Is this an "old man's hobby"?

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Dom

how I've been able to ignore this fantastic post?
I am almost 71, and my passion for weapons and armor back to ...
as far as I can remember when I was really a kid

in my mountains in South-Western France, too many castles, too many legends,
all dating back to the Middle Ages, that's made me a lot dreaming, and even a dreamer
our tradition is to always have in our pocket, our traditional knife, a "Laguiole" I had mine, as gift for my 10 years
then at school, my favorite pastime was to draw; helmets, swords, sabers
my first collection has been constituted of firearms, then, due to hardening regulations and the vagaries of life,
I have sold everything

I restarted to collect edged weapons in the 80's when I went to the Middle East, as x-pat,
since I'm married to an "Arabist" younger than me by 10 years,
who share my passion for Islamic weapons and armor,
she is your translator for your Arabic inscriptions

I've a nephew, here in Egypt (among ... many others )
to who I've offered this year a "short flissa" and
a book (in French) concerning the Islamic edged weapons, he is absolutely crazy for edged weapons ...
to help him to identify the knifes it would have to see

thank you for Atlantia to have initiated this post

à +

Dom

Dom,
While I feel safe to say we are all a bit romantics and dreamers, you have always seemed to me a true adventurer, and I admire the way you thoughtfully nurture this young mans interest. You do so very much in the way you add your astute observations and wonderfully detailed translation assistance to help us all better understand these weapons.

All the best,
Jim