Category Archives: Store Product Info and Musings

With all the supply chain chaos from the last few years, new swords were few and far between as most suppliers struggled with just restocking their existing models. So it’s always great news to see some new swords hit the market – and the new models by Dragon King and APOC are very newsworthy indeed..!

NEW: The Modern Katana and Modern Tanto

I have often thought that many of the traditional ways of making a Katana are quite archaic – and any inherent flaws or weakness in the design, such as the fact that the handle of a traditional Katana is more or less friction fit with two slabs of wood bound by cotton and held together with a single peg of bamboo.

This design works great when lovingly made by a master craftsman, but for entry level swords is more often than not a recipe for disaster – but it is solved with the modern Katana.

With a traditional differentially hardened blade and fully encapsulated G10 irremovable handle – it is finally possible to get an affordable blade that will NEVER be let down by its fittings, and is further complimented with features such as paracord instead of sageo on the sheathe (as most modern people don’t wear the traditional hakama dress of the samurai).

MSRP on this baby is $399.99 – but just $287.95 at the SBG sword Store making it one of the most (if not THE most) solidly made sub $300 Katana ever seen – and a backyard cutters dream..

It is complimented by an equally cool, and equally sturdy, Modern Tanto

Made using the same construction methods and materials as the Modern Katana, combine both together to create a true 21st century Daisho set and is an absolute steal at $199.99 at the SBG Sword Store:

Speaking of Tanto, If you prefer spring steel rather than traditional blades, the latest addition to the Gus Trim designed APOC line up will be right up your ally.

APOC Survival Tanto

It’s sleek, modern and crazy tough – and honestly, we are convinced this one is going to be a hot seller for the APOC series. Especially at its price – $139 – but down to just $109.99 at SBG:

APOC Sirupate Kukri

And for those of you who love truly utilitarian blades with a nice leaf blade profile, the Sirupate (which means thin leaf) is the opposite of your standard rather axe like meaty Kukri, and instead is extremely fast and aggressive in the hand. MSRP is $175 but we have it marked down to just $139 at the store:

APOC Tactical Jian

It is a long time coming – after all, the APOC series has a Tactical Katana, Wakizashi, Gladius, Longsword, Broadsword, Cutlass and even a set of Butterfly swords. But finally it now has a very lightweight (2lbs) and well balanced (3″ POB) Chinese Jian to, as they put it “Find peace and balance amidst the chaos through the steel..”

MSRP is $219 but it is down to just $175.95 at the SBG Sword Store:

In addition to the recent restock of the APOC Longsword we mentioned just a few days ago, a new Tactical 9260 Spring Steel blade snuck itself into stock – the next logical sword in the series being a matching Wakizashi for the Survival Katana, creating an Apocalyptic Daisho set unlike any other ever seen!

Suitable paired with the Katana or as a short, fast and deadly standalone sword in its own right, the Survival Wakizashi is perfect for survival in cramped conditions yet versatile enough to stand against any other hand held weapon – and an absolute bargain to boot. Normally $199.99 – available at SBG for just $149.99

Starting the month with a restock of popular swords – probably the most notable is the restock of the A.P.O.C. Survival Longsword – which was notably absent from the recent A.P.O.C. sale, and probably would have dominated the fairly lackluster sale we just finished a few days ago as this newest sword in the series has easily become the most popular in the A.P.O.C. line up:

Hanwei also added in some previously unavailable Tinker Pearce designed medieval swords back into the mix, including the Great Sword of War and the Bastard sword and Bastard Sword with fuller:

But most notably, we start the month with a new entry from Kingston Arms that may well be the most authentic and best made affordable production Claymore ever seen – the aptly named, Kingston Arms Scottish Claymore:

Seeing the writing on the wall for the sword industry this year, Kingston Arms have opted to use a more inexpensive to work with steel – rather than 9260 spring steel (which is used on all the other Kingston Arms swords to date) they have opted for 65mn Spring Steel. But this means that this sword is the first in their medieval line up to be able to be offered for sub $300 (MSRP is $389, but by squeezing our margins we can bring it to you for just $274.99).

Awesome value, and as functional as they come and then some.

Scorpion swords Missouri based workshop has done it again with a fully functional Fantasy barbarian style sword called simply ‘the Barbarian’.

It starts life as does all the swords made by Scorpion Swords as a cut sword blank of 1095 carbon steel.

After drilling 14 holes in the hilt, the blade is then ground to shape – adding a fuller and shaping the edges.

Then follows the heat treatment process, firstly by heating the blade to 1500 degrees until it becomes non magnetic and then quenching it in brine (salt water). The 2nd step is Heat Tempering, which consists of heating the steel to 500 degrees for 2 hours, and letting it air cool. This makes for a Rockwell Hardness of approximately 57.

The walnut wood handle is then pinned and glued in place overnight, forming such a tight bond both with the glue and the 14 pins that it effectively is solidly fused in place and makes for a strong, one piece construction.

The handle is then refined, adding an additional 6 brass pins (to bring the total of handle contact points to 20), the blade sharpened and some engravings added before the handle is colored and the whole thing is finally ready to ship.

And there you have it, a very tough, very cool and super strong hand made in the USA Barbarian sword for under $300!

Check it out in the SBG Sword Store today: