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Forum Index > myArmoury.com Features Talk > Contest: Spearheading DonationsContest
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Nathan Robinson
myArmoury Admin


myArmoury Admin

PostPosted: Sun 16 Aug, 2009 11:58 pm    Post subject: Contest: Spearheading Donations         Reply with quote

Spearheading Donations for myArmoury.com!

myArmoury.com is in the midst of a member-initiated donation drive to help me with the cost of running this place. So far, the outcome has been pretty successful. There hasn't been a whole lot of donors, but I'm thankful for the help that has put into the pot already.

The money will be used to offset this year's server hosting costs (only one of my many expenses related to running this site). As of this year, the site now sits on a dedicated server. The performance of the site is no longer an issue, but with that benefit comes a higher cost. Your donations help offset that cost for me.


Prolific myArmoury.com member Jean Thibodeau spearheaded this year's donation drive and has put his money where his mouth is. He is personally sponsoring this contest to entice others to donate to the site. He's doing this out of the kindness of his heart and out of the cash in his pockets.


Jean has purchased a Custom Spearhead from Michael Pikula of Volund Forge that will be given away to one lucky winner!





Click for full-sized photographs


The overall length is 13 3/4" with a blade length of 9" and it weights 1 pound, 5 ounces.

The spearhead is really beautifully done. You can mount it onto a shaft or leave it in its custom-created wooden case for an equally fantastic presentation. Very nice!


Jean wants to encourage first-time donors so we're going to make the contest terms very simple.


HOW TO ENTER:
  1. Ensure you're a registered member of myArmoury.com

  2. Members who have donated $10 US or more to our donation drive since July 1, 2009 are eligible for this drawing. If you've already donated or you donate before the contest closes, you'll be entered.

  3. Any members who have Purchased a Membership Plan on or after July 1, 2009 will also be automatically entered.

That's it! You're done!




Entrants must be made prior to contest close on Monday Sep 14, 2009 at Midnight PST. All participants will be entered into a drawing and the winning name will be randomly selected later that same day.

Domestic shipping charges are included with the winning prize, but international winners will be required to pay for shipping.

Thanks goes out to everybody who has given to this site. Good luck to everyone!!



    Contest-specific rules and limitations:

  1. You must be a registered member of myArmoury.com. Donations must be made while logged-in
  2. myArmoury.com moderators and Team Members are eligible to win since they have been amongst the most generous with their donations
  3. Shipping charges are included for winners located in the continental US
  4. Should the winning entrant choose not to accept the prize, another winner will be selected
  5. Those who have donated anonymously will be given the opportunity to accept the prize but must agree to have a public announcement made regarding the contest win
  6. The contributed amounts will never be revealed to the public by myArmoury.com. Contest entrants can choose for themselves if they wish to share this with the community

    Please read our detailed Rules and Limitations document for complete information and our disclaimer.

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Arne Focke
Industry Professional



Location: near Munich, Germany
Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Reading list: 34 books

Posts: 204

PostPosted: Mon 17 Aug, 2009 1:00 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Wow, thanks Jean!
What a great prize!

And of course many thanks to Nathan for running this site.

So schön und inhaltsreich der Beruf eines Archäologen ist, so hart ist auch seine Arbeit, die keinen Achtstundentag kennt! (Wolfgang Kimmig in: Die Heuneburg an der oberen Donau, Stuttgart 1983)
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Scott Kowalski




Location: Oak Lawn, IL USA
Joined: 24 Nov 2006

Posts: 818

PostPosted: Mon 17 Aug, 2009 5:23 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Simply smashing Jean! That would have been a better joke if this were an impact weapon mind you. Though this still does not let you off the hook in regards to buying a digital camera so you can pictures of your newest items.

Scott

Chris Landwehr 10/10/49-1/1/09 My Mom
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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PostPosted: Mon 17 Aug, 2009 7:08 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Arne Focke wrote:
Wow, thanks Jean!
What a great prize!

And of course many thanks to Nathan for running this site.


