What Fencing Equipment Do You Need to Get Started?

Updated

For a beginner, the core fencing kit is a mask, a jacket, a glove, a weapon, and a bodywire, plus a chest protector and a bag to carry it all. The one choice you must make before buying anything is your weapon: foil, epee, and saber use different blades, different gloves, and in some cases different masks, so gear bought for one discipline will not work for another. Leon Paul London, a fencing company established in 1921 and run by Olympic fencers, sells all of these categories — clothing, masks, weapons, and shoes — and lists current special offers on its site, which makes it a reasonable reference point for what a complete kit looks like.

The beginner kit, item by item

Item Why you need it What to check before buying
Mask Mandatory for any sparring or competition Must match your weapon (see below); check the bib material and size fit
Jacket Protective clothing rated for the weapon Correct size for full arm movement; check the closure system
Glove Hand protection and grip Weapon-specific: foil/epee gloves differ from saber gloves
Weapon Foil, epee, or saber Buy the same weapon your club trains with
Bodywire Connects weapon to the scoring box Match the plug type to your club's equipment
Chest protector Additional torso protection, required for many fencers Check whether your club or competition requires it
Bag Protects blades and clothing in transit Long enough for your weapon; separate mask pocket helps

Leon Paul's site groups its catalogue exactly this way — Clothing, Masks, Weapons, Shoes & Socks — so you can assemble a kit category by category rather than guessing at bundles.

Foil, epee, or saber: what changes in your kit

The weapon choice drives most of your other purchases.

  • Foil and epee share a similar glove style and a bell-guard weapon. The blades differ in flexibility and the valid target area differs, but the basic kit structure is the same.
  • Saber uses a different glove and a guard that protects the hand differently, so a foil or epee glove is not a substitute.
  • Masks are the item most often bought wrong. A mask must be legal for the weapon you fence, and the bib is the part that differs. If you are unsure, buy the mask from the same weapon category as your blade.

If you have not settled on a weapon yet, wait. Most clubs lend starter gear for the first few sessions, and buying a foil kit before discovering you prefer epee is the most common beginner expense mistake.

Training gear vs. competition gear

Beginners do not need competition-grade equipment, but there is one upgrade worth understanding early: FIE-certified masks.

Leon Paul describes its X-Change mask as "the lightest, most breathable mask available" and positions the FIE X-Change mask as "the choice for high level fencers." That is a competition-tier product. For a first mask, a standard club-legal mask is sufficient; the FIE version matters once you are fencing ranked events where certification is checked. The same logic applies across the kit — a basic jacket and glove will carry you through training, and you upgrade the pieces that wear out or that your competition level requires.

Budget and where to buy

Leon Paul's site shows real price points for consumable parts, which is a useful way to gauge running costs: LP tip screws are listed at £2.63 for a bag of 10 (regular £2.92), a complete epee point wire at £1.80 (regular £2.00), and a 2-pin bodywire at £20.63 (regular £22.92). Small parts like tip screws and point wires are the items you will re-buy, so factor them into your budget rather than treating the initial kit as the whole cost.

Before ordering, confirm two things on the retailer's site:

  1. Returns policy — Leon Paul lists a "Returns: Simple, Easy" section; read it before your first order so you know the window and conditions if a size is wrong.
  2. Delivery — the site states worldwide delivery with UPS; check the estimated time if you need gear before a specific class or event.

Buying from a specialist fencing retailer rather than a general sports shop matters because mask certification, glove type, and bodywire plug compatibility are not interchangeable, and a general retailer is unlikely to stock the correct variants.