What Every Fencing Parent Should Know About … Diagnosing an Epee or Foil Sword Problem

Okay, so it is time for another fencing article, which means it’s time for a (supposedly) humorous intro to a fencing article. And being fresh out of fencing limericks and fencing parodies – and not getting any help from John OR Susie, my two loyal readers – it’s time for the dreaded “let’s see what Chat-GPT suggests” intro! So being forewarned, here is not one, not two, but THREE humorous intros suggested by our AI Overlord:

Chat-GPT Suggestion #1: Why did the foil fencer refuse to fight a vampire? 

Answer: Because she was afraid of a counter-bite! 

Chat-GPT Suggestion #2: Why is it hard to negotiate with epee fencers? 

Answer: Because they keep making counter-offers! 

And even more inexplicably: 

Chat-GPT Suggestion #3: What’s a fencer’s favorite bedtime story? 

Answer: The Three Musketeers, obviously – unless you’re an épée fencer, in which case it’s just The One Musketeer.

Hey, it’s not my fault you haven’t learned to skip the intro to get to the actual article. 

So as John and Suzie could tell you, the last two articles focused on basic checks on the operation of epee and foil swords, as well as body and mask cords. The latter, in particular, is a fairly limited topic. There are only so many ways, after all, that a set of electrical cords designed to carry an electrical signal from point A to point B can go truant. And diagnosing sword problems and cleaning them is time well spent, but far from the hardest areas of equipment maintenance. So those were the training wheels article designed to lure you into the fun world of equipment repairs.

But moving onto full epee and foil swords – well, this is where the training wheels come off and where you start to draw the attention of the Sadistic Fencing Gods (SFGs). You know, the entities that invented intermittent swords that mysteriously start to work as soon as you bring them to the armorist and who invented the teeny tiny little square hole that ends up severing the wire when you are reassembling the sword. It is truly at the sword repair level that the SFGs most take out their frustrations regarding how they are treated by the major Gods, who only very occasionally let them stay at Mount Olympus and even then only in the part that has very spotty Wi-Fi. 

So to fend off the worst that the SFGs can manage, here are some good videos to help with the sometimes tricky areas of epee and foil repair. The starting point is a recognition that by far the most common (and easiest) part of keeping epee and foil swords in good working order is keeping them clean and tight. In fact, not only will cleaning a tip keep it running more smoothly, but also can in some cases actually fix issues of intermittency, which can be caused by a random piece of dust sometimes blocking electrical contact. So if you didn’t catch it from the last article, I’ll refer you again to Ask an Armourer: Clean Your Epee’s Tip. 

Beyond that, Ask an Armourer has good videos on Weight and Gauge Tests: The What, Why, and How, along with other helpful videos on Diagnosing an Epee: Visual Check, Diagnosing an Epee: Using a Test Box, Diagnosing an Epee: No Light, and – because I like to be even-handed – Diagnosing an Epee: Constant Light. Between them, the two articles should help you see the light. Well, at least for fixing swords; seeing the light on choosing better reading material that contains better puns is up to you.

Again continuing with the topic of the day of being even-handed, there also is a good parallel set of articles by Ask an Armourer on Diagnosing a Foil: Visual Check, Diagnosing a Foil: With a Test Box, Diagnosing a Foil: No Light, and Diagnosing a Foil: Constant White Light. (This is the part where you insert your own bad Dad joke about how you are constantly being foiled by equipment repairs.)

Overall, the epee and foil sword repairs that are best suited to parent repairs include:

• Straightening Swords: Although many fencers are adept at quick straightening using the blade-under-the-sneaker method (which always makes me cringe when I see it, even though I have never seen a blade snap underfoot), the best way to straighten swords is to use the hole at the end of a larger crescent wrench. Always start at the bottom, as even a small change in the bend of the sword at the bottom can have a big impact as one moves away from the bell guard. Also, straightening towards the end has a somewhat increased risk of snapping the sword, so it should only be done if needed. (Unfortunately, I have had this happen more than once, but sometimes you have no choice.)
• Intermittent Swords (Cleaning, New Springs): It is surprising how often an intermittent sword can be fixed either by a good cleaning or replacing the contact (small) spring. You should always test the sword at different angles, to pick up situations where a bent contact spring causes intermittency only at certain angles. 
• Failing the Weight Test: About as simple a fix as possible, as it involves popping off the tip and replacing the pressure (large) spring. Although some people advocate for gently stretching the spring, I find this fix to be only temporary and recommend just going for a new pressure spring, as they are inexpensive and offer a permanent fix.
• Failing the Thin Shim Test: Failing the thin shim test usually means that the contact spring is a bit too long (meaning that it makes contact too soon when depressed), which can be fixed by rotating the contact spring a quarter turn and retesting it after replacing the tip, repeating if it you are still showing failure, until it works. New springs often come with a very long contact spring, because it is far easier to shorten a contact spring than to lengthen it, because it will generally bend if you try to turn it counter-clockwise.
• Intermittent Swords (New Tips): A new tip is a cheap repair that often helps with old tips that bind, ones that have tip screws that spin without tightening, and intermittent swords that won’t fix by other means. (If this doesn’t work, it often means you need a rewire to fix the intermittent sword.) Although a lot of armorists keep older tips around, I find that swapping in older tip leads to a return trip to the testing bench, so I only keep tips from snapped swords if they appear to have minimal wear.
• Corrosion on Swords: I keep a 200 grit sandpaper sponge around, which I occasionally use to remove any corrosion from the sword. Do not push hard around the channel, as you don’t want to remove any insulation from the wiring.
• Loose Wire: It is not uncommon for part of the wire to come loose. This can be glued back with super glue. The kind that is marketed as thinner is preferable, but any super glue will do in a pinch. Don’t use more than is needed. And you will find that the gluing is easier if you get (or make) one of the chains with the pipe end caps on each end, to bend the sword to hold the wiring tight while it dries. Just be certain that you hold the sword with the tip facing upwards at all times, to avoid super glue running into the tip and gluing it permanently open. The only thing more embarrassing than gluing the tip open is to accidentally glue your finger to the sword – fortunately something I have not done (yet).
• Loose Swords/Rotated Handle: Generally, a loose bell guard just means it needs to be tightened. If tightening does not fix the problem, then check to see if there are any cracks at the center of the bell guard; if so, you need a new bell guard.

The next article will be on a topic that only the SFGs could love, which is how to work with and rewire blades.

F

un Fact of Interest Only To Me. How much would you pay to watch an Olympic event that takes a week or more to finish? The 1900 Olympic Games included the action-packed sport of hot air ballooning, with medals for distance, altitude, duration, minimum distance from a point fixed in advance, longest distance traveled, and – for some reason lost to history – the best photography from the balloon. I mean, seriously – why aren’t balloon selfies a thing? The gold medal went to a French team that managed to float a whopping 1,237 kilometers. Unfortunately, when the French team landed in Poland, they were promptly arrested for failing to file a passport request to enter the country. Maybe they should have used their balloon selfies to fill out a passport application.

Learn More and Get in Touch

Have a fun fact to suggest for a future article? Just want to tell me that reading my articles makes you wish you were traveling on a hot air balloon with limited Wi-Fi so you wouldn’t receive these articles? Contact me at usfafencingblog@gmail.com. 

Float on over to the USFA Parents’ Fencing Blog Website before USA Fencing has me sent to Poland so I can be arrested for failing to file a readable article in far too many tries. For membership or tournament questions, or just to send your latest balloon selfies to USA Fencing leadership, visit the USA Fencing Contact Us page. Bonus points if the selfies show you fencing on a balloon over Poland while reading one of my articles.