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Ibexaz posted:In school me and my friends bought bokken sticks at the sword store in the mall and we'd beat the poo poo out of each other in my buddy's back yard. Most of the bokken broke or got displaced over the years, but I kept a hold of one of them, an orangish brown one covered in tape to stop it from splitting any more than it already was, the edges bashed and dented from combat. I loved that thing. Get Japanese white oak for your bokken, that stuff is solid. Mine is over thirty years old and has a couple dents, but its seen some pretty intense training. The best mall for a sword store I ever saw was in Tijuana. YMCA beach camp in San Diego for a week with a one day excursion across the border. This was pre-9/11 and they'd take us down, walk across the border (without passports) and then the counselors would just set up at a bar/cafe and tell us all to go have fun, "check back in at noon, and we leave at 4 o'clock". Seriously a bunch of 16-17 year olds left to their own devices in Tijuana. Of course we'd split up into groups of 5 or six kids, and the priority for most of the guys was to get a butterfly knife. They were all the rage and coolness at the time probably from a movie or TV show. We went around to several shops that were mediocre, over priced junk essentially. We got to one shop though and the owner was all "Would you boys like to see the back room?" Nothing terrifying about that. So of course we checked it out. The back room was a freaking arsenal of weaponry. Two walls of knives and swords, two walls of pistols and assault rifles. A bunch of teenage gringos just handling and checking out all the weapons. A few butterfly knives were bought, a few assault rifles were handled and returned. The vendor made a decent profit, I'm sure, and then we went on our merry way. All the knives were smuggled across the border in the underwear. "Hey we're just a bunch of white Christian kids with our counselors. It's all good!" Nobody got checked. Back at surf camp everyone was playing with their knives when the counselors weren't around. Overall, a very wholesome and heart-warming experience.
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Jan 19, 2024 20:34
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GTD Aquitaine posted:No sword stores that I've seen around here, but there is a liquidation store that has a few swords and a bat'leth hanging on the wall. I've only ever seen it from the outside but that bat'leth has been there for a long time. This reminded me that there is a "Military Surplus" store in town. Maybe 40 years ago it was an actual military surplus store but it hasn't been for years. They do sell used hunting rifles and there is a wall of combat knives and swords including katanas and a bat'leth. The rest is just (brand new) camo fatigues made in China, overpriced winter jackets and overalls, overpriced hiking and combat boots(made in China), dehydrated food(made in China). So I guess their source for military surplus is the Chinese military. American flags hang everywhere. Nothing wrong with any of that as far as being a business to make money, but the branding is just so insulting to anyone's sensibilities. I'm sure it appeals to 15 year old boys with $100 to burn though. I stopped in with my brother in law when he was visiting, like it was a tourist attraction; it was fun.
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Jan 28, 2024 18:39
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