And yes the spear is great and I bought one for myself as you probably all know if you read all the new Topics Posts.
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=16032&start=40

I've been thinking of donating something for the current fund drive for a while and the availability of Michael's spear heads in" Multiple " quantities was something that permitted me to donate something and have one like it for myself: I must admit that this way I was sure to have one and it's easier giving a very " desirable " object when one has it's twin in hand one might say.

I also considered this a good way to help Michael Pikula as I think he is an amazing new, to us, maker ( I assume he has been doing this for a while, as one doesn't get this good without a lot of practice ).

At his currently very low prices I could afford to buy two spear heads and still feel like I was getting a bargain. Wink Big Grin

So, two birds with one stone: A nice prize for the " myArmoury " fund drive and helping a maker with cash and good P.R.

I am getting something out of it as giving something does make me feel good and it's sort of fun ! So it's not a completely unselfish thing ..... yes, giving is a reward in itself.

Now, this is a small thing compared to the hundreds of hours and money out of pocket that Nathan puts in to keep this place going every year: As he mentioned, he just upgraded to a dedicated to " only this site server " and this isn't free for him and with all the unpaid work he puts in he should at least have out of pocket cost paid by the numerous people who get a lot out of this site: I know that if this place ceased to exist I would " LOSE " something very valuable to me on many levels, from what I learn here to the people I have had the pleasure to have met here and many of which I can consider friends.

Anyway, " I' l be back " ( As said by the TERMINATOR ) with frequent " BUMPS " and encouragement's to donate. Wink Razz Cool I'm not called " VERBOSE " for nothing. Wink Cool

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Tim Lison




Location: Chicago, Illinois
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PostPosted: Mon 17 Aug, 2009 8:55 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

What a great giveaway! Jean is THE MAN! That spearhead looks really nice, Michael Pikula's work is great and this seems like no exception!
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Roger Hooper




Location: Northern California
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
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PostPosted: Mon 17 Aug, 2009 6:28 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

When I heard about this contest, I said to myself, I need a sword not a spearhead. But after looking at it, I have to say - I WANT IT!!

What diameter shaft will it take?
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Nathan Robinson
myArmoury Admin


myArmoury Admin

PostPosted: Mon 17 Aug, 2009 6:35 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Roger Hooper wrote:
When I heard about this contest, I said to myself, I need a sword not a spearhead. But after looking at it, I have to say - I WANT IT!!


It's really awesome to be honest, Roger. I'm super impressed with it.

The sockets are 1" in size. Regarding haft-sized, read Jean's post about his.

.:. Visit my Collection Gallery :: View my Reading List :: View my Wish List :: See Pages I Like :: Find me on Facebook .:.
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Addison C. de Lisle




Location: South Carolina
Joined: 05 Nov 2005
Likes: 27 pages

Posts: 614

PostPosted: Mon 17 Aug, 2009 7:00 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Jean - I'm impressed with your generosity. It's a beautiful spearhead and it must have been a wrench giving it up.

This site really is great, both in terms of content and supporting community, which is why it consistently earns my donation. Keep up the excellent work!

www.addisondelisle.com
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Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz




Location: Michigan, USA
Joined: 08 Mar 2004
Reading list: 3 books

Posts: 864

PostPosted: Mon 17 Aug, 2009 7:11 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Way to go Mr. T. Nothing like adding more enthusiasm to this drive to keep
myArmoury in the soup !
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
Joined: 15 Mar 2004
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Spotlight topics: 5
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PostPosted: Mon 17 Aug, 2009 7:11 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Roger Hooper wrote:
When I heard about this contest, I said to myself, I need a sword not a spearhead. But after looking at it, I have to say - I WANT IT!!

What diameter shaft will it take?


Well, the inside diameter of the socket is just a hair under 1" on mine and my aft is a bit over 1 1/8" in diameter: I reduced the aft to 1" and carved/sanded the tip into a cone to fit about 3" into the socket.

The socket outside diameter is a bit over 1 1/4" depending if one measures flat to flat or corner to corner on the octagonal socket.

