I've never actually met anyone in real life who understands my obsession.

My wife Gayle who is pictured with me is also a huge fan of the late Ewart Oakeshott of. Whom many experts revered in the ddvd Reclaiming The Blade, but she was infuriated that Ewart Oakeshotts personal choice to carry on the torch of studying and researching as well as classifying the various European sword types was not even mentioned in Reclaiming The Blade. This man, the personal choice of Ewart Oakeshott, founder of "The Oakeshott Institute and owner of the highly respected company "Arms and Armor" Christopher Poor, not only was he not interviewed, Chris's name was never even mentioned! Gayle found this otherwise excellent dvd to be not only insaulting to Chris Poor, but also disrespectful to Ewart Oakeshott, the very man who was praised by noted experts. She said Ewart Oakeshott dedicated his whole life to the classifications of these swords and just as carefully selected Chris Poor to carry on the torch and they don't even mention Chris! This is a total disregard to the intellect of a world reknowned expert's choice in the man he found to be the most worthy of the ambition he gave his life to and restoring a huge part of our heritage!
Gayle also greatly admires Stephen Hand for not only his books. In particular the book on the Mortuary Sword, we have thje Cromwell. But also Stephen Hand's endless hours of unpaid dedication for sword rights in his country! Along with myself Gayle thinks Christian Henry Tobler is a swordsmanship genius but also Poetry In Motion!
This evening Gayle used her Ming Sword to cut 4 jugs Cutting each one between 3 and 5 times!

Anyone else as lucky as I am in this area?

Very Grateful!

Bob

I'm a little confused about what I'm reading... its sort of a rant about Reclaiming the Blade and sort of about your wife being great?

I just wanted to comment on the part about RCB, as I disagree with your statements. They may not have mentioned Chris Poor and Stephen Hand, but I doubt it was really meant to be insulting. There are literally dozens of other very qualified notable people they didn't mention, but I don't think they really had the time to discuss everyone related to the sword industry. They choose a few, I don't think it's really an insult to those they did not. If they came and made a movie about my college and interviewed some students I wouldn't really be insulted if they didn't interview me personally, I mean there are 20,000 students they wouldn't be able to interview all of us.
Oakeshott was great but he wasn't the only person who wrote about or classified medieval swords, if he were still alive than maybe they would have interviewed/mentioned him... but he's not. They also failed to interview Peterson and Geibig for similiar reasons. IMO I think it was supposed to be more about the medieval sword in the modern world, lengthy discussions about dead writers would add to the idea of swords just being old things nobody nowadays cares about.

I also think RCB was more slanted towards a mainstream/ fantasy/ LARP audience, thats why they mainly interviewed LOTR actors and stuff. Not based on any fact, just my opinion.

Z

Hi Zach, actually it was not meant to be taken as a rant, in fact I also thought I stipulated that other than not mentioning Chris Poor it was an excellent dvd. Well that is what I meant to say. Nor was I saying my wife is so great! What I meant was to illustrate her level of passion and whether right or wrong about her opinions the fact that she loves this hobby as much as any of us! I apologize for. Sounding confusing and by the way we own the dbd and have watched it numerous times.
As far as mentioning a few of the experts I meant to explain that Gayle too studies this hobby.
She's really quite a humble person and not in the least is she the "know it all type".
Looks like I missled by my own poor communication and I do apologize for this.
Gayle loves Ewart Oakeshott, Chris Poor, Craig Johnson, this website and many of the experts. I really just meant to explain her high level of passion for the sword world! And in All Truth if anything Gayle is "Too" humble!
Very Sorry to Misslead Anyone!

Humbly,
Bob

My girlfriend and I regularly fight using swords. We're both members at the same WMA group. We're also both members of "De Hospitaalridders" reenactment group. Does that count? :)

My wife tolerates, but understands my hobby. I show her cool stuff all the time and periodically she says "yeah that's neat!".

You are a lucky man Bob, to have a wife really into arms and armor!! It's not so common!

Ah, another lucky guy like me. :)

I made my wife her own sword early on in our relationship. Sometimes I get the feeling that this is one of the reasons she married me in the first place.
She pretty much shares all my interests (Books, archaeology, books, metal & leather crafts, books, historic weaponry, books, video-games... did I mention books?).
Funny thing is she is the one really crazy for weapons, writing her doctorate thesis on ancient egyptian weapons, and I am the one crazy for shoes, writing my doctorate on a related subject. :lol:

Bob,
I merged the thread about your wife with this existing thread of yours on the same subject. Now everything is one one place for those looking for this kind of info. :)

Luckily for us, there is a magical object that, when purchased for our significant other, is able to mitigate almost any amount of annoyance over almost any hobby, whether it be fencing, sword collecting, martial arts, football, even getting on it with the boys (or in my case all of the above).

