Fencing: The Weapons and Their Conventions (another page on fencing is here)

Original artwork by Tom Kidd.

Taken from the Cape Fear Fencing Association's excellent presentation on fencing, the three fencing weapons, and their respective conventions. It is also posted online at http://www.oocities.org/capefearfencing.

Foil is a small thin sword, about 3 feet in length. Its blade’s cross-section is rectangular, with no cutting edge, but it comes to a point at the end. Of course, the modern sport foil has either a plastic button tip, or an electrical scoring button for the point, rendering it a non-deadly implement. Nonetheless it is made of steel and when steel meets flesh, flesh loses, therefore, certain protective equipment is required. Most people have at least seen the white uniforms fencers wear in movies... that uniform is not just a formality. It provides real and needed protection. Touches are scored only with the point of the foil.

The valid target area in foil is essentially the torso of the fencer's opponent, excluding the arms and head. The rules actually define this area more precisely, however the idea is that this is the only area on which points may be scored. At this point it is useful to know the historical purpose of the foil to understand the rules of the modern foil fencing which would seem peculiar otherwise. It was used as a training weapon for the duel to the death. Naturally, in such a duel, when one's opponent makes an attack, the defender's first obligation should be to protect his own life before taking the offensive. After all, without such a precaution, both duelists would attack, both hit, and both die. Whose honor is satisfied then? As a result of this common sense approach to training for the duel, we have what could otherwise seem like an uncommon-sense a pproach to judging foil points in the modern sport. Namely, foil fencing embodies the concept of "Right of Way." The idea is really simple: When one fencer makes an attack, the other fencer is obligated first to make that attack fail before he can take right of way from his opponent.

Epée, pronounced "epay" or "aypay", is the same length as a foil, but it is heavier, and its blade is thicker, having a triangular cross-section. Like foil, points are scored only with the point of the weapon. Its bell guard is larger than the foil's to protect the fingers (the importance of which will become apparent in a moment).

Now for a quick glimpse of epée history to understand how it is different from foil. Epée was actually a dueling weapon that evolved after most European nations had outlawed duels to the death. As a result of such duels being outlawed, duels adapted so that honor was considered satisfied when first blood was drawn. The dynamics of the duel changed dramatically when death was no longer a primary concern. Preservation of one's life was no longer an absolute factor (though it could not be completely forgotten) and it was no longer necessary to restrict one's target to the vital area of the body. As a result modern epée has no right of way (whoever hits first scores) and the whole body, including fingers, toes and even the soles of one's shoes are valid targets. In fact, the only thing that a fencer has which is not valid target is the epée itself, which is considered a defensive device.

Sabre or Saber (whichever spelling you prefer) is a descendant of the cavalry sabre, and thus has a bell guard which covers the fingers and wraps around on one side to attach at the pommel providing protection for the knuckles. The blade is roughly the same length as both the foil and the épée, however, it has a "cutting edge" as well as a point. Naturally this cutting edge is not actually sharp in modern competition sabres. It is the lightest of the three weapons, and points may be scored either with the edge (in a cutting action) or with the point (in a thrusting action).

Again, a bit of history is needed. Since fencing sabre is the descendant of the cavalry sabre, which was a weapon of war, its historical purpose was therefore to kill people. This suggests a similar need as in foil for defending one's own life before taking an aggressive action, hence sabre, like foil is a Right of Way weapon. Unlike foil, however, a cavalry sabre was to be wielded while mounted on a horse. When combating a mounted adversary, one had to keep in mind the adversary's horse... it was to be part of the spoils of war for the victors, and a good war horse was a precious commodity. While a soldier took a matter of months to train to be useful in battle, a horse took years to train. As a result, neither side wanted to hurt the horse. This is reflected in the modern rules in the target area for sabre, which is everything from the top of the hips up, including the arms and head, ie. the part of the body which could safely be hit without damaging the horse underneath. (If this reasoning sounds cold, consider that in even earlier ages archers were often used sparingly at the expense of infantry. Arrows cost money. Dead soldiers don't.)