First of all, if it was not for myArmoury I would not have made anywhere near the progress that I have attained so far since my introduction to the most beloved hobby and interest of my lifetime! I have been able to correspond with profound experts in their fields, like Christian Henry Tobler, Stephen Hand, Peter Johnson, in Private Messages.
I've read one fantastic post after the next by a multitude of the members, I have an access to a seemingly limitless array of books available, reviews written on swords and polearms. Articles written by various experts, a sword comparison chart, updates on upcoming events. Other sword fanatics that I've met in person to explore and express my passion with, friends that I've made. I found Kult of Athena because of myArmoury which is about 20 minutes from my house, met friends in person and by Private Messages hundreds of miles away.
I could go on and on listing the benefits of myArmoury!
I am so very grateful to Nathan, Chad and others who have done a magnificent job of managing this website and in so doing they have helped me enormously, far more than words can express :!:
I was 48 years old in the late summer of 2005 when I bought my first sword and found myArmoury, and now I am enjoying the most passionate hobby and interest of my lifetime! I also heavily consider the countless hours that
Nathan, Chad, Bill and others have given freely of themselves to make this website "Work" :!:



Thank You Everyone, I am So Very Grateful :!:

Sincerely!

Bob

Bob, you're right on target.

I also give my thanks to the myArmoury team, and greatly appreciate the resource they and all the forum contributors have made over the years. I have been collecting swords and knives for many years, but never had a place where I could discuss my hobby and interests with others, particularly those who have much expertise on the subject. Although I have only recently joined the forums, I have read them for a few years, and they just keep getting better and better. Thanks again, and keep up the great work!

I agree. This is a great place to learn. I try to learn something new every day and with this place, it's not difficult.
I also love the good advice and honest opinions I get here from my new friends.

Bob,
I share your love of swords and the Arts. I am glad we have this place to share our feelings and views.

This site is, indeed, wonderful. I honestly think that the last three years of my life would have been far less interesting if I had not stumbled upon myArmoury. Though my current schedule and budget only permit modern sport fencing, I am still a keen "armchair" arms and armor enthusiast, and find myArmoury to be an excellent online resource. Many thanks to all whom make this site possible! :D

Well, I guess I like this place for the over-all professional tone. It's a good site to come looking for some serious, solid no-nonsense info. But at the same time, you guys are a relatively laid back and pleasant bunch, which is always a plus. ;)

Were it not for this site, I would still think:
- that $500 was a lot of money to spend for a sword.
- that it was not possible to find a variety of swords and sword-dealers
- that all steel grades were the same
- that it is foolish to want more than one sword
- that no one else alive thought holding a fine sword was the greatest thing in the world, apart from holding a beautiful woman close in my arms.

Wow! Thomas and Master Chelette can I ever relate to the comment of "For Love of a Fine Sword" and Thomas I can identify 100 %, but plus one other individual, to hold my wife Gayle, plus, to hold my golden retriever "Rosie", and then before all else, to hold a fine sword, is the very next endeavor over and above all other material things, nothing rings alive the warmth in my heart and spirit as to what a fine sword does for my spirituality :!:
Thank you Christopher for telling me that I was "Right on target"!
I don't want to say what I donate, because somehow it just does not seem right to me but it's rather substantial for my economy, however, I always feel real good inside after I've paid te donation. It's right up there with how I feel when I make a donation for the care and protection of helpless animals like dogs and cats, recently I made one in particular that was a lot of money for the humane society in a particular drive for the care of dogs. I also have a regular monthly donation set up with one of my credit cards to help care for dogs and cats that have been abused and or abandoned. In particular I have a life long innate Love for dogs, I was born crazy about dogs :!:
When I make my annual contribution to myArmoury, I get that same warm feeling, because I am returning something to a source created by Nathan Robinson, like all of you have said, has done so much to help educate me, in fact
myArmoury is "Ground Zero" for me! All one has to do is look at the home page of this site and it readily tells you (hypothetical "you") that the depth of this website is several leagues deep in educational value and a myriad of resources to follow upon to other sources, which includes the extensive listing of book titles for consideration of purchase.
By luck of fortune I found Arms & Armor at the Renaissance Faire from whom I bought my first sword the German Bastard Sword, but solely because of myArmoury I found the magnificent vendor so close to me that being "Kult of Athena", if not for myArmoury, I would still be oblivious to it's existence, the outstanding company of "Albion Swords" was brought to my knowledge due to myArmoury!
Because of myArmoury, I found "Chivalry Bookshelf" and now have 18 or 19 of their books, including the analysis of
Paulus Kal "In Service of the Duke" by Christian Henry Tobler which is an absolute work of genius by him :!: Also, the uncompromising quality of this significantly outstanding book that was demanded by Brian and Ann Price, which resulted in a "Masterpiece"!
So many books in my ever growing now more than 100 related books, of which many selections were made possible by the education as a whole of myArmoury dot com!

As I said in the initial post of this Thread, I could go on and on and on listing the multitude of things that myArmoury has done for me!

Most Sincerely!

Bob

I've been bouncing around here since 2003 and no matter how many reviews / articles I write or how much I donate, it will never equal the amount of knowledge I've gained, the friendships started, the people I've been fortunate to meet , the opportunites that's opened up and the plain sheer joy of sharing with others, that myArmoury has given.

