Hello,

I haven't found any dedicated place for intrducing myself, I hope there will be no problem posting here.
I have just joined the forum. I am a french blacksmith and knife maker. I have great interest in oriental weapons, and in indian, persian, arabic, ottoman, or chinese arts and crafts.
First, I will probably be reading the contents of the forum, it seems to be very rich and interesting.
I am also moderator in the knife making part of a french professional metal craft forum.

See you later, and kind regards,

Bernard

Wecome to the site and look at the Features Reviews Collections Albums Forums Books
as there is a great deal of content in addition to the Forums.

There is no official place to introduce oneself, and although it isn't a requirement, it is certainly appreciated. :cool:

Thanks a lot Jean. Very interesting. I will need so much time to go through all of these contents !

Welcome to the forum, Bernard. I hope you enjoy it here. Lots of good, knowledgeable folks here! :D

Cher compatriote, bienvenue!

I've had a look at your website and found some very handsome work in there.

Enjoy the forum,

Julien

Many thanks to all of you. See you soon in the forum.

Kind regards.

Hi Bernard,

you are very welcome here. Hope to see some postings and pictures of your knifes soon.

Best regards from Germany,

Thomas

Hey there,Bernard.Welcome to myArmoury.Interesting to hear you are French,as I myself study and teach French rapier techniques :cool: It's also great to hear that you are a blacksmith/bladesmith.Guys with do it yourself experience are resources for us all.I'll looking forward to reading your posts in the future. :D
Cheers

Thanks again to all of you.

Isaac, it's fun to see how cultures still travel from one continent to the other, and you must know about french rapier, more than I do !
By the way, the "do it yourself" is not a "learn it yourself". I come from computer technology, and I had to learn everything about blacksithing and metal crafts. By chance, there is now a small number of blacksmith in France that are willing to share their knowledge and train other persons. This was much more difficult some years ago, but the blacksmithing art has come back to life, partly thank of the US custom knife revival. And people starting being bored of industrial soul-less objects also help !
I will be glad to share some advices and give help through the forum, as far as I can.

Kind regards

Thank you Jean. These posts are very interesting, in many ways.I hope I will have opportunities to discuss some technical topics with those guys. This is very professional work with "heavy" professional equipment (salt bath, BIG power hammer...). Not that common in France...
One thing that surprises me : it seems that most of your craftsmen are doing the whole work from A to Z, including metal work, wood, leather...etc. I prefer to keep some leading role for intricated project, but rely on some other craftsmen for specific parts I could hardly do by myself with sufficient level of quality. For example, I usually get help for leather work and steel engraving. Weapons engraving is a full time job, I gave up ! Same thing with leather, (I only keep special ray-skin work for myself because they are most of the times linked to unusual scabbards, like chinese eating sets). Other example : gold or silver leaf gilding..
Do you also have this kind of multi craftsmen projects or are they more likely to be a one man work ?