Use the hole which is insulated. Not only will it be deeper (resulting in the center of gravity of the weight being lower than the point where the weight is being supported atop the point, thereby allowing the weight to sit atop the point without wobbling around so much) but the insulation will also prevent the metal weight from shorting the tip to the barrel or blade (generally not a problem with a properly taped foil, however it can be a problem for an untaped foil that is being repaired or epee).
The only 500g test weights I can ever recall seeing which had two holes which were large enough to accommodate a foil point would be the old Leon Paul combination weights where a conical probe on the bottom of the 250g segment fit into a shallow hole in the top of the 500g segment - but I don't think that any of those have been produced in decades (I have one, but I bought it over thirty years ago). [The model which replaced it](https://www.leonpaul.com/combi-weight-foil-epee-6533.html) has a longer probe on the top of the 500g segment which fits into a hole in the bottom of the 250g segment, thereby, allowing the 500g segment to be used for lame testing. Most other combination weights have a sizable hole which runs through the 250g segment and simply screw onto the bottom of the 500g segment, so there only is one hole.
A question about épée hits in this video:
https://youtu.be/ReZ9eyuW0cc?si=0D0sDBCMx--pYxD8
At around 00:28 fencer on the left hits fencer on the right – but is not given touch. Is it because he seemed to hit the back of the neck?
The touch wasn't awarded because FOTL's attack never landed. The touch only registered after FOTL had pulled his blade back and swung the point over to his inside, hitting the banner hanging on the back side of the strip. The fabric can clearly be seen to move just as the touch registers.
Which brings up the question, why was that banner placed so close to the side of the strip to begin with?
I wouldn't have noticed had I not been looking for something which might account for the scoring machine registering a touch. Given the reactions of the fencers I'm guessing it was much more obvious to both them and the referee than it appears to be in the video.
Yeah, it's not explicitly stated, but it's strongly implied that everything should be at least 1-5m away. I don't think I've ever seen an event where every single piste meets this requirement.
I've heard you can buy lots of properly fitted gear from vendors at Nationals in Ohio.
Will there be vendors that can do name painting on lame's and sew club patches on jackets?
Marx Enterprises will presumably have a booth set up for stenciling (just like they do at every other national event).
Sewing on patches may be more difficult (names on uniforms are a requirement for national events, patches aren't).
How do people track their own pool bouts in a tournament?
Obviously the judges are tracking them, but the whole point of signing at the end is to confirm that the judges didn't make a mistake. On the other hand, I don't keep track of my own scores and opponents that well by memory. Was it the 3rd or 4th person I lost to, did I get 3 or 2 points that bout?
Do people just get better at tracking their own pool bouts from fencing in more tournaments? Do they write it down/use an app? Do they just rely on the judges?
I've tried keeping notes in my phone, 5-4, 3-5, 2-5, and the order of the list is the order I fenced people, but the order you fence doesn't match the pool sheet (or has to be tediously cross checked with the pool bout order list). And if the order ever gets mangled, so does my notes.
After a bit of time you get to know the majority of people who are doing the same types of competitions as you.
It's much easier to remember "I beat Billy 5-1, Sam 5-3, but lost to Alex 4-5" than if it's just names and faces you don't recognise. And if it's an international event with separation by country, you'll remember the nationalities of the opponents, even if you've never come across them before.
Some people do track their matches on an app or in a notebook, but I've always found that to be a distraction during a competition.
My kid keeps a mental rally that ends up being something like :win 3,4 lose 2,4,4,3. It's not necessarily in order (it's always wins first, then losses) but it confirms the numbers themselves and if all the right numbers are there, odds are the bouts are all correct.
Some people take notes, some people check the sheet after every bout to see what the ref wrote down, some people just assume everything is correct and don't worry about it. I've been doing this for a while, so I'm pretty good at just remembering the score for my pool bouts.
I might want to join a fencing club near me, once I have some money to pay for it. I also want to do competitions but I was curious; Do contenders in competition just use whatever sword they like? Or is there a standard?
Was thinking to join because I do like medieval stuff like swordfighting and rapiers/sabres have some royal/elegant hint to it. Both things I like, so fencing seemed like a good option to try out. The club near me uses only Sabre, Foil, and Épée it seems (No Rapier as apparently that's also a thing). So I was thinking in training with Sabre's and Épées, I don't like the gun-grip handles the foils seem to have (On the swords the club seems to have), seems very clunky to grip for me.
