Thanks for posting this Jim,
I really appreciate your encouragement. I have to admit I "lurked" here for a long time before I created an account; honestly because I wanted to buy something off the swap, but I've grown into it a little and tried to pitch in where I can, and ask questions when curious. I would encourage anyone else out there to do the same. I've made some comments here and there (hopefully without making too many eyes roll
) mainly regarding areas that I feel a little more comfortable in or at least think about more (been doing doing martial arts off and on for over a decade, so that's more my area of study). I have a good deal of reference books on arms (mostly Se Asian), but for me it's more about having the pictorial examples of traditional weaponry - I'm a visual and tactile sorta guy. I've always really appreciated the craft of metal working in regards to arms and armor, but an avid historian and researcher I am not. I use my books more for visual reference and don't recall a lot of the information even when I have made it through the book cover to cover. This forum is great for people like me with a little shorter attention span when it comes to history. I have always felt somewhat intimidated by the forum in general - there are a lot of forum members who do great research and have a lot of historical and general knowledge to share. I really respect your efforts in the scholarly realm and would hate to have you feel your efforts are unappreciated (especially by those who "lurk"), they are most certainly not, so thank you. In regards to friendly comments regarding someone's latest acquisition: I've always felt a little awkward just saying "nice find" etc. when I don't have any real insights on the item or questions to ask, but I really appreciate people sharing their acquisitions (and posts in general) with everyone - for me it's golden. I love seeing all the weapons of the world and the craftsmanship that goes into them and taking in the related discussion; so please, keep sharing and keep the dialog going, it's truly priceless (can you remember/imagine the world before the information age?
)
Thanks to all and cheers,
Tom