Blade Caddy

My goodness, it's come at last. I've finally built something! My blog is true to its name! So, I had a problem. Foils are somewhat clumsy objects to carry around. Do you hold them by the points? The grips? Under an arm? They sell individual bags that you can use to carry several at once, but that didn't really appeal to me. So I figured I'd build a blade caddy. I already used lengths of PVC piping to hold cover my blades in my bag, to keep them from being damaged, so I figured that would be a good starting point. I sketched out a basic design, joining four of them together in a square configuration, with four 4.5" lengths of PVC at the bottom held together by three-way PVC junctions.

To hold the top together, I thought I could use two diagonal members, but it turns out that the 3/4" junctions I bought are specifically designed not to have piping run all the way through them, with a small lip preventing passage past an inch or so. So I wound up just using the same scheme for the top as I did the bottom, drilling holes to fit all of the foils. I also drilled some holes in the piping so I could hook in some small bungees that I could use to secure the foils inside, so that they don't fall out if I invert it accidentally. All in all, it seemed to work rather well! Then I tried fitting it into my bag.

So, I'd be a lousy carpenter, due to that whole 'measure twice, cut once' ethos. I knew I could fit a foil into my bag, and the caddy isn't significantly longer than that, so I figured it'd be fine. Turns out that the caddy's width top and bottom stretches the bag too much to accommodate it lengthwise. So, my plan for a caddy that would neatly fit in my bag is dashed, and all is ruin and decay. Woe am I, the engineer who didn't measure properly ahead of time! Actually, what I wound up doing is consolidating my equipment from two bags to one. So it actually still works out! Plus, it's getting some compliments at the club. So that's something.

Anyway, I'll probably wind up keeping it, as my previous 'two bag' solution, one for my foils and various gear and one for all my clothes was somewhat burdensome. I think this will work out better in the end, or I may even make some sort of cloth cover for the caddy, with a pocket or two, and a zipper so I can take it out easily. But that's another project, and thus, another blog post.