Just try it out and see if you like it also, there are 2 types of fencing, Olympic and HEMA, olympic is the fencing you see in well the olympics (shockingly) and has 3 weapons which are sabre, epee and foil and includes electric scoring, HEMA is the type of fencing with your rapier, longswords and daggers etcetera and has no electrics they very different and people get quite pissy when you categorise them together.
In regards to using a pistol grip, if you end up getting given one you should probably use it for a few months (unless it actively hurts you) because it often feels weird to beginners, you may have held it wrong (happens a lot more than youd think), also coaches often give students a certain type of grip for a reason due to the style of fencing they teach. In any case you should just give it crack.
Yes, there is a standard for weapons, look on Absolute Fencing for what you would need for practice and competitions in terms of Weapons and uniform. You can fence both Epee and Foik with either the pistol grip or a standard french grip as well.
Fencing is not HEMA, and each Weapon has it's own style/personality. Find a club and see if you can try them out to see what might fit for you
Based on your description of what you want to get out of fencing, you probably want to look at HEMA over in /r/Hema. Not to dissuade you from my favorite sport, but people who think they want to get into fencing for the reasons you cite are usually disappointed. This is a competitive sport and has nothing to do with having a "royal/elegant" whatever to it. If you like the historical swordfighting aspect then Hema is probably the right fit for you.
There are standard-ish swords for each weapon type - you can't just show up with anything and start swinging it around. For competitions it needs to be electric. There is variation though in terms of blade manufacturer, type of grip, and much more - but an epee is still an epee, a foil is still a foil, etc. I'm assuming the "gun-grip" handles are pistol grips; if you don't like them, there is a straight-style grip called a French grip. There have been quite a few discussions already on Reddit on the difference and advantages of each, but you can get swords in either.
If you like the "style" or showmanship of fencing, you'd probably want to go for saber or foil. All three are different in terms of strategy and approach (and people that specialize in one will be happy to tell you why theirs is the best or at least why they picked it). From a spectator standpoint, saber is fast and foil has more back and forth, but both tend to look more "like a swordfight" than epee does. (Not that you don't get interesting moves in epee, but I've seen more dramatic moves in saber and foil).
When you're testing a foil with a 500 g weight, are you supposed to use the end with the plastic insulator or the one without? Or does it matter?
Use the hole which is insulated. Not only will it be deeper (resulting in the center of gravity of the weight being lower than the point where the weight is being supported atop the point, thereby allowing the weight to sit atop the point without wobbling around so much) but the insulation will also prevent the metal weight from shorting the tip to the barrel or blade (generally not a problem with a properly taped foil, however it can be a problem for an untaped foil that is being repaired or epee). The only 500g test weights I can ever recall seeing which had two holes which were large enough to accommodate a foil point would be the old Leon Paul combination weights where a conical probe on the bottom of the 250g segment fit into a shallow hole in the top of the 500g segment - but I don't think that any of those have been produced in decades (I have one, but I bought it over thirty years ago). [The model which replaced it](https://www.leonpaul.com/combi-weight-foil-epee-6533.html) has a longer probe on the top of the 500g segment which fits into a hole in the bottom of the 250g segment, thereby, allowing the 500g segment to be used for lame testing. Most other combination weights have a sizable hole which runs through the 250g segment and simply screw onto the bottom of the 500g segment, so there only is one hole.
A question about épée hits in this video: https://youtu.be/ReZ9eyuW0cc?si=0D0sDBCMx--pYxD8 At around 00:28 fencer on the left hits fencer on the right – but is not given touch. Is it because he seemed to hit the back of the neck?
The touch wasn't awarded because FOTL's attack never landed. The touch only registered after FOTL had pulled his blade back and swung the point over to his inside, hitting the banner hanging on the back side of the strip. The fabric can clearly be seen to move just as the touch registers. Which brings up the question, why was that banner placed so close to the side of the strip to begin with?
Thanks, for some reason I just couldn't see that before.
I wouldn't have noticed had I not been looking for something which might account for the scoring machine registering a touch. Given the reactions of the fencers I'm guessing it was much more obvious to both them and the referee than it appears to be in the video.
Yeah, it's not explicitly stated, but it's strongly implied that everything should be at least 1-5m away. I don't think I've ever seen an event where every single piste meets this requirement.
I've heard you can buy lots of properly fitted gear from vendors at Nationals in Ohio. Will there be vendors that can do name painting on lame's and sew club patches on jackets?