Sharpened the head a bit using a diamond hone a a couple of passes: It was already very sharp as received but now it's paper cutting sharp. The steel feel very hard and glasslike even with a diamond hone. It,s also L6 steel which is near unbreakable. Al bevel lines are perfect etc ..... I already mentioned this in the other threads about Michael's spears and the one on my custom project Partisan/Lugged Spear.

Bottom line this spear and my spear are above and beyond my already high expectations in quality of materials and workmanship as well as great aesthetics and I would recommend that anyone wanting a first class spear to order one from Michael as his reputation for quality as well as his prices can only grow in the future.

If you have seen his work on swords to seaxs to spear heads, including folded steel on other Topics threads about his work I think he is one of the first people I would go to for a custom project. ( Oh, and I have already for my partisan Big Grin ).

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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PostPosted: Mon 17 Aug, 2009 7:17 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Addison C. de Lisle wrote:
Jean It's a beautiful spearhead and it must have been a wrench giving it up.



Well actually NO because I made a point of getting one almost the same for myself because it would have hurt donating one that I didn't already have a twin of. Wink Razz Cool

So I didn't have any " wrenching " or any giving anything up. Wink Big Grin

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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PostPosted: Mon 17 Aug, 2009 8:30 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Note that the spear head looks much smaller in pics than it is when in hand.

Also as Nathan mentioned one can mount it but one could just as easily display it in it's box and it's a really neat box. Big Grin

We are getting close to half way to the objective. Cool

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Carl W.




Location: usa
Joined: 07 Aug 2008

Posts: 185

PostPosted: Tue 18 Aug, 2009 3:09 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Jean - well done. Gave me good reason to click now rather than continue to be "lazy" :-)
Easy to call $5 of donation a raffle ticket.

Nathan - thank you very much for running this site.
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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PostPosted: Tue 18 Aug, 2009 9:36 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Carl W. wrote:
Jean - well done. Gave me good reason to click now rather than continue to be "lazy" :-)
Easy to call $5 of donation a raffle ticket.

Nathan - thank you very much for running this site.


Good and appreciated but you might consider giving another $5 before the end of the fund drive so that you are eligeable to win the spear head: I wouldn't want you to miss out having a chance at it. Wink

Oh, and we are over the half way point. Cool

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Maurizio D'Angelo




Location: Italy
Joined: 09 Feb 2009
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Reading list: 3 books

Posts: 649

PostPosted: Wed 19 Aug, 2009 3:38 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Jean thanks for your generosity.
I am proposing to the Vatican, Mr. Jean Thibodeau "Holy" immediately. Eek!
I Joke. Razz Wink
ciao
Maurizio
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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Posts: 8,310

PostPosted: Wed 19 Aug, 2009 1:47 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Maurizio D'Angelo wrote:
Jean thanks for your generosity.
I am proposing to the Vatican, Mr. Jean Thibodeau "Holy" immediately. Eek!
I Joke. Razz Wink
ciao
Maurizio


Thanks I'll accept a nice Dukedom, a Palace, a thousand pounds of gold and a few Swiss guards suitable to my high social rank. Wink Razz ( Joking also, obviously. Cool )

Donations seem to be rolling in and I would encourage people making posts letting others know why they liked this site enough to want to donate:

1) This would be fun and maybe also how they found this site in the first place and when they decided it was worth while coming back often to read or post to Topics.

2) This would be much more interesting and a better way to keep bumping the Donation threads up than just " ME " repeating myself or desperately trying to find something original to say .... well, write. Wink

3) Oh ........ and " BUMP " ...... Wink Razz Laughing Out Loud Cool

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team


myArmoury Team

PostPosted: Wed 19 Aug, 2009 2:19 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Jean Thibodeau wrote:
1) This would be fun and maybe also how they found this site in the first place and when they decided it was worth while coming back often to read or post to Topics.



