[Ansteorra-rapier] Darkwood Armoury Tips

[James Crouchet]

>From the Kingdom Rapier Marshal:

Yes, we have also seen some Darkwood tips fail quickly. The ones THAT I
KNOW OF which have failed have done so in their first or second practice
session. However, most of them have continued to function well thus far.
This issue is currently being discussed and data gathered on the Kingdom
Rapier Marshal's list.

Thus far I have 4 reports of these failing in Ansteorra. All were
purchased about the same time (Gulf War). All seem to involve firmly
seating the blade all the way into the tip. All also involve hard hits a
hard surface, either as drill or in sparing. None of the blades had tape
or other cushioning over the blade end. We have already speculated we
could have a bad batch and a lot of other possibilities.

For now we are not banning these tips as Atlantia and Gleann Abhann
have. These tips have some great advantages if we can resolve this
problem so I want to see if this was just a bad batch, if we can make
the tips work or if we can collect enough info to allow Darkwood to
modify them to resolve the problem.

However, I would like to hear about any failures of these tips over the
next few months. If your tip fails or you are marshaling when a tip
fails I would appreciate a note telling me who's tip failed, when and
were it failed, a description of the tip failure and the blade end, and
how the tip was attached. I would also like to know how the tip was
seated, how long it has been on the sword and if it had been striking
hard surfaces. You might also save the tip and give it to me if you see
me at an event.

All marshals need to inspect these tips before the blade it used, even
for practice. Your blade end needs to be FLAT, not rounded and the sharp
corners lightly filed (that is a requirement in Ansteorran rules
anyway). I would also suggest taping over the blade end before inserting
it into the tip, FIRMLY taping the tip so it cannot slide UP the blade,
and NOT pounding your blade as far into the tip as far as it will go.
These should be temporary measures since I think we need better long
term solutions than this.

I will make further decisions on these tips as I get new information.

If you email me about this, please use my marshalate address,
Rapier at marshal.ansteorra.org

Christian Doré, Kingdom Rapier Marshal

Rixende de Rouen wrote:
> Greetings all!
>
> I've recently heard that in some other Kingdoms the new Darkwood Armoury
> tips (like bird blunts) have failed at a high rate. Have we seen this in
> Ansteorra?
>
> I love these tips, but have we had any incidents here in Ansteorra of
> them
> failing more often than the bird blunt/washer combo? Mine is fine, but
> I'll
> admit that it's on a blade that I don't use very often.
>
> Rixende
>
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