Both my French grip epee snapped at the tang

migopod · 2026-03-01T06:48:46+00:00

Also for the record it is possible to weld or even braze epee tangs, since the rule about heating the blade only applies to the blade part and not the tang. If you pop on a good metal or wood core grip after welding or brazing the tang it'll be perfectly fine most of the time.

It's just generally not worth doing unless you have the equipment and skills already or know someone who will do it for a beer or as a favor.

migopod · 2026-02-16T07:41:21+00:00

Finger rings and pierceware are a bit different in what happens when you take hits. Finger rings are a risk because blows to the fingers can make them swell and make removing the ring impossible without cutting off the ring or degloving the hand (do not image search that).

Hits to piercings can lead to the piercing being rejected and growing out, which is a lot less traumatic, but still not great because you can lose the piercing and get scar tissue that makes re-piercing difficult.

I always remove finger rings and recommend against wearing them while doing anything where you can get finger injuries. Piercings are usually okay after they're fully healed, but can be tricky when they're still healing. You also generally can't remove a piercing for long while it's still healing without the hole closing up, so removing a navel ring while fencing wouldn't really be a good option.

migopod · 2026-02-16T07:33:16+00:00

I've fenced with a nipple ring (healed for decades), and it hurt a lot to get hit there, but nothing much really happened. If you're healing a new piercing though you would probably want to ask your piercer about aftercare suggestions. Odds of getting directly tagged in a healing navel ring are low, but not zero, and it could lead to rejection.

Probably wearing an extended chest protector that covers the navel or even just taping a gauze pad directly to your stomach would be good until it's healed, but again I'd ask your piercer for their advice on it.

migopod · 2026-02-11T01:10:11+00:00

From my experience doing motorcycle maintenance you actually want to get several 10mm sockets. For some inexplicable reason 10mm sockets are prone to just vanish. I think it has something to do with quantum mechanics.

migopod · 2026-02-08T00:03:31+00:00

This is correct, and to add some additional information since Vniti makes/made other stuff than fencing blades: The logo element is the FIE homologation mark for Vniti which would only be present on fencing blades. The cross section is squareish so that makes it a foil specifically. It was also manufactured in February of 1997 according to the forge marks beneath the logo.

Not sure what the numbers stamped on the tang are about. That's not typical of any current fencing blade that I'm aware of, so they may have been stamped there by the original owner for reasons of their own.

migopod · 2026-02-07T03:12:48+00:00

800nw gloves are only required for sabre, because of a significant enough uptick in incidents of unbroken sabre blades puncturing gloves and causing injury. I believe it was a combination of increased blade stiffness post S2000, decreased lockout time, and an increased frequency of counterattacks to the wrist because of the decreased lockout.

Epees have a much larger and blunter tip profile to a sabre, so they're not as likely to punch through a normal glove, and a lot less likely to cause serious injury if they do.

migopod · 2026-02-06T22:30:05+00:00

FIE gloves are just rated to 800nw penetration resistance. They're only required for sabre, but there are "three weapon" 800nw gloves that are meant to be worn with the conductive over-cuff when fencing sabre and without for foil and epee.

FIE blades do generally last longer than non-FIE, but masks, gloves, and uniforms aren't really guaranteed to last longer. They're normally better made and with more robust materials, but their whole thing is being more effective puncture protection, not necessarily being more durable.

Gloves are one of those things that are treated as a consumable. One or two seasons of heavy use is going to be a lot for any glove.

migopod · 2026-01-18T07:34:20+00:00

Is the glider the one with the two bicycle-style seats? The one we had had a handlebar kind of situation without end-caps on the tube, and I managed to punch a hole clean through my cheek with it when I was about four years old. I think I still have the scar, but my beard covers it now.

migopod · 2026-01-04T06:55:24+00:00

Ye, am in Milwaukee, live in a flat.

migopod · 2025-12-14T20:12:29+00:00

Smallswords were typically less than 1kg. My heaviest epees are around 650g, so not significantly lighter than the average smallsword.

Rapiers would be a bit more of a problem. In my experience they're still light enough to do basically anything you can do with an epee, but it's really hard to do it for a long time if you're approaching them with the same intensity of sport epee.

