Greetings from New Hampshire!

[Kylen Wiggin]

Hello all -

I'm here as a longtime sword-enthusiast. When I stumbled on this site over a year ago, I sort of passed it over. When I returned only a few days ago, though, I realized that perhaps this was the appropriate path to take to begin making something of my longtime fascination with what I now know are Western Martial Arts. I've tried to fill the void with Eastern styles, but they just don't do it for me.

I've ordered Medieval Swordsmanship and begun perusing it. It's a fascinating read so far, and I'm looking forward to every page.

I do have a few 'newbie' questions, though:

First, is there anyone in the NH or MA area who is practicing that I could join, or someone who isn't who would be interested in studying? (I'm towards the Portsmouth/Seacoast area of NH, but travel within an hour or two distance is not really a problem, so Nashua, Boston, etc is fine.)

Secondly; I've been hunting around for somewhere to get the necessary Landau foam for the ARMA contact swords, however, it seems to be very difficult to find in anything but a 1/8" and 1/4" thickness. Does anyone have a recommendation for where I might find the appropriate 1/2" thickness foam? I'd like to start working with this type of sparring sword, even on my own - it's certainly 3 steps above my pipe-and-foam boffers!

Many thanks in advance.

[Jaron Bernstein]

Lance Chen makes very good commercial padded's. Jeanry Chandler also has a good cottage industry making them.

[Mike Canavan]

Hello all -

I'm here as a longtime sword-enthusiast. When I stumbled on this site over a year ago, I sort of passed it over. When I returned only a few days ago, though, I realized that perhaps this was the appropriate path to take to begin making something of my longtime fascination with what I now know are Western Martial Arts. I've tried to fill the void with Eastern styles, but they just don't do it for me.

I've ordered Medieval Swordsmanship and begun perusing it. It's a fascinating read so far, and I'm looking forward to every page.

I do have a few 'newbie' questions, though:

First, is there anyone in the NH or MA area who is practicing that I could join, or someone who isn't who would be interested in studying? (I'm towards the Portsmouth/Seacoast area of NH, but travel within an hour or two distance is not really a problem, so Nashua, Boston, etc is fine.)

Secondly; I've been hunting around for somewhere to get the necessary Landau foam for the ARMA contact swords, however, it seems to be very difficult to find in anything but a 1/8" and 1/4" thickness. Does anyone have a recommendation for where I might find the appropriate 1/2" thickness foam? I'd like to start working with this type of sparring sword, even on my own - it's certainly 3 steps above my pipe-and-foam boffers!

Many thanks in advance.

I am not currently a member but am very interested in studying. I am an "old guy" (talking age here) but very seriously interested in studying all aspects of this. If you don't mind hooking up with a 50 -somerthing fat old guy, send me a note!