Do you really have to salute before every bout, shake hands after, and ask before taking your mask off?
In competition, yes: the salute is required before the bout starts and again after the final touch, and refusing to salute is a black card offense under both USA Fencing and FIE rules. The formal version is simple. Face your opponent on your en garde line, mask tucked under your non-sword arm, bring the guard up to your chin, then lower the blade. Salute your opponent, the referee and the spectators. At practice it is not a rule, but most good clubs expect it anyway. A quick lift of the blade takes a second, builds the habit you need on tournament day, and confirms you are both ready.
The handshake is where the rules have moved. The rulebook traditionally required a salute and a handshake at the end. USA Fencing suspended the handshake part in March 2020 while keeping the salute, and the FIE has used a salute-only rule since 2024, renewed season by season. So at tournaments you will see a mix: handshakes, fist bumps, blade taps, or just the salute. The safe routine is to always salute, then shake or bump if your opponent offers. Never make a show of refusing, because a snub can be treated as unsporting. If a referee tells you what they expect, do exactly that.
Your mask stays on until the referee calls halt. Taking it off before halt is a yellow card. After halt, no rule says you must ask permission, but referees can card you for delaying the bout, and your hair is supposed to be fastened well enough that it never needs fixing mid-bout. The courteous habit is to catch the referee's eye and gesture at your mask before lifting it, especially in a tense elimination bout. During a longer stop, like your opponent's medical check, taking it off is normally fine. If the referee asks you to put it back on, do it without debate, since arguing turns into refusing to obey.
When you are not fencing, keep your weapon under control and off the floor. Hold it by the grip with the blade pointing down, or rest it with your mask and glove where nobody will step on it. Foil and épée fencers should not park the point on the ground or on a shoe, because it wears the tip spring and can cost you at the weight test. Do not lean weapons against walls where they slide and bend, and never wave one around near unmasked people. At a tournament, lay spares at your end of the strip, clear of the fencing, and never straighten a blade on the strip itself: that is a card too.