All other weapons rely very much on your footwork and balance that you learn when training without weapons. The weapons really build on top of that skill. Without the basic knowledge of the footwork and knowledge how to move your body your weapons would do you little good. Much more goes into weapons training than just swinging and hitting. So even when you train body mechanics without your weapons you still train for using weapons later on if you will ever use them or not it is the same thing.
You'll find that weapons are an extension of yourself, and therefore, draw upon empty hand techniques as their basis for movements. Obviously, some movements are expanded on to the point where one cannot easily discern the empty handed source of the movement, but it is there nonetheless. Even in the arts mentioned, there are likely empty hand equivalents for the motions. This being the case, you'll need to learn the basics, such as how to move your body properly, before a weapon should be added.
So, short answer to your question: I would say "no"; the reason being is that a master of a specific weapon will have still have a foundation in empty handed combat.
EDIT: I will concede that I didn't take projectile weapons under consideration; they would be an exception.
Well I practise Iaido, the art of drawing, cutting and sheathing the katana (Iaito blunt sword), and yes there are skilled masters out there that focus on traditional weapons solely. Other weapon arts you could try is:
Kendo - Japanese Sword fighting art - more of a sport really.
Kenjutsu - The way of the sword.
Kobudo - Some karate clubs tend to offer this as a free standing art, they use Sai, Bo Kama, Tonfu, nunchucks ...
If you don't want to do "karate," maybe you should look into a weapon style, such as Escrima or Iaido. In my karate school you don't start weapons (bo) until your fourth color belt because it's important to have a strong base in all of the basics before adding a weapon to the mix.
Traditional western and oriental swordsmanship have teachers to do weapon only. There may be some hand to hand or wrestling involved but a few techniques only.
Archery and kyudo/kyujutsu do weapons only. There's no need for a single hand to hand technique for a weapon at that range.
gun... martial arts and weapons go hand in hand.. cant really have one with out the other.
naginata-jutsu. to name one. try googling.
Is there a way to only study martial art weapons and become a weapon expert for martial arts with out doing karate and ect; just the study of martial art weapons. Like is there a weapon martial artist master out there.
