That extra two inches...
Off-center bell-guards? The death-knell of fencing!
Pistol grips? You might as well shoot yourself!
Posting your épée? You might as well clutch a ball-peen hammer!
There are those who consider any 20th-century innovation a degradation of the art of fencing. If you compete, this may not interest you one whit… and rightfully so!
After all, it’s you who has to find a way to deal with the longer reach and the unexpected angulations of your “posting” opponent. And oddly enough, coach’s standard advice to take his blade and enter is easier said than done.
Yet posting (or pommeling)—i.e, holding the weapon at the utmost end of a straight or French-style handle—is not all that new.
This early American photograph shows two epee fencers fencing in front of a mixed military and civilian audience. At least the fencer to the right is a member of the U.S. military.
The fencer to the left hefts his weapon at the pommel…providing us with probably the earliest iconographic proof of modern posting in U.S. epee fencing.
Fencer's Magazine 