• About the STP, from Rocky Beach, long-time fencing coach in Portland, Oregon.
• Review of the OBW, by FatFencer, frequent contributor to Fencing.net and C-rated foilist.
• Comments on the OBW, from Darius Wei, A-rated foilist and foil coach at NWFC, Beaverton, Oregon.

Size comparison of stainless steel and tungsten pommels

But more important than the size, is the balance of the weight…

Next, illustrating the Center of Mass (Center of Gravity) of the two. Each is balanced on a small piece of metal. The balance point is where a pommel acts as a counterbalance for the blade. Note that the stainless pommel balances much farther forward than the aluminum and tungsten STP. This means that the stainless pommel will be much less effective as a counterweight than the STP.

Balance point of steel and tungsten pommels

And finally, showing what this means to the fencer. To have the same effect as a counterbalance for the weight of the blade, the stainless pommel will require the stack of washers shown, compared to the STP with no spacers.

Spacers are required for the steel pommel

If the stainless pommel was spaced so far out from the guard, and since it is also longer than the STP, it is likely that the combined length of French grip and pommel would exceed the allowable 20cm maximum length, and be illegal: the pommel plus washers is a full 1/2″ longer than the STP. The alternative is to install it without spacers, and have a much less effective counterweight for the same weight in the hand compared to the Sintered Tungsten Pommel.

The OBW-165, for Foil and Épée fencers

The Orthopedic Balance weight is designed to balance foil or épée blades when using pistol- or orthopedic-type grips, by adding weight to the furthest-aft portion of the grip; the tail-extension. It is installed over the last portion of the tail of the grip. The OBW-165 will shift the balance point of the blade from a typical 4-6” forward of the guard, back to approximately 1-1.5” in front of the bell.

Moving the balance point back near the hand offers significant advantages to the fencer:

• The blade feels much lighter and easier to control.
• Tip and point control can be significantly improved, since a relaxed thumb-and-forefinger grip allows finer manipulation of the blade, without supporting as much perceived weight.
• There is less strain on the index finger, since it is not fighting the tendency for the blade to droop at the same time fine motions are required.
• There can be less interference with the wrist than the standard tail permits, with balance closer to the hand. If the OBW is mounted so that it does not extend as far up the wrist as the standard tail-piece, it will not interfere as much when in-fighting with the wrist sharply bent. Smaller hands can also be accommodated while retaining good balance.

The OBW-165 installed, original balance point at the white mark.

The OBW-165 weighs 165 grams, and is designed for both foil and épée. The OBW is intended to be semi-permanently mounted on any pistol-grip for foil or epee. In the image above, the original balance point of this épée was at the white mark; the OBW moved the balance 3″ toward the hand, to the point shown supporting the blade.

The OBW-165 has been judged fully legal for competition, by Dan DeChaine, International Master Armourer and member of the FIE SEMI Committee. Quoted with his permission, “Looking at this device for the orthopaedic grip, I see nothing that is in violation of the rules, as long as it is not mounted in a way that would violate the rule concerning the overall length of the grip.  As far as I can see, it conforms to the rule requiring that the grip be designed in such a way that it can be held in only one position. This seems to conform.”

This first manufacturing run of the OBW-165 is being sold at manufacturing cost plus PayPal and shipping costs. For US Domestic orders, the cost is US$52 shipped by USPS Priority Mail, or for non-US orders select International Priority mail (US$67.00).

USPS Priority Mail $52.00 Int’l Priority Mail $67.00

I am also temporarily offering an installation service: for an additional US$25, I will install the OBW-165 on your grip. Please request this service by email, and I will supply instructions for payment and shipping your grip to me for modification.

Installation

Installation basically requires:

• Determine the desired placement of the weight,
• remove excess material from the tail of the grip to fit the pocket,
• fasten the extension to the grip with epoxy.

Total time is estimated at a half-hour or so.

Installed on two sizes of Visconti, a German, and a Belgian grip

Parts included:

• The OBW-165 weight,
• two sets of screws- two each of M3 x 8mm and M3 x 16mm,
• a small piece of blue-tack temporary adhesive.

