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Considering all of the features for this week's site update, please rate the quality of our efforts.
Excellent
40%
 40%  [ 22 ]
Very Good
56%
 56%  [ 31 ]
Good
1%
 1%  [ 1 ]
Fair
0%
 0%  [ 0 ]
Poor
1%
 1%  [ 1 ]
Total Votes : 55

Nov 14: myArmoury.com news and updates
Today's update:

[ Linked Image ]
Newly Featured On-line Gallery
Steve Maly's Collection

[ Linked Image ]
Lutel 10006 Two-Handed Saber
A hands-on review by Bill Grandy

[ Linked Image ]
Custom Lutel 15th Century Longsword
A hands-on review by Jeff Hsieh


As always, you can see our Complete History of Updates listed right from our home page.
I particulary enjoyed looking at Steve's collection. It's always nice to come across a fellow A&A Black Prince owner! :cool: BTW, how did you mount that coin in the pommel recess? I like your Armart Viking sword too. Are you new to us, Steve? If so, welcome! Thanks again for sharing your collection. -Ted
Edward Hitchens wrote:
Are you new to us, Steve? If so, welcome! Thanks again for sharing your collection. -Ted

Steve Maly has been around since the beginning. He registered on myArmoury.com on Aug 23, 2003 and has been in the greater community for years before that. His user ID here is #80 -- yeah, he's been here awhile. :)
Very nice update, I've always wondered about the Lutel saber, having contemplated buying one more then once.

I also liked the custom Lutel 15th century sword very much. Nice to see some more custom work from this company.
Very good update in quality and lots of it in quantity. Steve's A & A Horseman's axe is show to great advantage as the 3 dimensionallity of it is very tempting ! ( Something else to put on the list :p Oh, and the Rondel Dagger ........ :eek: Gona go broke. :lol: )

Although I'm focusing on a couple of favourites everything looks very good.

The Swiss sabre's handling description is impressive.

Too bad there isn't anything higher than " excellent " available as a rating for the update. :cool:
Nice update, gents! While the reviews were certainly top-notch, I most appreciated the addition of Steve's collection - love the opportunity to check out other people's "stash". It's fun to get a feel for how people collect and what the inspiration/motivation behind it all is.

Jean Thibodeau wrote:
Steve's A & A Horseman's axe is show to great advantage as the 3 dimensionallity of it is very tempting ! ( Something else to put on the list :p Oh, and the Rondel Dagger ........ :eek: Gona go broke. :lol: )

Firsthand, I can tell you, the axe is pretty neat. There's a good bit of geometry involved in the head - definitely not just a machine-stamped plate. When I first picked it up, I got a sense that it really didn't play nicely with others. Pick an end - both look to be extremely effective.

As for the Rondel, well... I'll have to let you know (hopefully fairly soon) how that one is... ;)
Aaron;

Looking forward to your review of the Rondel dagger. ;) :cool:

Maybe it"s just the small number of votes yet but usually there would be more excellent than very good votes ?

Funny because I still think this update deserves a rating of excellent. :eek:
Jean Thibodeau wrote:
Maybe it"s just the small number of votes yet but usually there would be more excellent than very good votes? Funny because I still think this update deserves a rating of excellent. :eek:


Hi Jean. This gives me an opportunity to talk about the history of this site! The thing to keep in mind is that the collection galleries aren't everybody's favorite thing. I can understand that. They're mostly eye-candy compared to a well-researched article. But for me, they hold a special fascination because they are what started this entire project.

This site was named "myArmoury.com" because I wanted to show "my" armoury, or my collection. It then was going to evolve into a site that was to show other people's collections. After I was running with that, already starting to create the site before it became public, Patrick Kelly happened to contact me via email wanting a place to post formatted reviews. He and I got on the phone and started to discuss a greater project idea and out came the concept of a site that showcases people's collections and has articles and reviews discussing these things we all love to collect.

So there you have it. that's why, to me, the collection galleries are the foundation of this site.

Before our site, and perhaps still now elsewhere, the only reviews that you could find on the 'net of these items looked very much like the collection gallery entries but with far fewer photos. These so-called reviews had stats and measurements (always in various formats and groups depending on who wrote them down) and 3-4 paragraphs of impressions of the piece. That's all we got. Patrick and I decided that these write-ups aren't much in terms of reviews, but still have value. And this is why they form the pages of the galleries: to showcase an item with a ton of photos, stats, and a brief write-up. We upped the ante on the notion of what makes a hands-on review and started to put out our detailed reviews, hopefully changing people's expectations of what a review can be.

So, after that long explanation, I can say that Steve Maly's collection contains about 20 separate "mini-reviews" with about 160 photos: a giant update package of content for sure, but one that might not have as much educational value as, say, a well-written article that we might publish. As such, mileage may vary on how we each rate these sorts of things. Makes sense to me. :cool:
Nathan Robinson wrote:
Before our site, and perhaps still now elsewhere, the only reviews that you could find on the 'net of these items looked very much like the collection gallery entries but with far fewer photos. These so-called reviews had stats and measurements (always in various formats and groups depending on who wrote them down) and 3-4 paragraphs of impressions of the piece. That's all we got. Patrick and I decided that these write-ups aren't much in terms of reviews, but still have value. And this is why they form the pages of the galleries: to showcase an item with a ton of photos, stats, and a brief write-up. We upped the ante on the notion of what makes a hands-on review and started to put out our detailed reviews, hopefully changing people's expectations of what a review can be.

Agreed, and appreciated.