An example of this marriage saving object:
http://www.wittner.com.au/shoes/heels/ciara-c...ather.html

:) :idea: Thank you so much Chad and it's Wonderful to see and hear from you again! I have missed this website so much
You just can't imagine (expression of Gratitude) and it really IS a dream come true! Computer crashed and like many we got hit with hard times! However, the collection is intact though I traded a few items to get 4 high end Hanwei Asian swords and the Gold hilted German Branch sword from Arms and Armor for Gayle along with the Ming for her too! Got the Oni katana, Song Sword and the Shaolin Wootz sword for "US" too!
Chad, I really missed you, Nathan and many others, this website is invaluable to me! The scope of it's depth and membership of experts is rivaled by no one in my opinion!
Once again, thank you for coordinating this thread with my old one from 2007!

Really Have missed you Chad, hope all is well with you and your loved ones!!!!

Bob

My girlfriend has been very supportive of my hobbies and interests :D I had met her through a friend of mine when I had invited her to our local park, were my reenactment group was practicing pike drills and western martial arts. She found it to be EXTREMELY fascinating :cool:

She loved how disciplined my group was and our love for weapons and armour. She had told me she had passed by and saw us practicing and thought we were LARPING and thought we were lame :wtf:

But once she saw that we were doing the "real" thing she found it all exciting :D She has contributed sewing my doublet, my leather gloves to my guantlets and is working with me and creating my banner ;)

Im real lucky to find a girl that has a passion for this stuff like me :)

Wow! Some real lucky guys, from those who's spouse spars with them to a wife working on her doctorate theses on ancient Egyptian weapons and even to have a spouse who not only tolerates but supports their opbsession, this is all very good!
My wife started out as supportive and now is downright deadly with her Hanwei Ming (Jian style sword). I watched her cut 4 one gallon jugs all the way in half, 3 to 4 times each jug. As far as our new book "(he Art of Chinese Swordsmanship) well I get to look at it once in a while for my Hanwei Shaolin Wootz sword. LOL
Compare this to a story of a man who bought a spear from the Arms and Armor booth at the !ristol Faire and his fiancee made him return it which he sheepishly did. For me, this would have been a clear sign that this potential marriage just is not going to work, as I won't be choked out of something that is "ME"!
When told the story I could not even feel sorry for the guy as he did not even put up a fuss.
On the other hand I know I am extremely lucky and very grateful! Now to get my wife to watch 30 seconds of footbaal, that is impossible. LOL
Bob

My wife is a traditional archer and is always joking that I "Tank " for her.

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Carlo that's awesome your wife being a traditional bow archer and Jeremy you are so right about wives understanding "boys and their toys"! In my case I am incredibly lucky, whereas most women want jewelry and such for gifts, my wife much prefers swords and daggers and I am totally serious. 5' 3" in upper 50's and she is a sword enthusiast in her own right! From our collection here is a list of her favorites in order but by company for convenience of posting though her 2nd favorite sword is her Ming Sword. From Arms and Armor her custom crisp German Rapier with matching dagger, her Gold Hilted German Branch Sword, my German Bastard sword though big for her she's crazy about it and she thinks Nathan's Custom German Bastard sword is a thing of Beauty! The Edward lll Sword which she is quite effecive with, her Elector of Saxony dagger with ornate scabbard, the Bec De Corbin. From Hanwei, her Ming Sword, the Song Sword, Shaolin Wootz sword, Cromwell sword, Sir William Marshal sword. From Windlass her newer version of the Coustile and the Medieval Sword Hilted Dagger my ONI Katana and the Ravens Claw dagger that I customized to be especially deadly for her and her Del Tin Viking sword! Oh I forgot to mention the Arms and Armor Danish War Axe. By the way Robert, Gayle thinks your Gotland Axe is gorgeous! She also see's why I like Nathan's Albion Dane two hander so much! I am totally serious about all this and Gayle totally understands why I am crazy about my Arms and Armor Highland Claymore, St. MAurice Sword and custom Sparthe Axe.
My only dilemma is which sword to buy for Gayle next. LOL!
Very Grateful for such an Unique barbarian wife yeT who is so softly spoken! Her favorite hobby is gardening but swords are a close second!
Bob

My wife and I share our enthusiasm for swords and horses, the only real point of contention is her two miniature goats. I hate those damn things! But in light of everything shes put up with from me I bite my tongue and only gripe out of earshot :lol: The only thing negative I get from other family and friends is how "expensive" swords are but otherwise everyone seems to think its pretty cool.