Mad About Science: Fencing

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

The sword is one of our most basic — and important — technologies. It started when someone in the misty, forgotten past picked up a stick and thought it might come in handy for whacking animals — in some cases to kill for food or fend off attack — or whacking other humans, for all the typical reasons.

Functionally, that stick extended the reach of the user’s arm for striking and replaced his or her relatively fragile yet vital appendage with something sturdier yet more expendable than flesh and blood. With the discovery and subsequent advancement of metal working, the humble stick transformed from wood to bronze, then iron, then steel — each step along the way adding layers of complexity in the fashioning and composition of the metallic elements, the tempering of the substance for ever-increasing durability and honing of the edge for improved sharpness.

Different types of fencing swords. Courtesy image.

Yet, through it all, the essentials of the sword have remained the same, and among the ancient traditions carried down to the present day has been the training and practice of using swords. Enter: fencing.

According to the Academy of Fencing Masters, the earliest known depiction of fencers in action comes from a temple wall carving near Luxor, Egypt, and dates from the time of King Ramses III. It features two men, armed with recognizable swords, engaged in competition while two others stand back, apparently cheering them on.

Fencing as a sport, as much as a practical preparation for warfare, has been traced to ancient times everywhere from Turkey to Korea, but reached a particularly high level of athleticism in Greece and Rome, where fencing became a staple of health clubs, with members engaged in the activity as a way to stay fit. Sword fighting, rather than fencing, of course, eventually featured in the Roman blood sports of the Circus.

Naturally, not everyone who picks up a sword is intent on slaying their opponent, so the types of swords used for fencing needed to be different than the heavier, sharper forms used for fighting. Fencing schools cropped up in Europe during the 12th century, intended to further the skills of swordplay from brute force to incorporate mental as well as physical agility. Thus the sword forms changed to what we recognize today as the epee, foil and sabre.

Virtually unchanged for centuries, these forms value speed and light weight over sharp edges and the heft required to rend bone and muscle. 

All three types of fencing sword are constructed from the same essential components: the grip, guard and blade. Likewise, the blades of all modern fencing swords are made from low-carbon steel, making them light and flexible. The bend in the blade is intended to limit the potential for injury when an opponent is struck, as the sport is one more of physics and muscle control (especially in the legs) than brute power. That said, fencing features a wide array of safety gear, including padded clothing, gloves and the iconic wire-mesh face covering.

The epee is regarded as the first dueling sword form. It features a large bell-shaped metal guard and long, relatively heavy and stiff blade that has been flattened on one side to create a triangular shape. In epee fighting, hits are only scored with the point of the sword and valid on any part of the body. Thus, the epee is a thrusting weapon, and the point on modern epees used in competition is often fixed with a spring loaded button, which sends and electric impulse down a wire in the blade to a socket, into which are plugged cords attached to a small electronic receiver that registers the hits.

Watch fencing in the Olympics — of which the sport has been a part since the first modern games in 1896 — and you’ll see the hits recorded as the depressed sensor at the tip causes a light to blink on the scoring “box.” Most epees feature a pistol grip, though some have the “French grip,” which is a straight, long handle capped by a pommel.

The foil is of similar length, though its guard is smaller and flatter, and the blade is rectangular in shape. The blade is lighter and more flexible than the epee, though also functions as a thrusting weapon. As with the epee, hits in a foil bout are recorded using the point — often covered with a rubberized button — but valid only against the front or back of the torso. In competition, the foil is often also electronically connected. The French grip is more common with foils than epees, contributing to their lighter weight.

Finally, the sabre is the shortest and lightest of the three, designed for extremely fast thrusting and slashing. Unlike the other fencing forms, hits in sabre fencing are recorded against the head, arms, hand and torso. The guard of a sabre is half rounded — think of a pirate cutlass and you’ll have the idea — to protect the sword hand. The blade of a sabre is constructed in a much closer style to a combat sword than either the epee or foil, commonly described as V-shaped at the base with a blunt cutting edge that tapers to a flattened rectangular shape toward the tip, which is folded over. This comparatively sharper shape contributes to greater aerodynamics, thus it moves faster through the air.

Unlike with the pure thrusting style of the epee or foil, which requires fencers to adjust their stance accordingly to accommodate both a quick forward motion (or lunge) and rapid retreat — holding their blades lower toward their center of gravity — sabre fencing puts much greater emphasis on attack. Sabre fencers (called a sabreur if male or sabreuse if female) stand en garde with their body positioned more forward and sword tip pointing up. 

Though seemingly simplistic, the practice of swordplay as expressed in fencing is among the most complex and elegant athletic displays — at its finest, an example of the complete melding of the human mind and body with a foundational human technology.

Stay curious, and en garde, 7B.

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