One thing to note also - there's a fair amount of coverage of pieces in people's collections in the full-on reviews section. Likewise, there is some degree of overlap amongst collections - the Regent appears in 3 or 4, for example, and would be in mine yet again. There is a review of it, and a good deal of discussion in the forums as well. The amount of info available is pretty remarkable, if you think about it. There is a decent amount of diversity amongst them, too - there are a few pieces that are unique to each, be they production or custom pieces. Take, for example, Patrick's Big Johnsson.

I like the collections because, through the biography and looking at the collection as a whole, I get to see HOW people collect and WHY people collect, not just WHAT people collect. The Robinson collection is different from the Kelly collection. The Arnow colection is different again... For me, it's beyond a collection of pictures.
Yeah, I can see that a lot of brief reviews might seem less satisfactory than a full review, but as Nathan said the long reviews are maybe now the expected thing and people may not have gotten the distinction that this is a new collection gallery not a regular review.

I can also see people being influenced by the fact that some of these are somewhat redundant and have been reviewed more fully before. My very favourable reaction to the collection is due to the AAA quality photography and the numerous angles we can admire everything. ( That Horseman's axe is great eye candy )

Actually, I have some of the same swords and I can still enjoy seeing great Picts of them: Sort of reminds me why I wanted them in the first place. :cool: :lol:
Edward Hitchens wrote:
I particulary enjoyed looking at Steve's collection. It's always nice to come across a fellow A&A Black Prince owner! :cool: BTW, how did you mount that coin in the pommel recess? I like your Armart Viking sword too. Are you new to us, Steve? If so, welcome! Thanks again for sharing your collection. -Ted


Thanks Ted. I mounted the coin in the Black Prince pommel with rubber cement. I coated both the recess and the back of the coin and let them get "tacky" before placing the coin in place. It is a very secure bond under normal use, but I can still pry the coin out without damaging it or the pommel.

Yeah, as Nathan pointed out, I've been around a while--but not one of the more prolific posters.

Enjoy!
Aaron Schnatterly wrote:
One thing to note also - there's a fair amount of coverage of pieces in people's collections in the full-on reviews section. Likewise, there is some degree of overlap amongst collections - the Regent appears in 3 or 4, for example, and would be in mine yet again. There is a review of it, and a good deal of discussion in the forums as well. The amount of info available is pretty remarkable, if you think about it. There is a decent amount of diversity amongst them, too - there are a few pieces that are unique to each, be they production or custom pieces. Take, for example, Patrick's Big Johnsson.

I like the collections because, through the biography and looking at the collection as a whole, I get to see HOW people collect and WHY people collect, not just WHAT people collect. The Robinson collection is different from the Kelly collection. The Arnow collection is different again... For me, it's beyond a collection of pictures.


I found it mildly difficult to come up with something different for those pieces already covered in other collections and full reviews without sounding too redundant. Then I realized (with Chad Arnow's help), that quite a bit of the information will be the same, but my impressions may be different from my perspective. It was a fun project, and really helped me get my collection organized. A big thanks to the myArmoury staff for their hard work in creating a great site.
That reminds me, I REALLY need to pick up one of those Horseman's Axes, a rondel dagger and of course the Black Prince. Thanks awfully Steve... :p
Thomas Hoogendam wrote:

I also liked the custom Lutel 15th century sword very much. Nice to see some more custom work from this company.


Thanks for the kind words Thomas! That was the first review I've ever written so I'm glad it came out okay.
Jeff Hsieh wrote:
Thanks for the kind words Thomas! That was the first review I've ever written so I'm glad it came out okay.


Jeff did a really nice job on the review. Nice work, Jeff! Originally, I was going to write most of this review and Jeff was going to add the extra comments. Jeff sent such nice material, though, that I basically scrapped my stuff and went with his. It worked out quite nicely, I think. :)

New potential authors shouldn't fear making submissions, by the way. We have plenty of tools to help new authors, and we'll work with you to help you at every stage.
Good job you guys on this latest update. I would have liked to have seen a more hands on approach by Bill G.
in regards to the Lutel 10006 Two-Handed Saber, not a second hand account. I don't know why I looked,
I tend to get jealous of those who have these wonderful collections and I myself have none, I was fascinated
with Steve's Collection. What an interesting assortment....


Helen
Helen Miller wrote:
Good job you guys on this latest update. I would have liked to have seen a more hands on approach by Bill G. in regards to the Lutel 10006 Two-Handed Saber, not a second hand account.


What do you mean? Bill had the sword in his hands and reviewed it accordingly. We'd never do a review any other way. They're called "Hands-on Reviews" afterall. :p
Russ Ellis wrote:
That reminds me, I REALLY need to pick up one of those Horseman's Axes, a rondel dagger and of course the Black Prince. Thanks awfully Steve... :p


Don't mention it Russ! Don't let the eye candy sway you..... :p

Black prince...Black Prince...Black Prince...

Horseman's Axe...Horseman's Axe...Horseman's Axe...
Rondel Dagger...Rondel Dagger...Rondel Dagger...


Oh yeah, sorry about 'Bama. :\
Steve Maly wrote:

Don't mention it Russ! Don't let the eye candy sway you..... :p

Black prince...Black Prince...Black Prince...

Horseman's Axe...Horseman's Axe...Horseman's Axe...
Rondel Dagger...Rondel Dagger...Rondel Dagger...


Oh yeah, sorry about 'Bama. :\


LOL. Shut up and stuff are you trying to bankrupt me? As for Alabama... dejection... why oh why can't we put together an offense...
I thought it was a very good update but have disagree with Bill Grandy's characterization of scabbard free wear as the norm for messers. It seems that every illustration I have seen of one actually suspended was clearly worn in a scabbard.
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