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23 September 2021Sabre Maraging review from coach Brynmor Saunders from Paul Davis Fencing AcademyDISCLAIMER:
I do not work for/am not sponsored by FOLO and the only compensation for this review was the free blade to test. FOLO have seen an early draft of this review as well as some direct feedback I gave them, but have had no editorial input.
REVIEW
A couple months ago, after a discussion of online marketing approaches FOLO asked me to test and review their new maraging sabre blade. I have been using that blade in training & for coaching 6 days/week for about a month now and am now ready to share my thoughts on it.
Previously to using the FOLO, I have been fencing with a mix of PBT branded BF-white maraging blades and Allstar branded BF-black maraging blades. I have tried but never owned LP Apex blades (not a fan), and previously to the requirements for maraging blades at FIE events used Dynamo and LP Z-pro blades.
I have been using the blade in a brand new Allstar black guard, with all standard Allstar components. The tang of the blade is slightly too long for an Allstar grip, so I added a spare small spring washer from a PBT sabre in order to fully tighten it. (If I had another one I would cut the tang). This also means it will be slightly too long for PBT components.
The finish on this blade is very different to other blades. It is very shiny, and smoother. The blade geometry is very similar to old Dynamo blades, with a continuous taper from the y-section to the rectangular section. The rectangular section is very narrow, meaning more of the blade's weight is near the guard.
I have not weighed the blade, but it is lighter than any other blade I have used, and handles extremely well. It is very flexible upon impact with a blade or the target, but does not load energy in the way some maraging blades do. It causes no issues in riposting after a hard parry or beat.
Durability may or may not be an issue with this blade. Because it is quite a soft blade with a very narrow foible, I have put quite a few bad kinks in the last 10cm of the blade (usually from someone parrying a through cut). However, these are all easy to fully fix, including one that was about a 100° bend. That bend did take 10 minutes for me to fix, so it would have meant changing weapons at a competition. I strongly suspect this will not last as long as some other maraging blades under daily use, but obviously, only having it for a month I can't draw any firm conclusions.
It has shown no tendency to form s-bends or mid-blade curves. Hitting with the point hasn't caused any issues.
I can't make any comment on consistency, as I've only had the one blade to test. This is one of my main considerations when buying blades, and it's unfortunate not to be able to offer comments on this.
Advantages:
● Very nice balance
● Very light
● Good flexibility to hit through parries but not overly whippy
● Excellent finish aesthetically, zero oxidation.
● Easy to set and straighten kinks
● Classic blade geometry similar to old Dynamo blades with a smooth taper.
● No tendency to take gradual curves if hitting a lot with the point or forward curves from repeated use
Disadvantages:
● Takes damage easily because of how light it is in the upper 3rd of the blade
● Bounces a bit on through cuts
● Tang slightly too long for an Allstar handle+guard by about 3mm.
● Tip is extremely narrow, a slightly larger loop may be better for safety.
Conclusion:
An excellent blade that is beautiful and lovely to use, handles like a prettier and slightly lighter version of a "soft" BF black (which I have personally found to have durability issues). Compared to this, which I have been previously using, the Folo narrowly wins. Greatly superior to LP Apex, which for some reason has an extremely thick upper 3rd and I do not like. In terms of handling and aesthetics, I believe it is the nicest blade on the market currently.
Although I have yet to break it, I do worry about the durability, and if I were to make a recommendation, I would say to buy these and use them in competition-only sabres, but buy something a bit more robust to use as a training blade such as a soft/medium BF white.
The original review you can read follow this link https://www.reddit.com/r/Fencing/comments/pq1lfu/folo_maraging_sabre_blade_review/
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29 September 2021Folo Epee FIE Review from Kevin O'NeillFolo sent me three epee blades to review. This is that review. In addition, I bought three of the lightweight Folo blades from BG, which I'll also review.
Folo lightweight: This is a copy of the LP non-FIE, as far as I can tell. The tang is a bit different but aside from that the construction is really similar. If you like the LP blades you'll like these, I think. They're fairly stiff, very light, and have a little whang to them when you beat the blade. I think they're very good for Y12 kids, for WE fencers, and for some ME fencers who want a really light blade, often to build a really light french grip epee and then fence largely off the blade. Durability seems good. I've used the three I bought quite a bit. I can't say they're as durable as the LP, since that would be a years-long trial, but they seem fine after six months of hard fencing, which honestly I think is long enough to draw some conclusions. If they were going to develop weird bends or soft spots I think I would have seen them by now. They have not gotten rusty.
