the interesting part is going to be that an epee is actually a 3 sided blade
not a 2 sided blade like a traditional sword...i would think it would be incredibly difficult to forge...especially given how thin and long it is...
the epee is actually a modern derivative of the rapier. the 3 sided blade (similar to the 4 sided blade of the foil) was made in response to dueling in the 19th century changing from a "fight to the death" to a "first blood" style of encounter, whereby the first combatant to draw the blood of the other (typically by nicking or imparting a small cut) would be declared the victor...hence the epee traditionally has no point (with the exception of the 3 barbed point which was designed for modern fencing to make it easier to tell when a point had been scored...before the introduction of electricity anyway)...