The Custom Bladesmith
Editorial, Summer 1999 Edition

by Adrian Ko

Uh-oh! I've finally come out of the steelwork and the world now knows my real name. Now people have a real name to attach the words "idiot" and "knows nothing!" So please be gentle! It's however a small price to pay for the Magazine to be taken more seriously, and for the SFMO Staff to take the Magazine to the next level of our development towards being a paper publication (for those of you who have written in for a subscription, we're not published yet on paper. Hopefully that will be in the Year 2000!)

Another thing that people have been asking is "What happened to the May Issue?" As you can gather, we have changed to a quarterly format. This still allows us to not only make each issue rich with information, pictures and articles but to update issues even after online publication (ah, the joys of being an e-zine!).

For this issue, I've had the privilege of joining perhaps over 200 custom bladesmiths at the Alabama Forge Council Symposium as a special guest, and was able to meet Dr. Jim Batson, Don Fogg, Daryl Meier, Howard Clark, and Michael Bell to name a few. It's one of those events that you go to where when you leave you're not quite the same person.

I envy the bladesmiths and blacksmiths. They have their challenges in life too, but every day they come face to face with their dream and live it out every moment of their lives. They may even want you to think they're uneducated blacksmiths and simple "country folk" but the true craftsmanship and artistry they produce in steel are a reflection of the inner depth and eloquence of their own soul.

After having a wonderful five days of breaking bread with Howard Clark, Daryl Meier and several others, it is difficult to return to the daily conundrum of life and feel the same about the same ol' mundane tasks on your desk.

Don Fogg shared with me that he perceived the custom sword industry finally entering into a Renaissance. John Clements, director of the HACA, had in times past spoken of the synergy between swordsman and swordsmith. Don relates that the age old era is blossoming once again where the swordsmiths and martial artists will soon see the genesis of many custom works, both artful and of high performance.

Thus I'm committing the Summer '99 Issue to the theme "The Custom Bladesmith". It is because of their works that we envision possibilities and forge a heritage of our own. As the Internet fosters a powerful interactive collective of people and information, we have the opportunity to see and learn about swords more than ever before. The readers and the custom bladesmiths are in reach of one another. Standing upon the swords of history and of various cultures, we can begin to sew back into the fabric of daily life all that which is honorable and good as represented by the sword.

I pray we will not be the same from this moment on.

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