The price is quite low when you compare it to the very similar LP non-FIE blade
Folo FIE FF Epee Blade: This is a copy of the BF FIE, as far as I can tell. It feels a lot like a BF, subjectively. I had a new BF stiff lying about so I decided to do some more objective tests. First I weighed them:
Folo M: 191g
Folo H: 199g
BF FIE (D): 202g
These are honestly very small variations in weight.
Then I did a flex test on them:
I clamped pairs of blades to a table and hung epee weights off the ends, then compared the amount of flex and where on the blade the flex occurred.
This for example is the Folo stiff vs the Folo Medium FIE blade. You can see that the medium flexes a lot more, as one would expect. You can also see that they flex in a different place on the blade.
The Folo stiff and a BF stiff are virtually identical, in both how much the flex and in where the flex appears on the blade. As far as I can tell the Folo stiff is a very close copy of the BF FIE.
I put the Folo medium FIE on an epee and used it a good bit to give lessons with and to fence with. I like it. I used a medium BF when I fenced with a pistol grip, this subjectively feels a lot like that.
Durability seems good. No bad bends, no rust.
I'd like to put a bit here about the price but I can't find it for sale in the US. If you know where to buy one, post a reply so we can chat about the price.
If this is much cheaper than the BF price I think it's a good option, in whatever stiffness you like.
Folo F1 non-FIE: I also got one F1 non-FIE blade. This is not a copy of anything on the market, as far as I can tell. It weighs 184g, which is a bit lighter than the FIE blades. The flex is a bit less than the medium FIE blade.
I gave this to a big strong beginner adult who has a propensity to bend the blade the wrong way. What I'm looking for is bad bends or soft spots.
After six months of use I don't find any of that. The blade still looks pretty good, no bad bends visible. Sadly it has got a bit rusty compared to the FIE blade, but that's to be expected for a carbon steel blade. That's really the only place the BG or Absolute house blades are better, they're coated so they rust less.
Conclusions: The stiff Folo FIE felt like a stiff BF to me, but I sent it off without using it so read those reviews and look for u/lakefx's review when it comes out.
The medium Folo FIE felt like a medium BF FIE.
Both of those seem moot without knowing what the price point will be in the US, but there you go. If it's a lot cheaper than a BF I'd think it would be a good option. If not, maybe not.
The lightweight Folo is a lot like the LP non-FIE. The price difference is a lot, 35% or so. It's up to you, people love LP stuff so I suspect a lot of LP fans will just keep on LPing and not worry about the cash, but if you're broke that's a hell of a deal for a light blade.
The F1 is to me maybe the biggest deal of the lot. For a long time there's been a hole in the epee blade market: A decent feeling medium weight blade that can fake feeling like a BF at the well-under-$100 price point.
Consider the cheap epee blade market at the moment: StM non-FIE, they suck. STM FIE-N, they feel good for a month, then suck. LP non-FIE feels nothing like a BF, it's in its own world. Various made in China house brands which are wildly inconsistent and mostly suck. The all get soft spots and take on bad bends in months, they're terrible. All of them.
Now the F1 shows up. $55 wired, are you kidding me?
This to me is a bigger deal than a BF FIE copy, or an LP copy. This is perhaps a new thing. I'm working from a sample of size n=1 here, but this is a really decent epee blade. It's a much better option than any of the current offerings at anything like this price. So it rusts, so what. Put a tiny drop of oil on a rag and wipe it down every week. Aside from that it's a much better blade than the current cheap blade offerings, it's a big jump forward. And it's for sale in the US, which is a nice thing if you want to buy one.
Ok, that's my review. Disclosure: they gave me 3 epee blades. I kept one and gave two away. I'll probably give the third away as well. That's the only compensation I've received. I'm sorry if you don't like Folo's marketing, that's not my concern here, I'm just reviewing the blades.
Original review you can read follow to this link https://www.reddit.com/r/Fencing/comments/q7kewp/yafbr_yet_another_folo_blade_review/