Long story short:

Today a friend of mine came over,
it was the first time he has been over to my house since I have had my sword-collectiosis diagnosed.
Instead of being amazed like most men would be at the sight of pretty, sharp, war related things he promptly said out loud to me:
" We are in the 21st century man, haven't you heard of a gun?"

This made me laugh very hard! So I wanted to share it here on the forums.

Do you guys have any similar stories? How do people react when they see your collections?

Hope I put a smile on your faces, have a good day ;).

My buddy from Aus . looked at my hand & 1/2 & war hammers I had built a display stand for, put his arm around my shoulder and said " Joey, do you like movies about gladiators ?"

well, cowards use gun!

jk :P

You are probably going to see all sorts of reactions to a sword collection, especially if its more than 2-3...then people's minds really start churning. "What the heck?....Crazy person...etc?"

I have come to accept it and its no big deal. If they want to listen I will explain it to them, that I collect them as objects of a time long past, that it offers a historical connection for me. That I just *like* them and always have since I was a kid. That it does not make you Jason from Friday the 13th..... :D

It's really like collecting anything. People collect all sorts of things that make no sense to me, but I understand why they do it. What ever the object happens to be obviously resonates with that person, for me it's swords. What can I say?

The fearsome reputation of edged weapons, swords and axes in particular seem to generate a bit more of a reaction though than collecting vintage toasters.

At my son's birthday party one year ( he was 13 or 14 ) a kid, who wasn't as familiar with our household, was amazed by all the swords, axes, spears, bows, and crossbows that we had around. As they were collecting wooden weapons to go outside and play the kid voiced his amazement to my son, something along the lines of "wow, you have a lot of weapons here."
To which my son replied, perfectly deadpan.
"ya, we are a regular house of death."

When people ask why I have my collection, I usually respond with a joke:

-It's in case the Saxons get uppity again

or

-it's how my wife keeps me in line

Then after a laugh, I explain that I love military history, which is a fairly acceptable interest, though most people associate that idea with the World War era or the Civil War in this country.

My friends always tell me pretty much the same thing: "You're the last person in the world I would try to rob, not knowing that you are actually home at the time." Another near and dear soul to me(now departed) once said to me: "Damn, Mark...Your kinda like Ozzy meets John Wayne meets Braveheart!"........... :lol: ......I found that to actually be a bit truthful, which made it even funnier. :lol: :lol: ...........McM

I also started collecting Star Wars action figures back in 1977. I have them ALL. A friend came by one day as I was going through them. "What are you gonna do with all this crap?" I produced him a list of what I paid for them then, and another for what they are worth now. He was kinda like... :eek: . That box full of plastic will get me 4 or 5 Albion's one of these days. ;) ...........McM

My friends and family knew me as the little kid who always had a pocket knife or wooden sword in his hand while growing up, so when I moved on to collecting higher quality knives and machetes and then swords once I had the income, most of my loved ones didn't really bat an eyelash at it. Not to mention due to the field I work in (butcher), the hobby of owning blades doesn't really stand out, especially among my coworkers who are all collectors, butchers. hunters, professional chefs, etc themselves. Still, even though swords can still be a bit of a leap from knives for a lot of people, most people I risk talking to the hobby about just shrug it off jokingly at worst with little quips like, "I know where I'm asking for help if things end up like *insert zombie movie/show here*. I've never really encountered an overly negative attitude. Cautiously intrigued maybe, but not completely weirded out....or maybe they are just being polite haha :\

A friend was having a back ground check done for a TS clearance, when the investigator come to the house she did not notice all the swords a first. Very business like she set up her little lap desk to take note ect looked at me and then noticed the entire home was full of swords. The look on her face one one of wide eyed 'what the hell'

"Don't worry, your not in the house of an ax murder"

I have actually used that line more than once.

We also recently change postal delivery people, she is a love young woman. The first sword she delivered the box was destroyed it was an Albion Decerner, she did not know what was in the box and when I inspected it she got all bright eyed, and I asked if she wanted to hold it, she said

'Oh my god that is beautiful'

I can concur with that, David. The day my two handed Hanwei Claymore arrived, my UPS driver asked me what it was.(I know him well.) I unboxed it right there in front of him. I won't, out of courtesy, repeat what he exclaimed. He later simply said: "If I were going back in time, I'd wanna ride shotgun with you." :lol: :lol: :lol: It's good that people know we are a little bit nuts,but they still care for us anyway. :lol: :lol: :lol: ..............McM

If you look at my house on goolge maps there is a long white box in the doorway, lol.

The UPS and USPS folks all know what they are delivering. I also have a 15th century suit of armour in the front entry way, it kind of sticks out

God bless you, David. :D I need to set aside a weekend to build you a seax, sometime. Great responses, everyone!...McM

I work for the US Government in Germany. Most of the people where I work are middle aged with a high percentage of women. I walk to and from work as I live about a mile from base. I used to get boxes in the mail at lunch and leave them in my work area unpacked until I took the unopened boxes home after work. A couple of my fellow workers said they did not feel comfortable with weapons in the office (Army Base!) so, I now leave the boxes someplace else in the basement when I get one. Another co-worker told my boss she did not like me having a small pocket knife (which I use to open supply boxes) at work. My boss asked me to not carry one at work to make her happy. I told him I would comply if the organization put out a formal policy that prohibited pocket knives. Nothing came of it.

My German neighbor told me she did not feel comfortable with me having a sword collection. Guess Americans are a violent people from what they see on the news.

Now - I am a white collar professional and also retired from the Army plus a war veteran. I am not a weird antisocial scary person by any means. Actually very friendly and mild mannered. It just seems funny being from West Virginia where guns and sharpies are everywhere. Also funny that these people who work for the military are so anti-weapons and anything remotely classified as a weapon. Of course the problem people are the ones who have never served a day in uniform.

A few people though are very interested in my hobby and ask questions.

If I had to pinpoint the problems:

1. The media will publish stories of nut jobs with swords in the national media.
2. Recent waves of violence in the schools, federal facilities and others.
3. People working for the Federal Government from many different walks of life where they feel anything having to do with weapons, hunting and the like are absolute barbaric hobbies.
4. Federal employees who have never worn a uniform.
5. Federal supervisors caving in to every complaint from a minority of the workforce because almost nobody has the guts to stand up and call them out for stupidity.

I remember being in the Army for 25 years and people having offices with war souvenirs, swords and everything on the walls. It was normal.

The reason I just don't push back is because these interesting people can get you fired. All they have to do is say I feel threatened because Bill brings weapons into the office. He does not think the way I do and is now dangerous and has a means to hurt people - no kidding. Maybe he will have an episode of PTSD and go nuts. ;) Just like anything else these days, we have to compensate and coddle the few who think they are special for whatever reason.

Well, its not an unusual thing to hear passerbys scream that or "HIYAA!" at the outdoor training sessions I've been at. One of my instructors had pretty much the best reply ever.

"Ever notice though that none of them stop?"

Personally, one of the reasons I collect swords is to keep my Rambo fantasies firmly in fantasy line. It's pretty close to a useless martial art in today's world and it helps me keep training and collecting a fun hobby. As well as appreciative that we live in a fairly civilized modern state.

Something that seems to have eluded some of my gun collecting acquaintances.