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Posts: 24 Location: Phoenix, AZ

Fri 09 Apr, 2004 7:22 pm

Maraging?

Hey Guys,

I was looking around at Olympic fencing weapons, and noticed that vendors charge extra for something called 'maraging'. Could someone fill me in on what this is?

Thanks.

Eric Gerry

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Craig Johnson

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Posts: 1,422 Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA

Sat 10 Apr, 2004 12:04 pm

Maraging-
Definition: A metal treatment process in which a martensitic structure is formed upon cooling of an alloy such as steel and subsequently heating the quenched alloy at temperatures between 400-500 degrees Celsius to achieve hardening.

Maraging Steel-
Definition: A strong, low-carbon martensitic steel which contains a high percentage of nickel and in which hardening precipitates are formed by aging.

from http://efunda.intota.com

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Eric Gerry

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Posts: 24 Location: Phoenix, AZ

Sat 10 Apr, 2004 2:33 pm

Interesting. But what's the practical upshot of that? :wtf:

Thanks,

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Craig Johnson

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Posts: 1,422 Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA

Sat 10 Apr, 2004 2:45 pm

Well pretty much they are selling you heat teated blades :-)

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Chris Holzman

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Posts: 124

Sat 10 Apr, 2004 6:37 pm

Craig Johnson wrote:

Well pretty much they are selling you heat teated blades :-)

yeah.... the other practical upshot in the fencing world, is that the maraging blades have been found to break flat about 99% of the time, in the FIE destructive testing program. needless to say, its a considerable safety advantage, and they are required for use in FIE governed tournaments. Electrical foil blades, and most epee blades, in the non-maraging variety have a pretty good chance of breaking sharp. Usually the foil blades will break on a corner (remember, rectangular blades, and then sort of 'tear' to the side under pressure of the hit, until the 'tear' meets the square groove for the wire, and then will fail catastrophically from there, often with a twisted or jagged piece. Epees tend to break about the same way. Olympic style sabre blades are not sold in maraging except by one vendor (if they're still selling them) and are not required for FIE competition. Sabre blades will generally break in the last 5 or 6 inches, or at the shoulder of the tang, and almost never break dangerously sharp.

Also, my experience over the last decade, with the maraging blades, is that they're generally forged to a higher standard, better finished, more durable (often double the life of regular blades) and are typically very rust resistant. They also tend to be a bit stiffer than the regular blades.

The maraging blades will be stamped with the FIE homologation seal, and will have a four digit number, ie 99-04 that designates when the blade was made, and when it is no longer allowable for FIE competiton. I currently have at least one 1997 series blade from a Russian company, that is still usable.

The best of the FIE blades are made by BF, or Blaise Freres, in France, and are sold through distributors like Allstar/Uhlmann, PBT, Triplette et al. I prefer the blades sold by PBT.. The us distributor is www.fencepbt.com

hope that helps.
chris

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