This forum has been fairly quiet, and I'd really like change that.
Being Smiths, and especially Bladesmiths, makes many of us hardheaded, stubborn and opinionated. I place myself firmly in this category. Those who are not willing to bear the fire, the exhaustion and the inevitable failures of our Craft are simply weeded out. It has always been thus, and the
Svartálfar serve as Smithing archetypes for good reason.
Historians are just as bad. Putting the two together is asking for trouble.
When this forum was established, Alex gave me the power to name it. That's a responsibility, as names affect the things that are named. I chose "Historical Inspiration," for a few reasons. The first is that there needed to be a place where folks who wanted to talk about re-creations & archeology could do so. That's the "Historical," part. I chose the word "Inspiration," because I think it is important to be Inspired. It is the wellspring of creativity.
So I'd really like folks to make that an important part of the discussion.
I'm going to introduce myself, and I'd like it if others would do the same.
Edited to add... I'd like this thread to simply be about each person posting; let's make responses in new ones.