The high tales of adventures from the Cimmerian Conan the barbarian have delighted and kept both readers and movie goers on the edge of their seats for decades. Helped in no small part by Arnold Schwarzenegger being the perfect specimen for the role (though according to the original writings of Robert E. Howard, Conan was not so muscle bound but lithe and strong like a panther)..
Regardless of which version you prefer, the legend of Conan the Barbarian continues to inspire fans and collectors worldwide, with the Atlantean sword standing as a symbol of his might and heroism. For those looking to own a piece of this epic legacy, two notable creators have stepped forward with impressive renditions of this iconic weapon: first Windlass Steelcrafts and now the Black Dragon Forge.
Windlass Steelcrafts’ Atlantean Swords
Windlass Steelcrafts has crafted the officially licensed replicas, are high-quality, battle-ready pieces. Made with meticulous attention to detail, these swords feature intricate designs and durable construction. Though there have been minor quality control issues reported, these swords remain a popular choice for their overall craftsmanship and aesthetic appeal and are screen accurate. A scabbard is sold separately for $150 price of the sword itself is $474.95 (with the added expense of licensing fees).
Black Dragon Forge’s Atlantean Swords
In collaboration with Black Dragon Forge, we present two exceptional but unlicensed versions of the Atlantean sword:.
Monotempered 1095 Carbon Steel Version:
Clean Lines and Brown Wax Cord Wrap: Ensuring both durability and a secure grip.
Solid Brass Fittings: Adding authenticity to the design. Most screen accurate of the two.
Optional Scabbard: A barbaric synth fur covered, leather braided scabbard available for an additional $50.
Unique and Durable Steel: Each blade showcases a one-of-a-kind pattern.
Brown Cotton Cord Handle: Traditional and comfortable grip.
Artistic Craftsmanship: Enhances both the blade’s strength and beauty.
Both versions from Black Dragon Forge are lighter, at around 4.5 lbs, compared to the 8 lb official version, providing better balance without sacrificing quality. Plus, they come with FREE worldwide shipping.
And if you are a true Conan fan like me, you might also like the ‘Cimmerian Sword’ by the Black Dragon Forge with more Hyborian era swords coming down the line very soon!
It was a challenging year, but also one filled with many changes and opportunities. So as the year draws to a close, it’s only appropriate that we close off one the last two main Dragon themed swords we started at the beginning of 2024..
RYUJIN HORIMONO SALE ENDING SOON
At $100 these are crazy good value. But when we priced them to the bone at $79.99 – they sold like proverbial hot cakes! However, as sales start to slow down and the year of the Dragon turns into the year of the snake, it;s time to restore the prices on this series again. So grab one, two, or all five (you’d be surprised how many people buy multiples!).
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LIMITED EDITION Ryujin T10 Katana Final Closeout!
As the year draws to a close, here’s an offer you can’t refuse..
Black synthetic silk ito over black real rayskin, iron Musashi themed tsuba, iron Fuchigahsira, T10 tool steel blade differentially hardened to produce a natural and authentic hamon temper line, fast and lightweight at 2.5lbs and with two styles of Dragon Horimono..
Normally $274 or so would be a fair price for a martial arts grade blade like this one – tough enough to cut dry aged bamboo or sever a pork leg, bone and all.
But from now until while stocks last, grab them for the final closeout price of $174.95!
Stocks are limited and once they are sold out, that’s it – the LIMITED EDITION series will no longer be sold at SBG.
The clock is ticking, Midnight EST on the 29th is not far away – and if you aren’t fast, others will snap ’em all up. So take advantage of this Katana buying extravaganza while you can.
It is not sudden news, since 2011 when they had a factory fire the Hanwei Forge has struggled against a plethora of issues, many quite common to the sword industry as a whole, but others unique to Hanwei’s specific set of circumstances.
Rather than paraphrase, here’s the official announcement straight from the horses mouth:
What happened and why? We will try to make a very long story short. The factory producing our products for CAS Hanwei was facing many challenges and, unfortunately, was unable to remain open. Since the well-deserved retirement of Paul Chen well over a decade ago, there was not as much energy or vision being poured into the factory, and quite honestly the factory had never fully recovered from the devastating fire it had in 2011. Then as with a lot of businesses, the financial instability from COVID-19 hit the factory very hard. Additional complications, such as government regulations, the war in Ukraine impacting steel supplies, and global supply chain disruptions have further compounded an already bad situation. Many factors aligned to create the perfect storm, leaving the factory with no reasonable path forward. Thus, in December, the factory sent us their final shipment and officially closed their doors.
