Category Archives: Extra Product Info

More than just a restock..

You may remember that earlier this month we gave you a glimpse at one of the latest swords designed by Clyde Hollis’s latest venture, Kingdom of Arms – the Irish Kern Sword..

Funnily enough, as it turns out, the KERN will have to be restocked next time as only a couple were ordered and are already spoken for. Indeed as far as restocks go – out of the four products we had initially listed, 3 have been restocked – the Crecy Sword and the Maintz Gladius

And the third, the Celtic Leaf Blade War Sword..

But rather than just being a restock, it is an EXPANSION and ESTABLISHMENT of their line – and its very cool to see some premium quality, battle ready replicas made by the fine artisans at Blade Culture International in the Philippines again!

So let’s have a look at the new swords – and it is refreshing to see some truly awesome looking historical designs, from Ancient Rome to the Knights Templar..

The oldest sword, apart from the Celtic blade, is the Iberian Falcata – a true timeless classic.

The basic design clearly very ‘natural’ as the basic shape and concept has resurfaced independently time and time again. For example, the Greek Kopis, and of course, the Gurkha Kurkri which has also been replicated by Kingdom of Arms and BCI..

Anyway, getting back to a more ‘chronological’ order – the Roman counterpart to the Falcata is the Hispaniensis Roman Mainz Gladius and when you add all their various Gladius designs together, it almost immediately makes Kingdom of Arms one of the leading makers of Fully Functional, truly battle ready versions of Roman Gladii replicas on the planet!

Following the trail of history, there were a few samples of a Viking Sword – though not enough to put in stock this round (But here it is for future reference).

Still following a historical timeline, we enter the era of the Holy Wars and Crusades with a powerful arming sword – the Crusader Medieval War Sword

It is one powerful and rather hefty long 33″ bladed sword that only the strongest dare to wield – but it counterbalanced in every way, from early Crusades to the end with the Last Crusader Medieval Longsword a beautifully crafted Oakeshott XVIIIa Longsword with black wire wrapped handle.

And finally, a blade that is STILL an important part of Scottish Culture and tradition to this day, the Sgian Dubh

Like we said, this one is more than just a restock – the Kingdom of Arms has arrived.

Full Restock of the $229.99 Ryujin Custom Sword Series

A lot of people have been waiting for this FULL restock of our wildly popular SBG/Ryujin Custom Katana line – and I am pleased to say that it has just landed and that ALL components of the Custom Katana series, including the Solid bodied blade version, are once again available:

Additionally, a couple of non-custom Ryujin swords also restocked at the same time, namely the $149.99 65MN Spring Steel Blade Two handed Tang Dynasty Silver Jian pictured below:

And the very reasonably priced ($69) Classic Ninjato from the 1045 carbon steel ‘art swords’ line:

Still more restocks (and some NEW swords) pending, so stay tuned everyone! September is definitely restock month…!

In the meantime:

As I mentioned in the previous post, if all goes to plan September will be restock month. But it’s also a month where we will see some new products – here’s two of them..

COMING SOON – the KERN Irish Sword by Kingdom of Arms

I wrote a fair bit about this one in the August edition of the Sword Buyers Digest Online Magazine (click here to read the back issue) but the stunning KERN sword by Kingdom of Arms is due to land THIS WEEK!

Truly a stunning piece of craftsmanship – it is hand made by the team at Blade Culture International in the Philippines, so you know it is going to be premium quality.. So you will definitely want to keep your eye out for that!

A New A.P.O.C.
Not just a restock, it’s a new epoc for A.P.O.C. (sorry, just could not resist – worst accidental poetry ever) and here is the latest in their rapidly expanded line up in 2020 – the TAC BRUTUS designed by Angus Trim.

It has often been said that a Gladius is a very effective self defense tool in the modern era, and this one made from 9260 spring steel and designed by Gus Trim may be one of the best in its price range (the MSRP on this one will be $159, naturally we will sell it for much less).

Stats look like this:
Overall: 24″
Blade Length: 18″
Handle Length: 5 5/8″
Weight: 1 lbs 12 oz
Point of Balance: 2 5/8

Combine it with a modern riot shield and you have the ultimate deadly doorway blocker – so zombies beware!

More swords coming in this month – so stay tuned folks…

At least, that is the plan.

And not just for pretty much EVERY product line available at the SBG Sword Store. This September almost the whole industry – which has not seen any REAL sword import shipments come in since January – are ALL restocking at the same time..

The Wheels are Turning…

At our end – finally, we are starting to see the huge Backlog of Swords that were stopped dead for months due to Pandemic and that has been keeping Forge Direct on hold start to move – with all the blades done and now just the final assembly process…

At the same time, all those recent Project X orders have been almost entirely clarified (there sure were a lot of modifications and last minute changes) and the Master Smiths are already ordering in the materials, components and firing up the forge for a small number of very creative and lucky individuals who were able to get in this, the one and only batch of the year.

Meanwhile, most other forges have had the fires on for months and now almost EVERY backordered sword from Ronin Katana, Ryujin Swords, Hanwei, A.P.O.C. and your other favorites is about to land pretty much all at the same time…

The Hanwei Forge In Action

Indeed, ‘newcomer’ Kingdom of Arms and their BCI made swords are due to land this month (this WEEK) actually too.

So while recently stock levels are running extremely low, stand by – that’s all about to change.. And there are some new swords coming in too.

What new swords you ask?

Well, there’s a lot to get done right now so save that for when I have a spare moment in a few days time..

Talk again soon – it certainly has been a hectic few months, and with the restocks coming in, it is about to get a whole lot busier..

It’s been a long time coming, but we FINALLY have some stock of the extremely popular $229.99 Ryujin Custom Katana!

Only catch is, right now we only have the bo-hi version – solid bodied blade is still a way off.

But there is some more good news, almost all the components are also restocked – including the saya. BUT with the saya, there have been some color changes – some quite signficant – so every image has been updated to avoid confusion and disappointment.

SIDE NOTE AND SHAMELESS PLUG: I think this constant stock updating, close communication with the warehouse, best price prices and life time guarantee against breakage – we are the most sensible place to buy Ryujin Swords and receive them as quickly as we promise. Other sites that sell them have lots of hidden costs and sell stuff that they don’t have in stock, sometimes even offering items that haven’t been made yet! So in short, by keeping up to date and offering the best service and prices, yeah – it would be silly to buy them anywhere else..

– Paul Southren

But I digress, back to the saya.

Here are all the updated colors – most haven’t changed so much, but gun metal grey, forest green and a few others just don’t look anything like they used to:

Of course, this also means that other semi-custom Katana have also been restocked. So check out the full range and click the link below: