Hi!I’m back from Helsinki, having taught a couple of seminars for Gladiolus School of Arms. It was lovely being back in the salle! We did a day of Syllabus Form (longsword), and a crash course in Capoferro’s rapier. Lots of fun. The Form covers a huge amount of material when you start to unpack it- enough that it comprises most of the content of my Advanced Longsword book (the Farfalla di Ferro and the Cutting Drill take up most of the rest). I don’t believe in teaching choreography and...
5 days ago • 3 min read
Hi! Fair warning- this is the beginning of a launch sequence. Which means a pile of emails in your inbox over the next week or so. If you’ve been on my list for a while, you’ll know that it’s sadly necessary to send out a sequence of launch emails to generate course sales. This is just because people need reminding. I avoid making the emails too fancy because I don’t want to persuade anyone to buy the course. If Medieval German Wrestling: The Twirchringen of Von Baumann taught by Jessica...
7 days ago • 2 min read
Hi! I’m actually writing this last week, as I’m dashing off to Helsinki on Monday 13th, for seminars at the weekend (18th and 19th). So, greetings from snowy Finland! On New Year’s Day I went into my shed to sharpen a scraper, and while testing it for sharpness cleaned a patch of something off my bench top. This lead me to dress the bench. For non-cabinetmakers: dressing the bench means planing it flat, something you need to do every now and then because wood changes shape over time, and it’s...
19 days ago • 5 min read
Hi! Happy New Year! I personally think that moving the change of the year from after the Spring Equinox to after the Winter Solstice was a mistake, but no amount of my complaining will change that. Word to the wise though: if you’re in the northern hemisphere it’ll be much easier to make and stick to resolutions in April than it will be now. So take it easy. I have a couple of things that may help: the Swordschool Training Year Planner, and a discount on my online courses. The Swordschool...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hi! This is the last missive from me before I wiggle off for a family Christmas in London next week. I hope you all have a lovely holiday. I know a lot of folk on this list are in circumstances where that’s unlikely, so a special cheery halloo to them too. I won’t be doing much in the way of emails over the Christmas period, but I’ll check in on Sword People, so feel free to ping me there. You may be thinking about your sword training in the New Year. I know I am. I thought I’d ease you into...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi! Well, it seems people like the new Fiore facsimile and translation. Thanks to everyone who bought it, and everyone who took advantage of the birthday sale. People like you buying my books and courses literally feeds my children, so I do appreciate it. Unfortunately we have encountered a problem with the print files; some copies may have lines missing in the translated portion (it’s as if the printers cut off the last line of each text block. Weird!). We are working with the printers to...
2 months ago • 4 min read
Hi! First up- my previous email was clearly unclear, as some folk tried to use the discount code for the digital products (GUYSBIRTHDAY30) on the new print book. Sorry for the confusion. Basically, print costs are so high that offering discounts on print books is a bad idea, unless you're ordering a whole lot. But you can use the code to get 30% off any digital product at the Swordschool Shop, and on the Courses platform. I also misspelled "exciting", which my mum noticed immediately. Oh...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi! oh it’s an exiting time this week. We have a brand-new book out today, and, as it’s my birthday on Saturday (I'll be 51), we’re also running a birthday sale on all ebooks, audiobooks, and online courses. Hurrah! Just use the code GUYSBIRTHDAY30 to get 30% off at checkout. First up, the new book: I have completed my translation of Fiore’s Il Fior di Battaglia, as found in the Getty manuscript. You may recall I produced an affordable facsimile of the Getty a few years ago. Well, we’ve now...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi! I hope this finds you well. I’m cracking on with writing the new dagger book, From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice: the Dagger Techniques of Fiore dei Liberi. I already have all of the transcription, translation, and video clips done, so I’m now bashing the book into shape around them. It’s the sort of grunt writing work that is relatively straightforward, just very labour intensive. I’m also updating all of the video clips that go with From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice...
3 months ago • 3 min read