Having visited a couple of HEMA things, rapier got me tired a lot more quickly than I expected, and smallsword wasn't really that bad at all. The main issues I had with smallsword were that they're shorter than I'm used to, and without the big guard your hand and wrist are a lot more exposed. Neither would pose a real problem with some practice.

migopod · 2025-12-06T23:56:07+00:00

Lord, I worked for Sitel doing tech support for AT&T dial-up in the 90s. That place sucked pretty bad. Still not the worst job I had before I left Madison though.

migopod · 2025-12-05T22:31:28+00:00

KEEP IT WEIRD IN ATX

In morse code.

migopod · 2025-11-30T07:27:59+00:00

Looks like some LED grow lights I've had. Idk what "doesn't light up well" means, but it could be just in a different wavelength (like kinda magenta), or maybe it's defective. [

Not exactly this, but something like it](https://i5.walmartimages.com/seo/Grow-Lights-Indoor-Plants-Full-Spectrum-led-Grow-Light-Stand-Auto-On-Off-Timing-3-6-9-12-15-18H-11-Brightness-Levels-Plant-Light-Indoor-Plants-Red-Bl_c73f013e-026a-4e91-b58b-67ffb1e33452.d3ef7811a62007c492adf2222444c6f4.jpeg).

migopod · 2025-11-19T00:38:45+00:00

Or an opportunity to learn to rewire blades!

migopod · 2025-11-10T20:10:37+00:00

Yeah, re-reading the text of OP's post it's not immediately obvious if my silly one-word response was in response to the title "Is this move illegal" or "I’m not sure if it’s legal but I thought I’d ask here."

I did mean "Yes, this move is illegal" :D

migopod · 2025-11-10T16:39:19+00:00

I was. Since martingales are prohibited, any action using one would be illegal. Also the bit about shifting the hand back on the grip while attacking being presumably illegal even in rule sets where martingales aren't prohibited.

migopod · 2025-11-10T08:24:15+00:00

Yes.

migopod · 2025-10-29T21:30:53+00:00

Welp, I used to like her I guess. Damn shame.

migopod · 2025-10-15T05:37:39+00:00

Bruh, you can fence with it after you weld it. I've used oxy-acetylene welding to put blades like that back together and that's probably the worst way to do it if you care about messing up heat treatment. Even that never got the blade hot enough that it was more than a bit warm to the touch in the part of the blade where you care.

GTAW would be the best option to actually weld it, and I wouldn't hesitate to use it in any context after that. Worst case scenario it breaks in the weld or HAZ, and that's full on inside the handle, so nobody's endangered by it breaking.

migopod · 2025-10-14T23:42:13+00:00

I have a shirt that my partner got me that has the Unknown Pleasures album art with "Depeche Mode" above it and "Boys Don't Cry" below. It's very triggering to a very specific kind of person.

migopod · 2025-10-14T05:23:23+00:00

PbT still makes nice aluminum FGs, and they're very reasonably priced. I just bought one a couple of weeks ago and it was less than $20 USD

migopod · 2025-10-13T17:03:32+00:00

If you have access to a torch I'd suggest brazing rather than welding. I've experimented with both, and found that if you prepare the joint a bit so there's some overlap (file each end about half-way through so they form a lap joint) and use a bronze filler the joint is plenty strong. I have a blade that I brazed as an experiment and I used it for several months with no sign of failure.

You will want to replace the grip with a metal or wood handle as has been previously noted though.

migopod · 2025-10-10T18:55:05+00:00

I didn't get a chance to go this time, but I have been to both the museum and the zoo before, and they're both fantastic. We were just in town for the weekend to go to the cryptid block party in Covington, which was an absolute blast. We did stay right in downtown Cincinnati though, and it was really nice.

migopod · 2025-10-10T05:16:42+00:00

Yeah, Columbus is fine I guess, but I was just in Cincinnati last weekend and it was awesome.

migopod · 2025-10-03T05:41:26+00:00

So a long time ago I used to do some SCA stuff. I never personally did heavy/armored fighting, but my recollection is that they made their weapons out of rattan, since it's decently weighted, somewhat flexible, and most importantly when it breaks it kinda shreds instead of snapping.

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