Over the past few years the hard blade cover has become a staple for a large number of fencers. Whether it’s to protect blades against the baggage handlers who view the burst rate specifications on materials as a challenge or a way to keep the shiny metal off of sweaty uniforms we’re not entirely sure. Whether you want to protect your fencing sword or just think it cool to have a sheath for it, making a blade cover is not very difficult.

While you can purchase these from your favorite online store, with a little work and patience you can make your own hard covers for yourself or your fencing team.

Materials needed: PVC Pipe, Drill, Bungees, File

Preparation – Get the PVC pipe. For epee blades you want 3/4″ and for foils and sabres you can go down to 1/2″. You don’t need the highest grade PVC tubing, so go for the 200 psi version to save a bit.

Step 1 – Cut the PVC into 36″ lengths. Most home improvement stores sell the PVC in 10 foot lengths, so you’ll be discarding a bit at the end of cutting 3 hard covers worth.

Step 2 – Drill two holes in the PVC pipe. For this one we use a 1/4″ drill bit.

Here’s the pipe with holes drilled.

Step 3 – Clean the holes

Step 4 – Thread the bungee

Step 5 – Success!

Here’s the completed hard cover now securely holding an epee: