As I was taught the foil was the practice weapon for the lethal smallsword. The
epee was a dueling sword, in fact the first epee I learned on had a sharp point
under the point d'arret. Epee had no right of way, but a double hit counted
against both fencers. I learned attack with a closed line, and we seldom got
hits above the elbow because no-one dared over-commit.to their lunges.

Th first use of the word "foil", in the 16th Century refers to a sword (rapier?)
with blunt ("foiled") edges. I was surprised to hear it had ever been used for
sharps.

Bob Lyle

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]