[J. G. Agustín Ortega T.]

Good day to everyone:

Let me introduce myself, I'm Agustín from Mexico city, and I've finally decided to register on myArmoury, as well as on SFI. There may be a few familiar faces here, as I'm a WMA practitioner and keep in contact with some colleagues from around the globe.

Like many of you might have done in the past, I began collecting wallhangers (mostly Toledo and UC-LOTR replicas), but can proudly now say, that I've finally moved to acquiring only real swords (I'm currently "in love" with my Albion Liechtenauer LOL) .

In my country it's very difficult to import a sword, the only way I've done it is through a Victorinox knife shop. Likewise, I've had some nice pieces made by a swordsmith artisan from the state of Oaxaca, although there's still a long way to go to have his swords ready for the export market.

Anyway, I hope to find knowledge, advices and make new friends around here.

Best regards,

J. G. Agustín.

[Scott Hrouda]

Hello Agustín!

It's very interesting to hear of the difficulties importing swords into Mexico. You mention a swordsmith in Oaxaca, do you have other domestic options? Are there many WMA, HEMA, SCA or similar groups active in Mexico?

Welcome and Well Met!

[J. G. Agustín Ortega T.]

Hi Scott:

Indeed, there are a couple of other domestic options I know of, but frankly, have not had the chance to test their products. One is a company in Guadalajara named Nahuarra (http://www.nahuarraswords.com/), off the rack they make mostly katanas, knifes and machetes, but I remember reading somewhere that they also do customized work, including European swords. The other, is a smith from Texcoco (a town just outside of Mexico City), I've heard he is great at doing armour, but ignore the quality of his swords.

There may be other smiths scattered around the country, but since they don't have webpages is hard to find them. The swordsmith I know from Oaxaca, was introduced to me by a friend and what I like most about his work is that the blades are handforged and tempered in oil (from what I understand a "Toledo technique") and have full tangs (not welded). I'm attaching a few pictures of his work.

Regarding the WMA/HEMA groups, there are a hand few who practice seriously. I've recently helped a colleague from Sweden update the information on Mexico, in his worldwide census of practitioners, you can view said project here: http://www.hroarr.com/survey/worldwide/practitioners/

I used to practice with of one of these groups, but after a couple of trips abroad where I got to train with some renowned WMA instructors, well, let's say my views began to differ and decided to move away, so now I'm in the process of starting my own project.

There are also some other groups that incline towards reenactment-type activities (mostly fantasy-type events), I really don't know them much.

As to the SCA, I'm not sure there is an offical "kingdom" in Mexico, although I've seen some SCA-style of fighting with a couple of groups, I believe one called "Medievo Mejico" was doing this.

Thanks for the welcome message, keep well.

Cheers.

[Scott Hrouda]

[Michael Edelson]

Good to see you here!

This is a great forum, very well moderated and full of great content. But then, sometimes, people talk about pirate vs ninja or whether SCA combat is martial art. Nothing is perfect.

[J. G. Agustín Ortega T.]

@ Scott: Thanks for the good wishes, If the project expands, I will surely let you know, Cozumel is beautiful, great diving! In the meantime, if you drop by Mexico city, you're welcome to train with us (well, just give me some time to start off hahahahaha, LOL). Greetings!

@ Michael: Hey brother, it' great to find you here. I'm trying to learn as much as I can, and have found that both this and the SFI forums are among the best sources of information. Like anywhere, odd discussions might arise, but I guess you can also learn a thing or two from them. As always my friend, take care and keep in touch! We must really find a way to get together in a near future, maybe plan something for next year!

[Jean Thibodeau]

Welcome and be sure to read the feature articles, reviews, collections, albums etc .... as there is a great deal of content in addition to the Forum discussions.

Doing searches using key words can also bring up some interesting discussions current and from many years back: One can search with specific content in mind but random searches or just going to long ago pages can be very rewarding as it's sort of like wandering the aisles of a library and browsing among the book stacks: One's eyes can spot interesting topics all over the older posts.

The discussion here is very well moderated and tends to be polite and informative and many will try their best to be helpful.

And yes we occasionally have weird or humorous Topics or comments but I think it is good to not always be too serious or take oneself too seriously, but in general there is a lot of serious discussion and many members do have some serious expertise and deep knowledge of history, the history of weapons and their use in a martial arts sense.

Hope you enjoy the site and make new friends here, but I notice that you have already found old friends already here like Michael.

[Justin H. Núñez]

Hey! Bienvenido hermano! Mis esposa es de Puebla, Sanat Monica de Cohetzala to be exact. This is a great site and place to learn and all the guys, and gals, here are definitely some of the most knowledgeable individuals that there are.

I have often wondered if there are any good sword smiths in Mexico. There should be with the quality of steel that there is and the talent too.

[J. G. Agustín Ortega T.]

@ Jean: Thanks for the warm welcome message. Indeed I've heard good things about this forum and as such, it is of my interest to take advantages of the information it provides, be it for the project in WMA I have in mind or just for my own knowledge.

I will be glad to make new friends, it's great to contact people with similar interests from whom I can learn, and of course, find some good old friend who I continually stay in touch with. All in all, thanks again and hope we can exchange some opinions which will surely help me learn much more. Best regards

@ Justin: ¡Hola amigo, es todo un gusto, muchas gracias por tu mensaje de bienvenida! It's a small world indeed and a nice surprise to find people somehow related to one's culture

Yes, there are a few swordsmiths in Mexico, the one I've had some projects done with is from Oaxaca, actually there are several in that state, but I like the quality of "El Güerito" (The Blondie, as his friends affectionally call him) because he hand forges blades with a full tang, and quite frankly, I've put them through quite some stress and sparring sessions, they are very resistant, perhaps still on the heavy side, but I guess this can eventually be improved. His main problem I feel, is not having authentic historical pieces to study and look at, and although he is a 3rd generation swordsmith, his pieces are not a "hot item" down here.

As I previously mentioned, in Texcoco there's a well known armourer, his pieces look beautiful, but I haven't tried their functionality; his swords look good, but again, I currently ignore their quality, but will definitely have to check them out one of these days.

There are good metals down here, but unfortunately there aren't many real swordsmiths to work them, as there isn't a market for swords. Either people are not interested or if they are, they are usually young and jobless students (at best) or persons who would rather spend their "saved money" on things like videogames (a sad case I faced in my former group), but of course, when reproached, will always state how serious they are into "historical fencing"or "reenactment" (check the video "BJJ is too expensive" on youtube, ). There are few, like myself, who love swords and WMA, that's what I invest part of my salary on and spare time, and now, some vacations on WMA events .

Thanks again for your message, and I hope we can stay in touch. All the best, and por favor, envía saludos a tu esposa, mi compatriota.