ARN - Re: Blade Inspection

[Amy Forsyth]

An addition from Don Christoforo,

>My only addition to this is to add 
>At step 2 :
>Hold weapon by handle and grasp blade w/ thumb and fingers 3" from guard.
>Press w/ thumb to bend blade w/ curve. Repeat process at 3" intervals down
>length of blade. Check blade curvature. 
>
>So far I have had 2 blades break at the handle. And 1 that bent 45 deg on
>the forte. I have failed several that showed weak spots that did not show up
>on the ground bend test.

BTW -- the one that bent at the forte is in our collection of blades that
are used for teaching purposes.  He occasionally pulls it out and runs it
through an armour inspection just to check the inspectors.  It's passed at
every Queen's Champion that he's taken it to!  I think only one person has
ever caught it during an inspection.

This method takes a lot of hand strength to inspect the forte, but it's the
best inspection method that I've seen.  If there's a weakness anywhere in
the blade, it'll show up.

The collection of faulty blades:

This collection came about when I was fairly new to marshalling.  A Don was
fighting in a bear pit, with myself and a Cadet marshalling, when his blade
developed an s-curve.  I really couldn't tell what I was looking at and
deferred to the Cadet who was the marshal in charge of the field.  At the
consensus of the Cadet-marshal, the opponent, and the Don, one more bout
was fought before the Don retired from the field to change out his blade.
I thought that was a bit a fishy, but I really couldn't say either way
because I didn't have the knowledge to make an argument one way or the
other.  (This was before marshal classes were required and an 'empowered'
marshalate was created.  It was common and almost expected that you
deferred to the Dons because of their expertise.)

I expressed my concern to Christoforo and so the collection of faulty
blades began as means of teaching me what I should be looking for.
(Discussion is one thing, but actually viewing and feeling the fault seems
to be a superior teaching method.)  The collection is not large, but it
does show a variety of blade faults.  Many are broken blades where analysis
of the break leads to a discussion of what caused the break, how to detect
the fault, and what a fighter should be doing in order to minimize such
breakage.  The same is done with 'problem' blades that have been retired
early.  At the base level of the whole discussion is proper maintenance of
equipment 

This discussion was a standard part of Christoforo's marshalling classes
when he was approved to teach such.  It was also something that he
standardly taught to his students as the rapier marshal at Twr Cath.

I personally would have to advocate more than just an outline for
inspection of weapons.  A hands-on class --- not with all good blades, but
with mostly bad blades --- would be excellent for all marshals.

A beginners class discussing proper equipment maintenance would be
excellent for all fighters and marshals.  

It's rather shocking to find out what can happen to that blade that you
throw in your car trunk in the middle of a hot Texas summer with your
sweaty armour, loose car jack, loose spare can of oil, etc., and leave it
there for a week.    

Adela



At 12:44 PM 2/8/99 -0600, you wrote:
>Take blade-
>A.  Epee or foil or daggers
>1.  Look at hilt.  Is it legal for the type of blade that
>it's being used for?
>2.  Look for signs of impending failure and excessive
>stiffness -  a.  Is is gradually curved?  Look down the
>blade from different angles.  Kinked or very sharp bends are
>failed immediately.  Does most of the curve occur in one
>region, indicating a potential problem?  Do any
>discontinuities seem the result of manufacture...or is there
>something seriously wrong?  b.  Is the metal fatigued?  Poke
>it gently at the ground, with the curve.  Does it readily
>pick up an excessive amount of additional curve, indicating
>metal fatigue?  Controversial- poke it into the ground,
>gently, against the curve.  Does it readily "s"...indicating
>a possible loss of elasticity?  c.  Is it so stiff that it's
>likely to fail to give, and injure someone?
>3.  Examine the blade for burrs- Look at the blade and slide
>the fingers and down the blade, working towards the tip.
>4.  Look for rust on the blade-  May indicate a problem, but
>mostly will just wreck people's clothes with rust stains.
>Have people clean a rusty blade.
>5.  Examine the tip:  a.  Is it of the correct size and
>composition?  (Need something about leather and tape, and
>tool dip tips...how can we inspect when we don't know what
>it looks like in the first place?  Also...how to deal with
>tape-covered fencing tips and bird blunts)  b.  Will the tip
>stay on?  Duct tape that has been in a hot car for a while
>loses its proper glue consistency.  Tug at the tip a bit and
>twist it with two fingers.
>
>B.  Schlager:  Single gradual curve not needed.
>Discontinuities are not as serious.  Other inspection the
>same.
>
>
>
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