends, which is common) and Ask an Armourer: Diagnosing a Body Cord.

When it comes to foil and saber, one also has to manage both body and mask cords. For these weapons, some of the best videos include I Can Haz Armory videos on Body Cord Repair and Fixing a Mask Cord (Foil and Sabre), as well as Ask an Armourer videos on Repairing a Bayonet Body Cord. Attaching a Retaining Clip, Expanding Body Cord Prongs, Repairing a 2-Prong Body Cord, and How To Assemble a 2-Prong Foil.

Here are a few personal tips about the care and feeding of body cords:

• When purchasing a test box, it is critical to get one that has two sets of input connectors, to allow testing of the body cord on its own without a sword. In other words, you want to be able to plug in both ends of the body cord at the same time so you can test the body cord on its own.
• Body cords nearly always break at the junction where the cord enters into the clear connectors, so focus on those areas. Always test the body cords in every possible direction – back and forth, up and down, and moving it in a circle.
• Check the screws on body cords before every tournament, as they can loosen over time.
• Keep the connectors clean, as dirt can cause contact problems. A quick wipe with rubbing alcohol helps maintain good conductivity.
• Fixing body cords is fairly simple, so it is a useful skill for a fencing parent to pick up. Often, the hardest part of fixing the body cord is to put it back together. One key tip: put a small piece of tape on the “C” line (the prong that is farther away from the other two). By marking this part of the body cord in this way, you can be certain you are not putting together the body cord backwards at the end. To test for this, at the end hook up one end of the body cord into all three slots and then reverse the second end so you can touch just two prongs at the other set of test box inputs. If the lights go on backwards, you need to take the end you just fixed apart to switch the “A” and “C” lines.
• The tools also are cheap and easy to procure: (1) wire strippers (invest in a decent one, it is still only around ten dollars); (2) a wire cutter (often the wire stripper includes this); (3) a screwdriver; and (4) a test box. Also helpful is to get some heat shrink tubes and a heat gun (under 25 dollars) so you can put in place a reinforcement at the junction between the clear connector and the cord itself. Although not necessary to have the body cord work, it does extend the life of the body cord once repaired.
• If the light is fading, change the battery without waiting for complete failure. When the lights are fainter, it is easier to miss slight flickers in the light.
• Some of the videos advocate for using a multimeter test of resistance. For most fencers, this would be overkill, as bad resistance problems actually are fairly rare. Instead, the most common problem, by far, is a break in the wire. (Which, to be fair, may have given an early warning by testing for bad resistance.) So if you are like most fencers, you are relying on one of the small test boxes. If you are not testing for resistance issues using a multimeter, it is especially important to test the body cord in every possible direction and to look for even the faintest of flickers. The light should be absolutely steady.
• Always bring extra body cords to tournaments. At her last Junior Worlds, Hadley had five – five! – body cords fail. Watching her go into the table of eight with only one working body cord added its own level of stress.

Fun Facts of Interest Only To Me.

In the Harry Potter movies, Hermione’s wand changes between the second and the third movies, adding a vine design from the third film onwards. In both iterations, the wand is longer than the 10 ¾” described in the books. It also is one of the few wands shown that does not have an obvious handle.

Swords play central roles in two Harry Potter books/movies. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry retrieves the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat and uses it to fight the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. And in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry is led to a frozen lake in the Forest of Dean by Professor Snape’s Patronus, where he has to dive to the bottom of the lake to retrieve the same sword. The Sword of Gryffindor is made out of silver, which is a very soft metal that is not suitable for making a sword, a detail that made no difference when it was used to kill two powerful snakes, the Basilisk and Nagrini. Fortunately for everyone at Hogwarts, the Sword’s magical powers did not depend on the ability of Ron or Harry to repair the magical weapon so that it would pass weapons inspection at a NAC.

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