Disclaimer: This grip was purchased by the author and not provided by Lancet Fencing. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own and not influenced by Lancet Fencing and/or its affiliates in any way.
Giving an ambidextrous lesson can be a clunky affair when you’re carrying one weapon in each hand. One weapon’s pointed at your student, the other off to the side so the tip isn’t dragging along the ground. Sure, I could easily exchange left and right handed weapons over the course of a lesson, but when things are really flowing, to do so would break a lesson’s flow.
Other vendors offer ambidextrous coaching grips, but these are more akin to straight French grips than orthopedic/pistol, which many of us prefer.
I guess this very niche use-case is where Lancet Fencing’s Peregrine Grip comes in.
Designed to swap interchangeably between left and right hands, the grip features a symmetrical handle that makes quick changes between the hands seamless and easy over the course of a lesson. No more having to lug around that extra weapon when working with the Peregrine.
By no fault of Lancet Fencing, most bellguards are designed to be rotated to fit either lefty or righty. For me as a righty, the grip has an award feel to it when I switch to my left hand, even with a straightly canted blade. The awkward weighting made lessons feel uncomfortable and I often found my hand cramping by the end of 20-30 minute lessons while using.
Combined with the fact that the grip I received was painted, and I often felt the weapon slip sliding around my hand as I maneuvered the tip to present cues in a lesson. Candidly, very little about this grip made me want to use it, outside of the convenience of not having to carry around multiple weapons in a lesson.
Where the grip really lost me was on pricing. According to the Lancet Fencing Etsy page, the products ship from Brooklyn, NY. So when my only shipping option was $40+ in addition to the $45 grip itself, $85 for a coaching grip was a baffling deal-breaker. For that kind of pricing, I would expect perfection or close to it, and the Peregrine grip falls significantly short of that.
Overall:
All in all, the issues with the Peregrine grip boil down to outlandish pricing, awkward handling/gripping, and a very niche use case. It’s a product I simply struggle to recommend, and the pricing doesn’t justify a substitute for the small inconvenience of carrying two weapons in an ambidextrous lesson.
