This is a series of points to consider when buying each of the items below. Many things come down to personal preference, or a judgement of what fencing and competitions you think your child will do in the life of the gear, but there are some options which are simply wrong, not relevant for Queensland, or not recommended for one reason or another. Most of the discussion of foil blades is also relevant to epées, but not the sockets, as all epée wires and sockets are thankfully standardized.