Nathan, Chad and others put alot of time & effort into keeping this site running, so again, hats off to them.

Cheers,

Auf Wiedersehen,


Bill

I too would like to "Applaud" William's comment, I think no set of words could best what William had to say in expressing how I feel about myArmoury, the creation of Nathan Robinson with Chad Arnow right there with him from what I understand the very beginning of this website. The multitude of arduous hours working into the wee hours of the night given freely of themselves for which there was no compensation and now Bill Grandy is in there sacrificing too :!: They gave of themselves and with others in there working with them, identities of whom I do not know, but because of these sacrifices, we the populace of myArmoury have been given a treasure trove of resources to learn from.

The words of "William Goodwin" ring so accurately my inner most sentiments to Nathan Robinson in "Particular",
but also to Chad and though he is no longer with myArmoury I also include the works of "Patrick Kelly" who was also instrumental in the creation of this website and to whom I owe a very personal Thanks to something he did for me in the first few months of my membership, of which Nathan and Chad understand. I also want and need to mention
Patrick Kelly for the personal tutelage he gave me in getting me started in my first year of seeking knowledge in our common interest, which started in the late summer of 2005.

One of the Lucky One's (Because I found "myArmoury")

Bob

I can't speak on behalf of all my cohorts, but I can say I appreciate all the kind words. I'm happy to be a part of things and to share and give back to the community. Yeah, it takes a lot of time and one could blame the expansion of my library ($$) on my desire to have more reference material at my/our disposal for articles, but it's fun.

We have great readers, great authors from among the reading population, and a great, small core team of moderators and contributors.

I've been around this site for a while (I'm user # 11). Nathan asked me to join his team in 2004, so I can't claim to be one of the founding team members, though I did help test out the site before it was public. :) Since then, I've become a moderator, an author liaison, an editor, and myArmoury's Content Manager in addition to authoring more than 40 articles and reviews.

myArmoury's full team members include Bill Grandy (a review machine with almost 60 reviews and articles to his name), Sean Flynt (25 articles and counting, the launcher of very cool new series articles, and an editor) and Nathan who wears all those hats and must spend more horus with any article than anyone (often including the author). We're joined by a couple of team helpers. The moderating team is Gabriel Lebec, Nathan, and myself.

So, we're a small group of folks. "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers..." :)

It's hard work, but it's fun. I have a blast.

I appreciate everyone's kind words. :)

Thank You Chad, for bringing my attention to the works of Sean Flynt, so that I may acknowledge yet another Fine Man of a giving nature for all his work for the aid of our educational benefit.

Thank You Sean for your intellectually vigorous hours of research in detail so as to formulate articles so that we may increase our knowledge from the educational material that you bring to the table!

To all the moderators "Gabriel", Nathan, Chad, for which without we would have chaos! Acknowledgements of gratitude are also personally extended from me to the "Contributors" for your toils for which there is no compensation, yet you give freely to help others!
WOW! There sure are a lot of "Knights" in this website :!:

Thank You!

Bob

Bob & Jean,

Thanks but no applause for me...please.....you asked...I answered.


Auf Wiedersehen,

Bill

Well, just to add my own two cents ... I like myArmoury because there appears to be a deeper
central interest in the history of the sword and surrounding the sword. A good many of my
purchases have been based on what I've read in the Reviews, or seen in the Collections
or Albums. And while I don't burry my nose in the Features or a ton of the Books, I have most
certainly referenced these materials on more than one occassion ...

I can't say that I've seen so much elsewhere, to be honest with you. ( Note : The other forum
I frequent, and Bob knows of which I speak, is much younger than myArmoury, but trying
hard to be valuable and cool. )

And while I don't bother the admin and mods too much, I can say that when I have I've been
shown the kindness of polite discourse as opposed to feeling like I'm getting the brush-off
by WC Fields.

Like Bill, I figure I'll never be able to contribute enough to match what I've gained from the site. I appreciate the kind words of those who are able to get some use out of what I do contribute. I also want to point out that much of my arms and armour education has come from those of you posting in the fora. There are many threads here as valuable for the discussion and exchange of theories they contain as for their compilation of research. The site has become one-stop shopping for me. If I can't find exactly what I need here I can at least find a link that takes me to exactly what I need. Thanks to everybody!

Where else can a person find such an immeasurable depth and diversity of knowledge and experience- shared freely with all who care to read it? Worldwide! Thank you all for your kindness.

Without myArmoury, I would still be my 15 year old Katanaphile self.

I think what I like best is that myArmoury is very friendly to questions from less-experienced people. Just now, I posted a thread about single side ring longswords and already someone has offered to send me a bunch of pictures. I don't think I know another forum where people go so out of the way (posting pictures and quoting source texts) to answer what is usually just a newbie question.

I love the professional tone of myArmoury. The fact that petty bickering and fighting is very rare, and well moderated (thanks Chad, Nathan, and Gabriel). Like Ty, I like the willingness of others to share their knowledge in a friendly and professional way, without snapping at people, even if the question has been beat to death. Personally, I rarely have anything of great significance to share, but I am certainly thankful for the great number of members who do! And, of course, I like the fact that this site is completely saturated in eye candy!

Kenton