In short, it was a perfect storm for the factory – but it’s not the end of Hanwei..
While the factory may close, many of its best and brightest workers are moving across to another Dailan based sword forge, Frenchie Jin’s Dragon King. Frenchie was the original engineer behind the designing and manufacturing of most of the Hanwei products. He worked alongside Paul Chen from the inception of the Hanwei factory three decades ago, until his departure from the company shortly after Paul retired. Frenchie was Paul’s right-hand man. If Paul dreamed it up Frenchie made it happen all the while honing in and crafting his own sword expertise.
The dream team, Paul Chen and his right hand man, Frenchie Jin
Since starting Dragon King several years ago, many of his top forgers, smiths, designers, artists, machinists, wood craftsmen, and polishers as well as the majority of the R & D Team followed him into the new venture, and now will be joined by Hanwei’s finest. In essence, the new Hanwei products which are going to be made by the original Hanwei sword smiths once again.
To quote Hanwei again:
What can you expect from the new CAS Hanwei versions?
The first thing you can expect is that there will be immediate improvements and some minor changes that need to be made. With Frenchie and his former Hanwei artisans’ expertise, we can guarantee immediate upgrades across the board with the fittings, finish, painting, polish and wraps.
As sad as it makes us that the original Hanwei factory has closed, Hanwei and Paul Chen’s legacy will live on, continuing its pursuit of constant refinement and pristine quality that the brand is renowned for. We will be able to introduce new products from Hanwei (swords we had been developing that never came to fruition) in the future once we’ve retooled the primary products.
Our plans are to make minor improvements with select models in this process that have needed to be fixed for the last several years. The original Hanwei factory set the bar for what our products should be, we are now granted the chance to raise that bar even higher.
This transition will be very similar to what we did with the Legacy Arms brand last year when we switched factories. We increased the quality and availability of the products. Like the situation with the Hanwei factory fire of 2011, CAS will start with the primary cornerstone products in their respective categories that are not currently in stock, and we will expand from there once they are retooled.
What happens in the meantime?
We have a fair amount of Hanwei products currently in stock, and the last container is on its way arriving mid to late February, which will afford us a small window of time to work on the transition to the new forge. The SBG Sword Store is up to date with current stock information and is being updated frequently as popular items disappear from the shelves. Sadly, there will be some discontinued products, but we don’t know which ones yet. Like in the Hanwei factory fire of 2011, those will be the hard decisions we will have to make when the time comes. But right now, we encourage you to take this time to review our website to see what is in stock because it might be a very long time before it comes back, if it comes back at all (and price pressure is a VERY real thing).
Stock is going fast, so have a good look and stock up on what is left while it is left as the transition takes effect.
From medieval to fantasy, renaissance to modern, now Swordier is expanding into some fantastic Chinese swords from history, myth and legend!
GREEN DESTINY SWORD
When the first replicas of the original Green Destiny sword came out, they were all junky stainless steel wallhangers. But now that the movie has achieved cult status and has fans all over the world looking for a REAL battle ready version, the search is over! With a pattern welded, razor sharp 1095 carbon steel blade, full tang and all steel fittings, it ticks every box – including price at just $399.95.
Previously made by Forge Direct and costing $900 thanks to our previous partners in the project, Ronin Katana, whose secret inflation of the wholesale pricing lined his pockets but shortchanged SBG and our customers. Swordier brought this beautiful blade back for us exclusively – and it looks even BETTER than the work of Ronins forge, plus it’s less than half price at $429.95..!
This was a sword that I was REALLY sad to see go when we closed down Forge Direct Chinese. But like the Sword of the Heavens, Swordier brought it back for us – and also like the Sword of the Heavens – they did a truly stellar job and took it to the next level, but for just $499.95.
So nice to have a decent selection of quality Dao again!
For the last few months we have been quietly working behind the scenes curating what we feel is the very best line up of swords from one of our personal favorite sword makers, Windlass Steelcrafts of India.
While we loved their swords at first sight some 20 years ago, we never really stocked them because at the time they all came unsharpened, and the sharpening service left a lot to be desired – plus it was really hard to know what they reliably had in stock,
Well, all that changed in the early 2020s – now their stock levels are super clear, their latest models factory sharp and the overall quality level – to say it has stepped up is an understatement.
