<div>Thanks for the information Don Dore.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>It's good to hear what has happened that we have seen. I know that I taped my blade at the tip before putting the blunt on (which is what Earl Brian instructed me to do.) I'll be sure to let you know if anything happens to mine.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I too bought mine at Gulf Wars.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Rixende<br><br> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 5/30/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">James Crouchet</b> <<a href="mailto:james@crouchet.com">james@crouchet.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">>From the Kingdom Rapier Marshal:<br><br>Yes, we have also seen some Darkwood tips fail quickly. The ones THAT I
<br>KNOW OF which have failed have done so in their first or second practice<br>session. However, most of them have continued to function well thus far.<br>This issue is currently being discussed and data gathered on the Kingdom
<br>Rapier Marshal's list.<br><br>Thus far I have 4 reports of these failing in Ansteorra. All were<br>purchased about the same time (Gulf War). All seem to involve firmly<br>seating the blade all the way into the tip. All also involve hard hits a
<br>hard surface, either as drill or in sparing. None of the blades had tape<br>or other cushioning over the blade end. We have already speculated we<br>could have a bad batch and a lot of other possibilities.<br><br>For now we are not banning these tips as Atlantia and Gleann Abhann
<br>have. These tips have some great advantages if we can resolve this<br>problem so I want to see if this was just a bad batch, if we can make<br>the tips work or if we can collect enough info to allow Darkwood to<br>modify them to resolve the problem.
<br><br>However, I would like to hear about any failures of these tips over the<br>next few months. If your tip fails or you are marshaling when a tip<br>fails I would appreciate a note telling me who's tip failed, when and
<br>were it failed, a description of the tip failure and the blade end, and<br>how the tip was attached. I would also like to know how the tip was<br>seated, how long it has been on the sword and if it had been striking<br>
hard surfaces. You might also save the tip and give it to me if you see<br>me at an event.<br><br>All marshals need to inspect these tips before the blade it used, even<br>for practice. Your blade end needs to be FLAT, not rounded and the sharp
<br>corners lightly filed (that is a requirement in Ansteorran rules<br>anyway). I would also suggest taping over the blade end before inserting<br>it into the tip, FIRMLY taping the tip so it cannot slide UP the blade,<br>
and NOT pounding your blade as far into the tip as far as it will go.<br>These should be temporary measures since I think we need better long<br>term solutions than this.<br><br>I will make further decisions on these tips as I get new information.
<br><br>If you email me about this, please use my marshalate address,<br><a href="mailto:Rapier@marshal.ansteorra.org">Rapier@marshal.ansteorra.org</a><br><br>Christian Doré, Kingdom Rapier Marshal<br><br>Rixende de Rouen wrote:
<br>> Greetings all!<br>><br>> I've recently heard that in some other Kingdoms the new Darkwood Armoury<br>> tips (like bird blunts) have failed at a high rate. Have we seen this in<br>> Ansteorra?<br>>
<br>> I love these tips, but have we had any incidents here in Ansteorra of<br>> them<br>> failing more often than the bird blunt/washer combo? Mine is fine, but<br>> I'll<br>> admit that it's on a blade that I don't use very often.
<br>><br>> Rixende<br>><br>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>><br>> _______________________________________________<br>> Ansteorra-rapier mailing list<br>>
<a href="mailto:Ansteorra-rapier@lists.ansteorra.org">Ansteorra-rapier@lists.ansteorra.org</a><br>> <a href="http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-rapier-ansteorra.org">http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-rapier-ansteorra.org
</a><br>><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Ansteorra-rapier mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Ansteorra-rapier@lists.ansteorra.org">Ansteorra-rapier@lists.ansteorra.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-rapier-ansteorra.org">
http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-rapier-ansteorra.org</a><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Honorable Lady Rixende de Rouen, CIM, CSM<br>Quidam audit valde, facit valde