German vs. French
J. Nye
Can anyone tell me how to determine whether my foil and epee have either
German or
French points? Is there some advantage to the German point over the
French?
thanks
jn
Sam & Sandra Signorelli
point. if the screws just extend into a large channel onthe collar,
it's German.
As far as advantages, I wouldn't really know, All of my points (foil and
epee) are French, si I have nothing to compare them with.
Sam Signorelli
David W. Neevel
German foil points have a metal-over-plastic sleeve for the tip (as
opposed to just plastic for the French tip), and the heads of the screws
stick slightly out of the barrel when fully screwed-in. German points
tend to be a bit more durable and have a somewhat smoother movement than
French, but those jutting-out screw heads are vulnerable to getting
squashed by a strong beat, which makes them difficult-to-impossible to
remove. Whether the advantages of German foil points are worth the extra
cost and the occasional aggravation of
having to drill out a smashed screw with a Dremel tool (or discard the
whole point) is a matter of personal preference.
The biggest bugaboo I find with French foil points is that the end-cap
of the tip pulls loose with use, which lead to spurious off-targets and,
ultimately, to the body of the tip popping loose and falling off, while
the cap and collar remain behind in the barrel-- this particular failure
doesn't cause a white light to go off, so it may not be noticed
immediately, potentially costing you touches since you're left with a
weapon that can't register hits.
It can be fixed by peening the cap back onto the shaft with a nail-set,
but that's usually only a temporary repair, and you sometimes end up
with a cap that's set on askew, which can cause additional trouble.
-Dave Neevel
Ed
J. Nye wrote:
> Can anyone tell me how to determine whether my foil and epee have either
> German or
> French points? Is there some advantage to the German point over the
> French?
>
> thanks
>
> jn
J.Nye
Pray to the gods that all your stuff is German, then look closely at your
gear.
Foil: if the screws attach to the Tip it is french ( of course you'll have
to take the thing
apart to find out). If the screws attach to the barrel,Hallelujah!, it is
german.
Epee: Look at the tip of the point, there is a ring(sort of plasticky), if
the color is red it is
probably french. If the color is black the it is new german, if the color is
gray that it is
probably old german.If you can't figure it out try looking at the color of
the wire( assuming
these are factory wires) if the wire is white-probably french. If the wire
is blue then it is
probably german.
Hope this helps Fat Boy Ed
Zamarripa
todd
"J. Nye" wrote:
> Can anyone tell me how to determine whether my foil and epee have either
> German or
> French points? Is there some advantage to the German point over the
> French?
>
> thanks
>
> jn
generally tip screws, in my experience, on German points are not flush with
the barrel and the head of the screw is barely larger than the body. French
tips have screws that are flush when completely screwed in and the head of
the screw is wider than the body.
Todd
Todd R. Brown
German, so I won't bother. However, I will warn you about cheap Chinese
imitations. Cheap Chinese immitations of German tips look pretty much
the same as German tips, but the screws are threaded differently, and
WILL NOT WORK WITH GERMAN TIPS, and vise versa. Avoid the Chinese crap.
Now, I don't like the German stuff, personally. I think the tips are
harder to put together, and the bit of screw sticking out really bothers
me. There is an alternative, though...the Galaxy tip. This is the way
to go, as far as I'm concerned. The screws are flush with the barrel,
like the French points, but the tip sleeve is metal like the Germans.
And in price, they're somewhere between French and German.
-- Todd
Chuck Allen
"J. Nye" wrote:
>
> Can anyone tell me how to determine whether my foil and epee have either
> German or
> French points? Is there some advantage to the German point over the
> French?
>
> thanks
>
It's very difficult to tell German and French epee tips apart, as the
parts are close to interchangable between them. The only visible
difference is that the German epee tip screws have an unthreaded portion
(effectively a head) whereas the French epee screws are threaded all the
way to the top, but this cam merely indicate you have French or German
epee screws, as it's not impossible to put German screws in a French
tip, ant there is some advantage to be had by doing so.
Chuck Allen
Chuck Allen
"David W. Neevel" wrote:
>
> German foil points have a metal-over-plastic sleeve for the tip (as
> opposed to just plastic for the French tip),
>
There is a new version of the French tip out in the last couple years
which has a metal over plastic sleeve like the German.
For foil tips the giveaway is that barrel is threaded for the tip
screws on German tips and the collar on the tip is threaded for the tip
screws on the French tips. You will possibly need a magnifying glass to
see if the barrel is threaded.
Chuck Allen
Ryan Polasek
: Epee: Look at the tip of the point, there is a ring(sort of plasticky), if
: the color is red it is
: probably french. If the color is black the it is new german, if the color is
: gray that it is
Color of the band has nothing to do with it. I have french tips that
are both black and red, and grey. Though it is true that I have never
seen a german tip that is not black. As far as I can tell, the big
difference is that the tip on a french tip is strieght from the
wide part of the tip down to the area where the contact spring connects
and the German tips are strieght most of the way but have a slight
taper near the end where the contact spring connects.
Other than this, I have found that Uhlmann points are more durable,
and are made to closer tolerences. Making them smoother, let likely
to break, and less likely to let the contact spring loosen up.
Also, french tip screws are tapered, german tip screws are strieght.
Whether using french or german epees, use german tip screws, they will
work in french tips and are much less likely to loosen up and fall out.
Also if possible use the Uhlmann FIE style tip. Instead of a contact
spring, there is a plunger/spring assembly that is easy to adjust.
You don't have to worry about destroying the contact spring by screwing
it out and adjusting the contact point is as simple as twisting a little
knob. Much faster, especially when quick adjustments are needed on
the strip.
my. $0.02
--
/*------------------------------
Ryan Polasek
University Of Michigan
rpolasek@engin,umich,edu
www.umich.edu/~rpolasek
(Email altered for autospammers. Change commas to periods to fix. )
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