So we are more than proud to fill out several new sections with their high QC ISO 9001 state of the art facility where each and every sword gets the full British stress test before receiving the holographic seal of approval.
So without any more fan boy rambling (I really love their brand philosophy, and if you are the official military sword suppliers to armies all around the world since 1943, you gotta be doing something right!) here are the categories, and one or two of my personal favorite pics from each one..
One quick thing to note though:
EVERY SWORD HAS FREE SHIPPING!
Plus you get a free gift from the accessories section with every sword purchase!
So with that out of the way, let’s take a look at the goodies, starting with none other than:
Yes, they have the officially licensed BATTLE READY replicas in stock – from the Fathers Sword to my favorite, the Atlantean and even Valeria’s sword. Great value, but unfortunately the scabbards (which are really well made) do cost a little extra and must be purchased separately.
MY FAV: The Atlantean Sword
It’s a faithful replica, though heavy as heck so that maybe only Arnie could actually wield it easily in combat. But it’s the real deal with full tang and a sharpened, 1080 monotempered blade.
Windlass has made countless medieval swords over the years, and now that we have joined up with them we may be working to bring some of the best ones back for some limited runs…! But in the meantime, they sure have stepped up their game..
Many are still sub $300 even with scabbards, but one of their nicer new ones that showcases just how far Windlass have come is the Faithkeeper Templar Sword:
FAITHKEEPER – Sword of the Knights Templar
The detail is stunning, and you know with a spring tempered 1080 carbon steel sharpened blade, it’s ornate but sure is no ornament. Comes with a matching dagger too. Until not so recently, you would pay the full price just for such a scabbard alone..
But my personal favorite, the Ulfberht Viking Sword – still crazy good value for under $300 SHIPPED..
This section isn’t as big as it was in years previously, but Windlass know how to make a really nice rapier, among other later period swords. But the one in here I like the most, isn’t actually a rapier and is a bit hard to categorize as it was late medieval, Renaissance and even exists into the modern era..
Try cutting with one and you will understand..
A dedicated Saber section will be coming soon, though it doesn’t really fit there either. Honestly, it is in a league of its own.. And man, these swords are FUN!!!
Shields and Other Medieval Weapons
What use is an arming sword without a shield? Well, it’s still good – but the sword and shield combo has proved effective since time immorial, so we added a bunch of high quality shields from huge Roman Scutum, to knightly kite shields, Celtic targes, bucklers and a few Viking shields for good measure. But my favorite, well, the Axes and the Maces always make me kind of wince when I look at them. But the thing I like the most from this section is a new series from Windlass called ‘Asgard Creations’ which are the coolest Viking style gift box ideas I have ever seen!
You get a functional and stylish hand axe, raven themed dagger – both in tempered 1055 carbon steel – and a lovely display box making it one of the coolest gifts – either for a friend or more selfishly, the Christmas present you wished you got instead of those well meaning but oh so wrong gifts that need to be returned…
Windlass started making the official Kukri knives for the Gukra regiments since 1943 and continue making them to this day. And the best part is, these Kukri are NOT replicas, these are the same ones issues to the Gurka – and have several variants, from officers Kukri, the the Assam Rifle specialists, general issue Kukri and a massive giant of a thing with a blade longer than freaking Katana pictured below (that is 30″ of blade with a two handed grip handle!).
But they also make historical and fantasy knives, from Scottish Sgian Dubh to the sleek fantasy blade ‘Ravens Claw’ and with so many decades of experience behind them and trusted by militaries all over the world, you know they know their knives like the back of their hand!
The ‘other’ category, from cool items we picked out such as mini Conan swords, pendants, and cleaning gear essentials. And for a limited only, if you order any sword you can get anything in this category for FREE!
Just add a sword to the cart, and you will see the following message at the top of the page:
Just click that link, pick out what you like from the page and it will show up as $0 in your cart (it will still show the price when you are browsing, but when you add it to the cart, its’ free).
There’s some really cool stuff there, so have fun!
Got to love this mini letter opener, though the Viking Mug and Universal Wall hanger is kind of handy too.
We will be adding more swords and categories over the coming weeks and months, including military sabers, more training gear and more product lines, so stay tuned!
