[RSWORD]

Originally Posted by Andrew

I've merged the two Timonium threads.

I, too, had a great time. Many, many thanks to Artzi, Avner and Lee for their encouragement of our mutual obsession.

Thanks, also, to all the presenters. The material covered was fascinating, and the various approaches, from the formal archeology of Kate Raphael, to the insightful analytic reasoning and critical thinking applied by presenters more experienced than I truly added to my knowlege base. More importantly, I found my way of thinking about certain things affected by this seminar.

Personal thanks to Ian, Jim McDougall and Philip Tom for entertaining my endless questions, and to RSword for the primer on identifying wootz and mechanical damascus in the many poorly maintained weapons residing on certain tables at the show.

Charles, Philip, Tony Tirri and I definitely have the best hairoos. (JP, you need to take the plunge, my man.)

Rick, you were missed.

Andrew,

You have an excellent eye. I had overlooked the one piece but when you took me back to it and upon much closer inspection, the pattern welding is going to be fabulous. I had to go back on Sunday morning and pick it up so many thanks to you for finding it. I'll share some pics once I have had a chance to clean it up. I think there are many "sleepers" out there so even the most rudimentary looking Tulwar deserves a close look at the blade to see what may be hiding.