Category Archives: Project X Updates

Almost 12 months ago one of our most popular, best selling premium sword lines – Forge Direct Chinese, ground to a screeching halt due to production and shipping issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

While worldwide the pandemic continues indefinitely, in the last few months we have been working hard behind the scenes to bring both Forge Direct Chinese and our elite Japanese line from Project X back online. And we are delighted to say that with this post we announce that Project X and Forge Direct Chinese are BACK and taking new orders..!

Project X

For those of you not familiar with it, Project X was founded 10 years ago and grew out of Ronin Katana’s Elite Soshu Kitae Laminated Katana sword series with many extra tweaks and upgrades, eventually supplanting the Elite line in 2019.

With many customization options, there are 9 basic models in the series ranging from normal Katana styles to O-Katana, Gunto and a basic stripped down model known as the ‘Kihon’ – but all have several defining important characteristics.

While every aspect of this sword line is as premium as it gets, naturally the blades are a special focus for extra attention to detail and do not disappoint with a complex lamination known as ‘Soshu Kitae’ complimented by a clear and expertly polished hamon line and option to add elite folding to produce the most traditionally constructed Katana possible outside of Japan – at a fraction of the price it would cost to have it made there.

More information on Project X on the main site here

Due to our policy to providing the best quality at the lowest possible price point, and the fact that we can only make these swords one or two times a year, and it’s no surprise that when we offer the chance to have one made, available spots fill up VERY fast – and the majority are reserved for subscribers of a dedicated Project X newsletter – so that by the time we make THIS announcement, many of the available spots are already taken.

Indeed, this is where we are at in terms of the forges comfortable production capacity at the time of the general re-release of these swords to the sword buying public:

In previous batches when we reach this point and open up to the general sword buying public – it is expected that all available production slots will be used up within the next 3-5 days as demand far exceeds our ability to produce the swords (a common problem with the industry generally right now).

So long story short, if you are a fan of high end production Katana with a lot of great customization options designed to minimize bad designs or unappealing component combinations – you should give this batch serious consideration while there is still time..

Forge Direct Chinese

At the same time we re-release Project X – it’s offshoot, Forge Direct Chinese – has also just come back online, and celebrates its return with a 20% discount on every model until midnight the 9th of June 2021.

In addition to the classic line up from Master Smith Zhangshu Ji from the Baojian Forge and Master Smith Xiaolong Jiang, Master Michael Ye has also partially returned from retirement early in the year with two new elite level ‘Wuxia’ fantasy designs of his own that he has become famous for with the Windsteel blade ‘the Sword of the Monkey King’ and the very unique, one piece forged Damascus Steel Warsword ‘the Sword of the Ancients’:

While we intend to be able to offer Forge Direct Chinese on an ongoing basis for the foreseeable future, the 20% discount sale must end on the 9th of June. So to secure the best deal possible on these swords, now is your opportunity.

It has been a very, very rough 12 months for our flagship custom Japanese sword lines Project X and it’s offshoot, Project X – Forge Direct.

By June 2020 it had become apparent that the Pandemic had ground production to a halt and on the 23rd of June 2020 Forge Direct, which was usually available all year round, had been put on hold and remains on hold to this day..

In addition to shipping issues (when in June, nothing was going anywhere – but now simply limit shipments from the Forge to North America only) supply chain issues have been a MASSIVE headache. On top of everything else, the regions only major supplier of sword parts was temporarily shut down, and when it re-opened it found itself – like almost every business in the Sword Making Capital of the world – Longquan, overwhelmed with new orders as online sword sales exploded, draining stock levels down to never before seen levels.

Here’s an Infographic that clearly shows the quadruple whammy we have been experiencing..

As you can plainly see, it is less than ideal..

We have taken quite a few steps to try and get back in the saddle – and while there is nothing we can do about the direct shipping issue, behind the scenes we have been preparing as best as we can – so here is where we are up to now..

PROJECT X

In late August 2020 the shipping situation had cleared enough for us to resume North American orders – and at the time we confirmed with the Forge that everything would be complete within the usual 4 month time frame..

Well, this is what the orders look like running 2 months behind schedule (the reason why is that for a handful of blades a few cracks were found during the polishing stage, and the swords had to be re-made, but first Chinese New Year, and now the sheer number of orders the forge is dealing with – have pushed it back so the last few swords are running 2 months late).

Because it is STILL not quite completed – and yet due to open for new orders around, well, around NOW – we have decided to simply focus on getting these last few orders completed and wait until the forge is not so swamped with production sword orders..

Exactly when this will be is unknown but I would estimate it will be sometime in late Summer/early Autumn this year..

In the meantime:

Forge Direct

Once again, we still have around half a dozen orders that are trapped in a kind of Limbo – mostly due to the ‘great saya shortage of 2021’ and the fact that we need to get these orders addressed before we can take new orders with a clear conscience (we always prioritize existing orders over future ones, business 101 is taking care of your existing customers first – we believe in lifelong customer service, not ‘churning’ and always fishing for new ones!).

Steps have been taken to address this as best we can – for our Forge Direct Custom Katana – we have dramatically decreased the number of available saya options to only the best and most popular our customers have actually ordered in the past – and of course, this means that if we want different blade lengths, we will have to create a dedicated product based around the different length – and so we will start with a fairly generic blade and expand as we go..

Forge Direct Chinese has also been trimmed down – first due to the retirement of Master Michael Yi, who was quite prolific for our project, and then from shortages in parts and supplies. But the good news is that other than the limitation of only being able to ship to North America – Forge Direct Chinese is only held back by the ‘straggler’ orders that are still blocking up the whole thing..

To say it is frustrating for everyone involved is an understatement – after all, this project was a culmination of many years of experience dealing with custom made items – but I must thank our customers for being so patient and understanding..

The good news is that we do seem to be on the home stretch for Forge Direct – and if all goes well, we could see it return next month. But for now, our priority remains on getting those last orders fixed up – and when we do, I think a celebration will be in order as we re-launch.

So as we are fond to say, stay tuned..!

Despite the pandemic, the batch of orders for Project X Japanese taken in late August this year have been quietly taking shape and are not just on schedule for completion and shipping next month, but are (at least at the time of writing this post) slightly AHEAD of schedule..!

This means that the next planned batch in February 2020 is almost certainly to go ahead as we had hoped – but in the meantime, here are some pictures from the forge showing where we are up to! Hope you enjoy this sneak – behind the scenes peek.

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