This is the first of six new guard designs in brass for the Classical Fencing foil. Originating from the Latin palatinus (of the palace), "Paladin" later came to refer to high level officials in royal courts. In later romantic folklore and legend, the name was used to refer to the closest companions of Charlemange and were comparable to the Knights of the Round Table in Arthurian legend.
The name was chosen because the center bar supports the strength and stiffness of the guard and allows it to be made of thinner material than the traditional Open Figure 8. The guard is cut with jeweler's saw blades from 1/8 inch brass rather than 3/16 inch as would normally be required. Even with the center bar, the guard weighs only 51 grams. The center hole has been drilled but will not be squared until custom mounted on the tang of a blade.
As with many projects done for the first time, there was a lot of testing and hand work required so the completed product took more time than I anticipated. If I can't reduce that time significantly, the six designs may turn out to be "one of a kind" items. Still to be tested is the life span of the guard under regular use. So far, I haven't seen any significant impact on guards made of the same brass alloy. I plan to make a similar guard in a vertically shortened form.
For the curious, the playing card shown is the Knight from the Spanish card deck. As with early similar decks, there was no Queen in each suit so the three face cards were the Knave (or Page), the Knight and the King.
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