Tools and materials required for mounting:

• Bench-grinder or hand-held coarse wood-rasp,
• 1.5mm Allen-wrench (Allan-key in the UK),
• Epoxy. I recommend Devcon Flo-Mix

To experiment with placement, the longer two screws and the Blu-tack adhesive are provided. Wrap the adhesive around the tail-extension of the grip, and then use the longer screws to hold the leaves of the OBW on either side of the tail piece. The weight should fall aft of the crease of your wrist, to avoid contact with the base of the thumb and the wrist. Further aft will also balance as far aft as possible.

Do not tighten the screws, to avoid breaking them, as they are very thin. With the temporary adhesive, you can loosen the screws to re-position the weight fore and aft several times to find the right fore-and aft position for best balance and comfort. Please do not fence actively with this temporary attachment, as it is very weak.

If you move the weight aft on the tail, the balance point of the sword will move toward the guard: the farther aft, the closer the balance point to the hand. Most people find that if the narrow end of the weight is well aft of the crease behind the thumb and wrist, and the weight is tilted 2-4mm outward at the top, it will be most comfortable. Experiment to find the position that works for you.

OBW-165 angled away from base of thumb

Once you have determined where you want the weight to be, mark the grip at the front end of the weight, and then remove the weight and adhesive.

It will usually be necessary to modify the tail-piece of the grip by filing off portions of the tail that do not fit into the rectangular opening in the small end of the weight. A coarse wood-rasp will quickly file the aluminum of the grip, or a grinding wheel specifically made for aluminum can be used. You must thin and perhaps shorten the tail-piece to fit into the pocket of the weight where you want it. The tail should go into the pocket a minimum of 10-12mm for a secure mounting. You may need to shorten the tail to move the weight forward, but do so in small stages, so you can still move the weight a bit aft if necessary.

Remove the tail material mainly on the side toward the wrist, so that the weight rides away from the wrist, and is nearly flat to the original tailpiece on the wrist side.

Tailpiece shaped for mounting the OBW-165

Once you can position the weight where you want it, both fore-and-aft and angled to the wrist, with the screws lightly tightened and no crack visible between the two pieces, use epoxy to attach the weight to the grip.

The epoxy sold as Flo-Mix (with a two-component hypodermic and a long mixing nozzle) works well, and allows you to easily inject mixed two-component epoxy into the rectangular pocket. Be sure to expel and discard a coin-sized blob from the nozzle before starting, to ensure best mixing and hardening.

Start with a small amount in the pocket, then insert the tail until epoxy flows from the open end of the pocket, or completely fill the hole from the end once the tail of the grip is completely inserted. Wipe off any excess with acetone as it sets, or scrape it off afterward.

The resistance to ground of an epoxy-only bond is usually around 1 ohm or less, which is ideal for épée, but for foil you will need to insulate the OBW using paint or tape. Once the epoxy has hardened, you can spray-paint the weight to match the grip if desired, or use clear lacquer for appearance.

I have tried soldering the weight, but solder does not “wet” the aluminum or the tungsten, so the bond is simply a mechanical filling of the spaces around the tailpiece, and it will not be as strong as epoxy. If you require the lowest possible electrical resistance (less than .1 ohm), you can melt solder into the pocket of the OBW, insert the heated grip, and after cooling, squirt epoxy into the remaining gaps for a combination of low resistance and best strength of attachment.

If needed, the weight can be removed from the grip. Soaking it in acetone overnight will soften and swell the epoxy slightly. Remove the screws first, and soak for 24 hours. You should then be able to tap the weight firmly on a piece of wood to loosen it, then insert a knife blade to pry the leaves apart, and scrape out the remaining epoxy to re-use the weight.

For French-grip foil and épée

Those who use a French grip for the advantage of extended reach, often use a Schermasport pommel to shift the balance point as far aft as possible. The TungstenFencing STP offers all the advantages of the Schermasport, only more so, because it is heavier (at 200g), and because the TF design puts 85% of the weight in the aft 3/4″. In the image above, you can see the Tungsten component – the greyish metal at the tail end, and the permanently-affixed lightweight aluminum cone at the front.

• With the TF design, heavier blades can be balanced without exceeding the limit on French grip length, which is particularly advantageous for the stiffer blades that advanced fencers often prefer. The TungstenFencing STP design puts the mass as far from the blade as possible, so you do not have to use spacers to achieve good balance.
• When pommeling to a moderate degree or holding the grip near the guard, a heavy pommel seems to make the blade feel lighter, more mobile and easier to control – it’s easier to rotate the blade around the Center of Mass if it is closer to your hand.
• Fencers with smaller hands are better accommodated; having a pommel placed far aft for good balance can interfere with the wrist, which is exacerbated with smaller hands.

