Classic French Foil & Épée

The "Classic French" grip is what could be considered the most popular and most attributable to the French school.  It's ‘s’ shpae grip easily fits within the curvature of the weapon hand and, when carefully manipulated, offers a high level of control. The curve is set to fit snugly against the heel of the palm and to ally itself with the weapon’s cant. We recommend classic French grips for all levels of fencers, though especially for beginners who are just learning how to hold and handle a foil. It's primarily square in cross section to allow full use of the fingers in manipulation, though it rounds off toward the pommel or last third of the grip.

Antoine La Boessiere in his 1818 ‘Traite de L'Art Des Armes’ says the following on French grip construction: “One should avoid round grips: they turn in the hand and require you to clutch them, fatiguing and harming the execution. Therefore, choose one well squared; if the angles are strongly pronounced, you will hold it with ease—without which it would be necessary to clutch the handle—and the fingers will have all their skill.”  

Learn more about our grips and the materials they can be made from at our "About Grip Materials" page in our catalogue under grips. These grips are also available on many of our foil and épée designs, and can be built onto any customized weapon at no additional cost.

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Benjamin Arms builds by hand each grip to order. No two grips will ever be identical. Building these grips by hand takes time; no grip can be carefully crafted for a human hand expediently. All Benjamin Arms grips have a ¼ inch hole drilled through the grip and are designed to be fit on any foil, épée or sabre blade with a 6x1mm or 10x24 tang. We square the hole on the forward 1/4th of the grip, but some additional filing of either the grip or tang may need to occur for proper fitting.