Foil

Foil is the first, most important weapon we fence at Baited Blade. It is the first because foil is the traditional teaching weapon. Besides being the weapon for instruction, it is foil where we make most of our conceptual, theoretical breakthroughs. It is at once the basic and advanced weapon of Baited Blade. The foil as we practice it is about 32 to 35 inches from the guard to the point, quadrilateral in cross section and as far as teaching is concerned, French. Classical fencing allows for two schools: the French and the Italian. Though we welcome fencers from either school, we only teach French.

The basic approach of foil is to set up the opponent to open his (her) guard and strike. Caution and control are taught and maintained through a convention known as “right of way.” Basically, do not attack without first extending the arm and do not attack in the opponent’s attack without first defending. Target for foil is the torso, representing the deadly nature of the duel (The face is excluded in deference to a time when there were no masks). After the student has reached a certain level of competency with the foil, the teacher may allow the next weapon, epee.

Epée

Epee is French for sword. It was introduced as a weapon to train for the duel as it was being fought at the time. It has a bigger, more sword-like blade than the foil and has a larger, offset bell guard. The target area was expanded to include the entire body (including the toes) and the convention of “right of way” was eliminated. It is thought by some modern fencers that this adds more swordfight realism. Actually, though it does add an element of variability, it loses the importance of a well delivered strike and a controlled set up for attack. The epee is based on the 19th century duel to first blood after all, where the goal was not to kill.

Sabre

We fence the 19th century Italian version of the sabre. It is a little larger and so, heavier than the modern sabre. The object is to hit with either a thrust or a cut. The blade length is a standard 35 inches. It is flatter than the previous weapons better indicating flat and edge. It is somewhat a right of way weapon though not in the strict sense of foil. Target is everything above the waist. The sabre is not approached based upon the student’s accomplishment in epee but rather is measured by the student’s continued understanding of foil.

Smallsword

As with all of the historicals, the smallsword resembles the actual weapon, blunted for fencing purposes. Blade length is from 30 to 33 inches and most have quillons (cross bar); some also have knuckle bows. The play resembles foil with the addition of minimal off-hand use including a few disarms (actually taught and practiced more than used, but at least they are available). We teach primarily from Angelo.

Combat Sabre

We practice this weapon similarly to how we fence with the classical sabres but there are a few differences. For one thing, the sabres are a bit heftier and have curved blades. There is also no right of way and limited grappling. The target remains the same as classical sabre.

Rapier

We teach the rapier (either by itself or with a dagger) straight from the works of primarily three Italian masters: Capo Ferro, Giganti and Alfieri. Our rapiers are longer than any of the previous weapons. The blade is a minimum of 40 inches from the quillon block for women and petit fighters and 40 inches from the arms of the hilt for most men. The primary attack is the thrust but cuts are allowed. Target is head, torso, sword arm and legs (the latter two represent targets for cuts mainly).

Longsword

Our rarest weapon at Baited Blade, the longsword is a hand and a half sword with a wider, flat blade from 36-42 inches long. We practice a system derived from the Italian, Fiori De Liberi. There can be plenty of grappling.

Dussack

This curious little weapon is a flat piece of wood or hardened leather shaped rather like a kidney bean with one end being pointy. There is an oval cut-out in the rounded end used as a handle. The cut is primary and there is grappling. We work primarily from the works of the 16th century German master, Joachim Meyer.

Great Stick

This is a five foot long rattan cane as taught by Alfred Hutton. It uses some Italian work based on the two handed sword of Achille Morozzo as well as some French style slightly resembling quarter staff

La Canne

In the spirit of pursuing the martial art aspect of this activity, we offer French cane fighting taken rather directly from gentlemen’s self defense manuals of the 19th century.