ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Daniel Sinclair Dacombe was born in Manitoba, Canada in 1982. He has had a lifelong obsession in swords that stemmed from having stories of high adventure read to him as a child by his father, and growing up read mostly Tolkien, Kay and other High Fantasy stories. He grew up in a family of Celtic origins that had an interest in its own rich history, tracing some of their ancestors to knights and nobles in Medieval Europe and the Crusades. This background (spanning Irish, Scottish, and English cultures) inspired him to discover his roots for himself, and he spent some weeks in Scotland meeting distant relatives, visiting old family castle ruins, studying in the Clan Library and handling swords that were true historical artifacts. He began collecting swords after high school - wallhangers at first, finally owning his first real sword in 2003. He became involved with the SBG in 2007, first as a lurker, then as a reviewer, and finally as a general writer for whatever projects he was able to, with most of his focus going into the Sword Manufacturer's Guide launch.
Daniel's interests in swords are mainly in the Medieval/Renaissance eras, though he still appreciates the beauty and strength of a Japanese katana. Currently, his collection includes Windlass, Generation 2, Darksword Armory, Masahiro, Cheness Tenchi, Hanwei and the infamous Deepeeka. He hopes to someday own a sword from every major period of Medieval and Renaissance history - and hopefully someday to finally feel satisfied with his collection!
He lives in Canada with his wife and their dog, and works full time for a non-profit Christian organization dedicated to helping at-risk teens.
Paul Southren was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1973. Always fascinated by the weapons of earlier times, especially those of medieval knights and the Japanese Samurai he bought his first sword, a stainless steel Japanese wallhanger set, when he was 12 years old and has been collecting swords ever since.
In 2005 he created the sword information and review website - Sword Buyers Guide.com - to share what little knowledge he had accumulated with beginning sword collectors to help them choose better swords than what he himself started with.
Paul's favorite swords are those of Japanese and Medieval European designs, though he also has a special affinity with Viking swords and weapons. He has owned swords produced by nearly every major sword manufacturer and has personally tested countless blades with a special affinity with finding the most functional sub US$300 swords on the market.