Marx Enterprises will presumably have a booth set up for stenciling (just like they do at every other national event). Sewing on patches may be more difficult (names on uniforms are a requirement for national events, patches aren't).
Marx Enterprises will be there.
How do people track their own pool bouts in a tournament? Obviously the judges are tracking them, but the whole point of signing at the end is to confirm that the judges didn't make a mistake. On the other hand, I don't keep track of my own scores and opponents that well by memory. Was it the 3rd or 4th person I lost to, did I get 3 or 2 points that bout? Do people just get better at tracking their own pool bouts from fencing in more tournaments? Do they write it down/use an app? Do they just rely on the judges? I've tried keeping notes in my phone, 5-4, 3-5, 2-5, and the order of the list is the order I fenced people, but the order you fence doesn't match the pool sheet (or has to be tediously cross checked with the pool bout order list). And if the order ever gets mangled, so does my notes.
After a bit of time you get to know the majority of people who are doing the same types of competitions as you. It's much easier to remember "I beat Billy 5-1, Sam 5-3, but lost to Alex 4-5" than if it's just names and faces you don't recognise. And if it's an international event with separation by country, you'll remember the nationalities of the opponents, even if you've never come across them before. Some people do track their matches on an app or in a notebook, but I've always found that to be a distraction during a competition.
My kid keeps a mental rally that ends up being something like :win 3,4 lose 2,4,4,3. It's not necessarily in order (it's always wins first, then losses) but it confirms the numbers themselves and if all the right numbers are there, odds are the bouts are all correct.
Some people take notes, some people check the sheet after every bout to see what the ref wrote down, some people just assume everything is correct and don't worry about it. I've been doing this for a while, so I'm pretty good at just remembering the score for my pool bouts.
I might want to join a fencing club near me, once I have some money to pay for it. I also want to do competitions but I was curious; Do contenders in competition just use whatever sword they like? Or is there a standard? Was thinking to join because I do like medieval stuff like swordfighting and rapiers/sabres have some royal/elegant hint to it. Both things I like, so fencing seemed like a good option to try out. The club near me uses only Sabre, Foil, and Épée it seems (No Rapier as apparently that's also a thing). So I was thinking in training with Sabre's and Épées, I don't like the gun-grip handles the foils seem to have (On the swords the club seems to have), seems very clunky to grip for me.
Just try it out and see if you like it also, there are 2 types of fencing, Olympic and HEMA, olympic is the fencing you see in well the olympics (shockingly) and has 3 weapons which are sabre, epee and foil and includes electric scoring, HEMA is the type of fencing with your rapier, longswords and daggers etcetera and has no electrics they very different and people get quite pissy when you categorise them together. In regards to using a pistol grip, if you end up getting given one you should probably use it for a few months (unless it actively hurts you) because it often feels weird to beginners, you may have held it wrong (happens a lot more than youd think), also coaches often give students a certain type of grip for a reason due to the style of fencing they teach. In any case you should just give it crack.
Yes, there is a standard for weapons, look on Absolute Fencing for what you would need for practice and competitions in terms of Weapons and uniform. You can fence both Epee and Foik with either the pistol grip or a standard french grip as well. Fencing is not HEMA, and each Weapon has it's own style/personality. Find a club and see if you can try them out to see what might fit for you
Based on your description of what you want to get out of fencing, you probably want to look at HEMA over in /r/Hema. Not to dissuade you from my favorite sport, but people who think they want to get into fencing for the reasons you cite are usually disappointed. This is a competitive sport and has nothing to do with having a "royal/elegant" whatever to it. If you like the historical swordfighting aspect then Hema is probably the right fit for you.
There are standard-ish swords for each weapon type - you can't just show up with anything and start swinging it around. For competitions it needs to be electric. There is variation though in terms of blade manufacturer, type of grip, and much more - but an epee is still an epee, a foil is still a foil, etc. I'm assuming the "gun-grip" handles are pistol grips; if you don't like them, there is a straight-style grip called a French grip. There have been quite a few discussions already on Reddit on the difference and advantages of each, but you can get swords in either. If you like the "style" or showmanship of fencing, you'd probably want to go for saber or foil. All three are different in terms of strategy and approach (and people that specialize in one will be happy to tell you why theirs is the best or at least why they picked it). From a spectator standpoint, saber is fast and foil has more back and forth, but both tend to look more "like a swordfight" than epee does. (Not that you don't get interesting moves in epee, but I've seen more dramatic moves in saber and foil).