Armory & Repair
The armory bench — wiring blades, chasing electrical faults, and building your own gear when the shop version costs too much.
11 guides
"Home Made" DIY Grounded Strips
How to build a DIY grounded fencing strip at home: the materials list and assembly steps from an archived Fencing.net forum thread on making a piste.
A Guide to Body Cord Plugs and Sockets
The five body cord plug and socket systems compared: German two-prong, French/Prieur, Leon Paul, LP bayonet and Italian/Negrini, and how each fails.
Best Foil Tip / Point Tape
Why foil tip tape prevents grounding out on a touch, what width to choose, and how gaffer-tape brands like Tesa and Pro Gaff compare for armoring your foil.
Epee Troubleshooting
A troubleshooting guide for electric epee problems: failed weight and shim tests, unwanted lights from strip or guard touches, and tip or body-wire fixes.
Fencing Safety: The Maraging Blade
Why maraging blades made fencing safer: the Smirnov tragedy, what maraging steel does differently, and what an FIE blade costs against a practice blade.
Foil Troubleshooting
How to troubleshoot electric foil problems: fixes for failed weight tests, false lights when hitting the strip, and white lights on valid touches.
How To: Make a Hard Blade Cover
How to make a hard blade cover from PVC pipe and bungee cord: materials needed, sizing for foil, epee, and saber, and step-by-step assembly instructions.
Installing a Home Fencing Piste
How to set up a home fencing strip: space requirements, grounded and non-grounded strip options, and budget-friendly alternatives like tape or mats.
Rewiring a Foil Blade
How to fix a pulled-out foil wire: checking insulation, sealing breaks with nail polish, gluing the wire back into the blade groove, and testing it.
Two kinda obscure foil point problems
How to diagnose two hard-to-find foil faults: cracked tip insulation that grounds under a hard hit, and a cracked tip shaft causing off-target hits.
Wiring Blades: A DIY Guide
How to wire a fencing blade yourself: tools, stripping old wire, gluing new wire into the groove, and assembling and testing a foil or epee point by hand.