I was on the Highlander Sword Shopper's guide and Netsword back when they were more active. Then came Swordforum. I met a bunch of cool people there. Through various political things not worth going into, many of those cool people left SFI of their own free will (or not). Nathan had started this site to show off his collection (it was literally "his" armoury). He and some of the non-SFI people decided to expand the site, adding articles, reviews, photo albums, and discussion forums.

Nathan knew me from the SFI days and invited me to participate here before it was even public. I and some of the early folks tested the forums and tried to get bugs worked out before it went public. I'm user #9 on the memberlist (when sorted by join date). Happy

I stuck around because I like the people, the great exchanges of info, and the culture that was created and nurtured here. Over the years, Nathan asked me to become more involved. I submitted some reviews, then joined the myArmoury team, and later took on moderating and other duties and here we are 6 years later. Happy

Happy

ChadA

http://chadarnow.com/
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Maurizio D'Angelo




Location: Italy
Joined: 09 Feb 2009
Likes: 3 pages
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Posts: 649

PostPosted: Wed 19 Aug, 2009 6:35 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Chad Arnow wrote:

I stuck around because I like the people, the great exchanges of info, and the culture that was created and nurtured here. Over the years, Nathan asked me to become more involved. I submitted some reviews, then joined the myArmoury team, and later took on moderating and other duties and here we are 6 years later. Happy



I think that your work, we do not pass unnoticed.
Thanks to you all, to keep this site as is. Happy
Maurizio
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Bjorn Hagstrom




Location: Höör, Skane
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PostPosted: Thu 20 Aug, 2009 12:27 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I took the opportunity to upgrade myself to "Benefactor" to contribute a little more continously. If counting the time I spend here and the insights and information I get it is a real bargain!
There is nothing quite as sad as a one man conga-line...
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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PostPosted: Thu 20 Aug, 2009 9:47 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Chad Arnow wrote:
Jean Thibodeau wrote:
1) This would be fun and maybe also how they found this site in the first place and when they decided it was worth while coming back often to read or post to Topics.



I was on the Highlander Sword Shopper's guide and Netsword back when they were more active. Then came Swordforum. I met a bunch of cool people there. Through various political things not worth going into, many of those cool people left SFI of their own free will (or not). Nathan had started this site to show off his collection (it was literally "his" armoury). He and some of the non-SFI people decided to expand the site, adding articles, reviews, photo albums, and discussion forums.

Nathan knew me from the SFI days and invited me to participate here before it was even public. I and some of the early folks tested the forums and tried to get bugs worked out before it went public. I'm user #9 on the memberlist (when sorted by join date). Happy

I stuck around because I like the people, the great exchanges of info, and the culture that was created and nurtured here. Over the years, Nathan asked me to become more involved. I submitted some reviews, then joined the myArmoury team, and later took on moderating and other duties and here we are 6 years later. Happy


The funny thing is that I can't remember exactly how I found this site the first time. Eek! I do remember finding it about 6 months before I joined ( Lurked for those first 6 months ).

Now often we don't remember these things because one had no idea at the time that the " event " would have a lot of meaning way down the line and when it did become important the memory of how one found the site has faded away.

Now, at the time the site that I went to the most was the Albion site and I may have seen a link there to " myArmoury " or a customer review/feedback mentioning " myArmoury " . Question Question Question

I could also have been just randomly browsing for historical weapon sites ........ WTF?! Wink Big Grin

Now, what I am sure of is that when I found this site I immediately put it in my " BOOKMARKS " on my MAC and it's been at the top of my list of bookmarks. Wink Big Grin

Oh, $1810 dollars so we are over 2/3 of the way to the objective but there is only 3 weeks left to go before the end of the Fund Drive and it would be nice to have as many people as possible contributing/helping in paying for the site and beat lasts years number of contributors.

Assuming we reach the objective I can sigh a little breath of relief but if we go over the objective it does mean a bit of spending room for unexpected expenses and give Nathan a little extra for contest prizes or enhancements to the site and a reserve for paying the next years hosting costs that might go up. ( These things never get cheaper. Wink Razz Laughing Out Loud ).

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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