Foil/Saber Armoury Clinic With Shane Malachow

When: November 19th, 12-6pm

Where: Nova Fencing and Archery Club

Cost: $20 ($30 bundled with Epee clinic)

Come down to Nova Fencing and Archery Club to learn the ins and outs of maintaining weapons and equipment with national armorer Shane Malachow (they/them). The following topics will be covered:

• Weapon assembly and maintenance
• Bodycord maintenance
• Uniform maintenance
• Lame repair and maintenance
• Weapon tuning and wiring
• Preparation for tournaments and explanation of common checks/rules

Tools will be provided for use during the clinic, though if you’d like to purchase tools for your personal use, here’s the list of what will be needed:

• *Small slotted screwdrivers (1-1.5mm, ideally 1.2mm)
• Medium slotted screwdriver (2.5-4mm, ideally around 3mm)
• Wide slotted screwdriver (6-8mm should be about right)
• 6mm allen wrench (or a specialized 8mm socket wrench for outside hex nuts)
• 8mm open ended wrench
• *5mm open ended wrench
• Micro cutter / Flush cutters / any small wire cutters
• Wire strippers for smaller diameter wire
• *A lighter (a disposable bic is fine)
• Some sandpaper or emory fabric
• *A small utility knife (xacto blade or craft knife)
• *Electrical tape
• *Q-tips
• *Rubbing/isopropyl alcohol
• Needle and thread 
• low resistance conductive thread like Adafruit brand can be helpful, but not necessary
• A canting bar (option, find from fencing specific retailers)

* unnecessary for just saber

If you’d like to bring your own equipment to work on throughout the clinic, feel free, however the clinic will be focused on the lessons outlined above and equipment will be provided to practice on. If time permits, additional troubleshooting of broken weapons can be done as an exercise for the participants.

About Shane:

• Started armoring in 2015 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania Fencing Club
• Started working national-level events in 2017
• Served as tournament technician at multiple large events, including SYCs, NACs, Junior Olympics Championships, Veteran National Championships, Summer National Championships, and World Cups
• Currently armorer at Nova Fencing and Archery Club

If you’d like Shane to host a clinic at your club or division, please reach out to the organizer for their contact info.