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Established
in 1998 we have been selling quality products to our customers for over 10
years! For an example of our past customer service you only need to read through
a few of our
testimonials that date back to 2000 (the time we actually started posting a
few on our website). This kind of staying power would lead one to believe that
we must be doing something right!
“The driving force behind Arms of Valor, Ltd. is to only offer high quality swords, armor, clothing, bows, arrows, and other medieval weapons and accessories from history. We have gone to great lengths to "weed out" products that we feel are inferior. After years of testing and building knowledge on the various swords and armor available; we only carry high quality brands: Paul Chen/CAS Hanwei, Windlass Steelcrafts, Generation 2, and now Darksword Armory. You may find more products on other websites, but when you buy from us you know that you are getting the best quality.” The bottom line is; we don't just sell anything and everything. Thought goes into each product and brand we offer. Testing is accomplished to determine if a brand will perform as a heavy cutter, light cutter, or something that will just look nice on the wall. If we don't feel that a manufacturer is producing a quality product we won't offer it just for the sake of making a few bucks. Most of all, we believe in honesty and strive to make sure our customers receive a product that they will be proud to own. The below short biography of me (Jason Ryan the owner of Arms of Valor) is to let you know that I am very much like many of you in my enthusiasm for swords, armor, and historical combat. I always tell people that I am a sword enthusiast first and a business owner second. I am passionate about what I do and strive to offer the best products and service, and as it states on our website I would not sell anything I would not use or wear myself.
In 1995 I found out about the Society of Creative Anachronisms (SCA)! It only took a moment before I was in armor and immersed in the combat system. After just over two years of SCA combat I was busy working on my Business degree at South Western College and soon fighting took a back seat to school and with new found knowledge was struck with an idea of how to make a living doing something I was passionate about, which resulted in the birth of Arms of Valor. The Arms of Valor, Ltd. website was launched in early 1998. Initially only selling C.A.S. Iberia Swords we soon expanded our product lines to offer more brands and over the years have dropped those that I felt were inferior quality and only kept the ones that I felt confident in sending to our customers. Though I was not active in the SCA in the late 90’s I did find time to pursue sport fencing. I trained Foil, Epee, and Sabre (with a concentration in Epee) under Maestro Ted Hootman at the Wichita Fencing Academy. Because of my height and lean physic Maestro Hootman was quick to focus my attention on epee where height offers and advantage. This sat well with me as I was huge into the 1600’s (3 Musketeers) at the time and the epee coincides with the weapons of the time. From 1998 through 2001 Arms of Valor more than tripled in size. With the release of the Lord of the Rings movies 3 years in a row starting December 2001; swords and bows went main stream. We soon met a supplier for bows and added them to our growing list of products. Sales sky-rocketed allowing us more freedom to branch out, which resulted in having many of my own designs produced. This was also the same time that Windlass Steelcrafts opened their products up for wholesale. We started selling their amazingly well tempered flexible line of swords, armor, and a small selection of historical clothing. If you ever run into me at an event or faire you will often catch me wearing clothing made by Windlass. Though I continued my sword training (practice cutting, and the study of historical manuals) it was not until early 2006 I finally made the time to get back into armored combat.
Arms of Valor is now over 10 years old! When not working on the business I am very active in the SCA as well as practice cutting and historical sword training research. The SCA is an avenue for me to gain combat skill based on full strength blows and a system where the best fighter prevails and martial skill is developed through practice. I have combined this with practice cutting and the wielding of “real” edged weapons (the very same swords offered at Arms of Valor), which creates a well rounded medieval sword training regime. To read more about my involvement in the SCA visit: Gryphonskeep.org or for edged weapon resources you can visit: www.swordsofvalor.com
This was an amazing experience and really opened my eyes to the work that goes into filmmaking. I hope this will open the door for more film opportunities in the future, but only time will tell. You can see more pictures taken during filming and purchase the sword at: Official Spectre Sword.
Still not convinced of our sincerity
in what we do?
"Cutting Tests
(example shown left) - this portion of the review is to test the cutting ability
of each of the swords we have chosen, thus gauging the quality of the brand each
sword represents. Once again we would like to point out that the swords are of
similar profile and should respond in a similar fashion to the tests. Each sword
will be tested exactly the same with the same cuts on the same type of targets.
The first target will be a warm up cut on a card board box 40x6x6 inches.
Followed by a very serious test cut on rolled rice mats. The rice mat cut will
be a very sure indicator of the swords quality and functionality."
You can also see
how our Generation 2 Swords are forged -
The Forging of a true
Battle-ready Sword!
Questions? Call: Toll
Free 1-888-477-9673 or E-mail us at:
armsofvalor@earthlink.net Copyright 1997 - 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Please
visit our sword demonstrations website, where we push the swords that we offer to
their limits to gain the knowledge to know which swords to recommend to our customers
at 