Hi everyone,
I'm really barely a blacksmith-- I spent about a year learning the ropes, I suppose, but I've never made anything extensive or special. I'm also a college student, so I don't really have access to a forge or equipment. So keep in mind this question is purely academic and out of curiosities sake.
I also happen to be an avid fencer. I've fenced for about 6 years, and am only now getting into the competitive part of the scene (after taking a break, so it's been a little rough to get back into the swing of things).
My question is, would it be possible to forge a fencing foil using "conventional" blacksmithing tools? And if possible, how would one go about this? (I don't know much about blacksmithing as I said, but I'm thinking along the lines of all the stuff you'd normally find in a shop, and maybe a couple extra power tools: forge, anvil, annealing/tempering oven, cooling tank, vice, tongs, belt sander, hammers, etc etc etc). I've provided some links down below with information on fencing foils, but here's some general information (and why I think this would be nigh immpossible): The blade of a foil is extremely flexible and and can withstand being bent without breaking for a really, really long time. These blades are pretty insane. You can bend a new one in a circle and it'll spring right back-- bend an old one and it'll have some curve in it if you bend it, but you can straighten that out. The main point is these very rarely break, and if they do it's either because of 1) Extensive use/misuse or 2) The blade had defects.
Again, if you tell me it's possible I'm not going to go out and try to do it. I'm just curious if it is possible, and if so, what the process would roughly be.
Wikipedia article on fencing foils-- this mentions that international competition blades must be made from maraging steel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foil_(fencing)
This video is from the London Olympics-- click around anywhere and watch for all of 30 seconds to see just how flexible these blades are. Keep in mind that this is obviously top of the line stuff though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgJy92YFWDw
If you need any more info I'd be happy to provide, and thanks very much in advance! :)
