I have for you today yet
another fencing mini lesson. This time I'm going to cover the percussion point of the blade. There is always only one of these on any blade and there is no automatic way to predict its location that I know of. In my experience it is usually about a few inches higher than the middle of the
blade.
The point of speaking about this part of a blade is that it can have a huge impact on the outcome of the match. A percussion point can help you to knock not only your opponents blade out of the way, but it can also knock the weapon directly out of your opponents hand, immediately wining you a touch. I can say that I have had a weapon knocked out of my hand and it is a very embarassing and demoralizing experience in practice, much less a match.
The reason for the usefulness of the percussion point is as follows: striking this point with a similarly strong/thick or stronger/thicker point of your blade causes the force to be distributed in such a way as to knock the opposing blade back with great force. This would in theory move your opponent's blade from the line of defense or in a case where your opponent is holding his/her blade incorrectly, from his/her hand. It should be noted that this is not a foolproof move and is easily defeated by a simple disengage, after which, your opponent can extend and thrust into you, scoring them a touch.