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Michael J. Spangler

Michael J. Spangler

Joined
Oct 8, 2003
Messages
2,181
Anyone happen to know about sword forums... just signed up and they seem to have little to now action going on there.... about a total of 4 posts by everyone a day. Seems slow.
 
which forum? The Bladesmtih Cafe can be slow but the general forum is one of the busiest I have seen. If the Cafe is slow start asking questions, that place alway needs some livening up with some new good topics.
 
The general forum does get active. Wait for the next movie with swords. Can we really make a Ti sword that will kill vampires, how did they get that sword in the stone in the first place, so forth and so on.
Watch some of the posts from the good makers like Howard Clark and or Tinker if they still post there. You will get good information. You can pretty much disregard the rest of the nonsense!:grumpy:
 
Than can I assume that my posts would fall into the category of "nonsense" since my name is not Howard or Tinker? Mete is there, under a different title, as well as some others that I would not dismiss too quickly. The general forum does get loaded down with a lot of silliness, but the cafe has been fairly common sense place to discuss good metallurgical issues, with the occasional junk post.
 
I didn't mean to start a fight Kevin! Hammer fall asked a question about a site that I have no good feelings about and I told it the way I see it. This isn't the place to take shots at each other. If I offended you, Email me!
 
I must apologize if I came off as taking aim at you. I said nothing about you in my post. I simply pointed out that there are others there besides the ones that you mentioned. No shots have been fired that I am aware of. It is obvious that you have an axe to grind with Adrian or SFI, I just wanted to get a better idea as to how wide you wish to swing that axe, so I would know if I need to duck. I personally don't think that it is fair to this forum for me to go on about SFI's virtues, but the reverse is also not fair to either forum.
 
It is obvious that you have an axe to grind with Adrian or SFI, I just wanted to get a better idea as to how wide you wish to swing that axe, so I would know if I need to duck. I personally don't think that it is fair to this forum for me to go on about SFI's

No need to duck at all Kevin. I spent years at SF and don't recall running across you and have no ill feelings about you at all. I don't have an ax to Grind with Adrian, he just needs to keep his business dealings away from his administering the board. I'm not going into detail but to keep it short, some of his favorite vendors just plain don't ship parts and Adrain defends them by either killing posts or explaining the problems of small time business.

None of that has anything to do with my response to Hammerheads post. While there are good people on SF, the vast majority are children, swordsnobs, knownothings and loud knowitalls.
It is very hard to sort information when a full 50% of those giving it, got their training from Marvel comic books.

There are makers other than Clark and Tinker, I've met them though and like their work. They are also no-nonsense type of people. My point to Hammerfall was to listen to the good makers and ignore the "Sun Sword" group.

Again, my apoligies to the rest of the members here. I won't reply to this thread anymore. Mt email address here is up to date, so anyone wishing to continue this is welcome to email me!
 
That is fair enough, now that you have clarified things. The real problem with your last post is that now that you have made the specific points I have little to argue with in it. I know nothing about Adrian’s business practices behind the scenes, so I can say nothing to it. Things are better when buying and selling can be kept separate from educational/informational exchange, but I guess one has to pay for it all somehow.

I cannot argue with the “comic book” points, I myself have been frustrated with some of the topics that can crop up on an educational forum, and the face offs between the Katanaphiles and the European crowd are incredibly irritating. The only real confrontations, I have ever had there, were with kids who either just put down their favorite sword video game or just got done watching “The Lord Of the Rings” or some Japanese cartoon. One of the reason I have started checking out new forums is that I am bored with the same old same old. And, as I said, the Café is pretty slow these days.

But to be fair I have only been on this forum for a couple of weeks and I have lost count of the number of conversations that I had to just leave alone because there was no way to successfully approach it from a logical perspective. I have found this on all forums. The entire internet is packed full of trolls, know-it-alls, pseudo-experts and little tin gods, but since myself, Howard and many others have been working at SFI for so long I personally find the Cafe one of the easiest places to cut through nonsense and get to the facts.

I have been called upon for input there since before SFI’s inception, so I naturally had to assume that a shot had been fired across my bow when you dismissed everybody but Tink and Howard.

I must say this however, Adrian has earned my respect for his willingness to take on the nonsense that no printed magazine would have the guts to do. For this he has paid, and is paying a heavier price than most folks know.

No reason to abandon the thread Peter, it appears we have no significant differences, on the topic after all:).
 
SFI is an extraordinary resources for whoever is into swords. The bladesmith cafe is slow, but there are a lot of smart people there (many of whom are spending more and more time on an other forum, much more focused on bladesmithing). But if you have question on Japanese sword arts, polishing, oriental or Roman historical swords, etc, a lot of experts are there.

I would spend more time there if they had a gallery, personally...
 
I love SFI. I usually post in the cafe (when I do). I stay away from the general forum. I do enjoy Mr. Cashen's posts on SFI.
 
I like SFI, i usually go to the bladesmith cafe there first, i wished i could get posting rights to the Japanese-style sword makers cafe when it first started, but since i did not make a living from selling blades i could not get them. i do make a few blades from time to time, very slowly as i am learning :D and actually give or trade most of them to family or friends, i have sold a couple but not enough to count for much other than to buy some tools. Sometimes there are some very good conversations and tutorials. I think i actually found SFI before i found any of the other forums. I have noticed sometimes the admins there seem to control the posting in a very personal way, but it is their board. :footinmou
 
Originally posted by Terry_Dodson
... i wished i could get posting rights to the Japanese-style sword makers cafe when it first started, but since i did not make a living from selling blades i could not get them...
Click to expand...

For what it is worth, I did not like the way that particular forum was set up either, and I did put my disagreement in writing to the powers that be. But who am I? I gave up the katana thing in favor of European stuff some time ago.

The Cafe is supposed to be for "professionals" also, but we are more open minded than that and, after all, the claymore is no where near as sacred as the katana.;) :footinmou
 
I tryed to register as a knifemaker and for some reason it would not except me. I sent a email to them to get it straightened out but it seem to me that thy are one of the outfits that don't answer emails.
I went back several times to try and fix it and nothing worked so that is where it stands. Gib
 
I'll have to agree with Kevin that the Cafe has been a little slow of late, but the occasional gem does crop up. The general forum moves faster than I can keep up. I do know at least one heavily visited thread that is prominent in the general forum that I highly recomend to anyone interested in making swords!
 
Well Peter I am glady that I am not the only one with a big mouth around here

:D :footinmou :D :footinmou :D
 
Originally posted by Gib Guignard
I tryed to register as a knifemaker and for some reason it would not except me. I sent a email to them to get it straightened out but it seem to me that thy are one of the outfits that don't answer emails.
I went back several times to try and fix it and nothing worked so that is where it stands. Gib
Click to expand...


The same thing happened to me a year or so ago.
Never got a confirmation E-mail, and when I tried to contact them, no answer. Finally after a month or so, I got a very nasty E-mail from some arrogant pogue. I told him what I thought of him, and his forum, and never went back.:rolleyes: :mad:
 
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