Care of Personal Kit - Tips from an armourer
by Martin Roberts
Care of fencing equipment is essential to ensure that it remains effective for as long as possible, keeping its function of protection and safety, remembering also the expense of replacement.
Here are a few thoughts on how this can be achieved. These thoughts are not in any particular order, but are grouped.
Fencing whites
Jackets, breeches, and especially plastrons and towels should be kept clean and allowed to air when not in use. Not only does this help prevent a nasty pong when opening your fencing bag, it will help prevent the material deteriorating and mould developing.
Check the condition of the seams and zips and also for wear, especially on the sword arm side and collar.
If these items are not aired and are left in the kit bag, then a damp atmosphere builds up and promotes corrosion of metal and electrical items within the bag: weapons, mask, zips, fastening rings, buckles and any other such items.
Shoes
Shoes should be also be allowed to air, for the same reasons as the whites. Allowing the shoes to dry helps to reduce the risk of fungal infections such as athlete's foot.
Ensure that the fastenings are in good repair, e.g. laces that are not so long that they make a trip hazard. The shoe itself should be in good repair with a flexible sole such as a squash shoe. Running and fashion trainers usually have a sole that is too heavy and/or inflexible.
Glove
As with the whites and shoes the glove should be allowed to air, between fencing sessions.
If it is decided to wash the glove, care must be taken as this is a leather item. When I have done this, I hand wash in warm water, and allow the glove to dry naturally laid flat on a board. Attempting to speed up the drying may damage the glove.
Also check the condition of the glove regularly for wear, especially on the thumb, first finger and palm.
Mask
The mask is probably the most critical piece of equipment as regards safety, so great care should be taken of it.
It is wise to check its condition before use.
The mask should be adjusted to fit correctly. The bib and elastic strips need to be secure and in good condition, as do the internal pads. If your mask is fitted with a hook to fit over the back of the head, check that it is secure and fits correctly.
The mask should be kept dry, if it has plastic covered pads on the inside these should be dried with a cloth to remove any sweat before going into your fencing bag, this is especially important with an electric sabre mask as tarnish of its outer surface and lamé covered bib is accelerated in a damp atmosphere.
To protect an electric sabre mask from damage from other items, such as weapons, when packed in the kit bag, it should be placed in a light cotton cloth, which will give protection from chafing but not trap dampness from sweat etc.
The mask should be aired to give any residual dampness time to evaporate.
Lamés
After use, the lining of the lamé, along with collar and cuffs, should be wiped dry, as this is where sweat is most likely to collect. The lamé should then be placed on a hanger with the lining outermost.
If the lamé is to be carried in the fencing bag, then fold it loosely with the lining outermost, and, if possible, place in a section of the bag separated from weapons and other items likely to cause it damage.
When in use, try to clip the body wire and mask wire onto differing places to reduce the amount of wear in any one place.
Remember that zips on jackets, lamés, breaches and bags can be lubricated with a little soap; it is better to do this before they jam.
Body Wire
The main thing to avoid with a body wire is mechanical damage caused by tugging, which can damage the wire by severing the cores and breaking terminations in the connectors.
When body wires are in your fencing bag, keep them wrapped separately. This helps stop them becoming tangled with each other and other equipment in the bag.
When wearing your body wire, don’t let it trail upon the floor, as there is a risk of you tripping on it. This may not only possibly lead to damage of the body wire, but also damage to you!
When connected to a spool, clip the spool wire to your jacket to relieve the tension on the body wire.
Weapon
Care should always be taken with a weapon when carrying it outside of a fencing bag.
When carried out of a fencing bag, a weapon should be carried point down and not waved around. It is a good idea to place a length of plastic tube over the blade, not only to protect the blade but also to make it more visible.
When carried in a fencing bag, having the blade inside a tube also has advantages. It allows an air space to be maintained around the blade and keeps the blade from direct contact with damp items being transported. It keeps dirt, rust and blade tape adhesive from being transferred from the blade to fencing whites and other items in the bag.
The best way to extend blade life is to learn how to hit correctly. Any flexing of the blade will cause fatigue in the metal, this however can be reduced by keeping the flexing to a minimum and always in the same direction.
When making a hit the blade should bend downwards and with just sufficient force to register the hit. There is no need for excessive bend. You should have learnt this very early in your fencing career as an aspect of safety and good practice.
Keeping the blade, guard and tip clean and rust free is always a good idea, particularly with electric weapons. Tarnish and/or dirt can form an insulating layer, which when hit by your opponent at epée will award a hit, and at foil an off target and stop the action. A tarnished tip at foil may register off target when hitting valid lamé target. A tarnished blade at sabre may not register a hit at all.
Make sure that there is no movement between blade, guard socket bracket and grip by keeping the pommel or nut tightened. Movement between these items is one cause of blades needing to be rewired, as the movement can cut through the wires where they pass through the guard. In electric foil, an off target may show and hits to guard may also register off target intermittently. At epée, hits to guard may register as good and in sabre, good hits may not register at all.
Worn or badly applied blade tape on foils, can cause hits not to register, or to cause the tip to jam, so it is worth replacing worn tape. The old tape should be fully removed before re-taping.