The Sintered Tungsten Pommel is now available from Leon Paul Ltd.

Installation

As in any French-grip pommel, the TungstenFencing STP screws on to the tang of the blade, behind the grip.

Some fencers will attempt to tighten a pommel almost to the point where the tang will break, to avoid loosening while fencing.

This is not a good idea with the TungstenFencing STP, since the blade tang screws into the aluminum cone portion, rather than a harder metal. If you attempt to make the TungstenFencing STP super-tight on the tang, you could permanently strip its threads. Tighten only hand-tight; this does not mean as hard as your hand can twist. If you should overtighten the STP and strip its threads, it can be repaired by inserting an M6x1 Helicoil. Please contact me if this should ever occur to your pommel, and I will repair it.

It is recommended that you keep maximum length on the tang, so that the maximum number of threads engage the aluminum cone. There are approximately 28 threads inside the cone, and a minimum of ten to twelve mm of the tang inside the pommel is recommended.

There are two approaches to mounting the STP on the tang without over-tightening, if you find that the pommel loosens while fencing:

• Use a low-strength or moderate-strength thread-locking liquid, such as Loc-Tite. Loc-tite 222 (Purple) or 242 (Blue) are specifically recommended. These compounds essentially turn into firm nylon after anaerobic pressure-setting (like a slow superglue), and keep the threads from loosening under any sort of vibration, by filling the microscopic gaps between screw and nut. The pommel can then still be removed, but will not loosen. Do not use Maximum-strength (Loc-Tite Red or Green) thread-locker, as these versions require high heat to remove.
  To use thread-lockers, put a drop or two into the hole of the pommel, rather than on the tang. This pushes the liquid into the hole when you screw in the tang. If you find that the pommel loosens with use when using only thread-locker, use both thread-locker and a lock-nut to keep the pommel from unscrewing.
• Place a Metric 6×1 locknut on the tang, and tighten with a wrench to the necessary degree, then (again using thread-locker) screw the pommel hand-tight onto the tang until it is in firm contact with the locknut. Then loosen the locknut against the pommel, approximately 1/6 turn, to hold the pommel in place.

The purpose of the first TungstenFencing products for the fencing sports is to address an ongoing issue with foils and épées: balance. Many fencers feel that it is advantageous in foil and épée to have the sword balance near the guard – within 1-2cm in front of the guard or even inside it, is generally agreed to be ideal.

TungstenFencing pommels and balance weights will move the balance point back toward the guard, which provides a “lighter” feel and improved point control, since the index finger and thumb aren’t working as hard to hold the blade up and don’t have to move the center of gravity of the weapon as far, and so get better leverage on the mass. The tradeoff for easier rotation, of course, is slightly slower lateral hand motion due to the added weight, but there is generally plenty of muscle in the forearm to move the hand quickly.

The TungstenFencing approach to this issue is to use the densest-available metal, Tungsten, for the pommel. Tungsten is a very heavy metal, roughly as dense as Gold. Tungsten is very hard with a very high melting point, and requires diamond tools to machine it, so it is very durable – a tungsten pommel will look new for decades.

The density of sintered Tungsten is 18.5 g/cc, compared to Gold at 19.3g/cc, Uranium at 18.9, Lead at 11.3, or Brass at only 8.5g/cc.

Because it is so difficult to machine, Tungsten is usually formed into its final shape by a process called sintering. Sintering is achieved by using finely-powdered Tungsten, and forcing it into a machined steel mold under very high pressure – enough that the dust-like particles pressure-weld to each other, and the part will retain its shape temporarily. The piece is then baked in a very high-temperature furnace (around 2200 degrees F) to fuse the grains together permanently, a process akin to firing ceramics. Finally, computer-controlled machining using diamond tools creates the final size and beautiful surface finish of the product.

The purpose of using this metal and very costly process is to produce a balancing weight that is as dense, and thus as small, as possible. This allows the weight to be placed placed as near to the blade as possible, so it is maximally effective as a counterweight without needing spacers to set the balance correctly. No other affordable metal is as well-suited for a counterweight as Tungsten.